OAKLAND — A judge has dismissed a check fraud case against a political operative who accused former Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price of filing the felony charge after he refused to give her a $25,000 political donation.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Thomas Reardon’s ruling capped an explosive saga that shed light on the FBI’s “pay to play” bribery investigation of Oakland’s former mayor, her romantic partner and businessmen who operate a recycling company contracted by the city.
On Friday, Reardon tossed the case against Mario Juarez, the longtime political operative and twice-failed Oakland City Council candidate who claimed to have been the target of an extortion scheme by Price.
His ruling came after a prosecutor cited two reasons for seeking the dismissal — a lack of evidence proving that the crime happened, as well as the shakedown allegations. Simply put: “We believe there is a question on whether this case can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury,” said the prosecutor, Kate DeFerrari.
At the core of those concerns were Juarez’s claims that Price filed the case against him only after he turned down Price’s request for a $25,000 political donation while the two talked privately at a business owned by Juarez and the city’s recycling contractors, after the January 2024 funeral for slain Oakland police Officer Tuan Le.
Price hasn’t denied being at Juarez’s business that day, but she flatly denied talking at length with Juarez while there. Instead, she claimed to have been there to discuss concerns about crime in Oakland.
“There is an appearance of impropriety” in the charging of this case, DeFerrari told the judge. “That could pose a challenge for the jury to convict.”
DeFerrari also told Reardon that she consulted with newly installed District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson on the dismissal before Friday’s hearing.
The ruling marked the second time in a week that Reardon, a former county prosecutor, threw out a criminal filing amid concerns that Price targeted prosecutions against her critics and political opponents.
On Monday, Reardon tossed a 10-year sentencing enhancement against convicted murderer Jamal Thomas over concerns that Price sought the extra prison time after his public defender refused to back Price’s political campaign to save herself from a recall. Voters eventually removed Price from office on Nov. 5.
In his ruling from the bench, the judge said Price’s maneuvering in the murder case “doesn’t pass the stink test,” and he suggested that “this is what happens when you put folks in charge … and they don’t know what the guardrails are.”
Ahead of that ruling, public defenders pointed to Juarez’s extortion claims as signs of a retaliatory pattern by the former district attorney. They called a veteran prosecutor, Angelina Clay, to testify about how Price’s top lieutenant in mid-2024 ordered her not to dismiss the case against Juarez, even though Clay didn’t think enough evidence existed to send the case to trial. Clay said she was later pulled from the case.
Price had largely refrained from publicly discussing Juarez’s allegations while in office. Yet that changed this week, when she finished the first episode of her new podcast by calling Juarez’s claims “ridiculous,” while stressing he was “lying through his teeth.”
“For those who don’t know who Mario Juarez is, Google him,” said Price, who went on to call Juarez “someone that has a long list of angry clients and business partners who alleged he swindled them.”
Prosecutors initially accused Juarez of writing nearly $53,600 in bad checks in October 2022 for a series for political mailers meant to elevate Sheng Thao, then a city councilmember, during that year’s mayoral election. While he managed to wire a family-owned company, Butterfly Direct Marketing, enough money to cover $31,000 in printing costs for the mailers, the checks that Juarez subsequently wrote to the U.S. Postal Service bounced because he had less than $215 in his bank account, according to court records.
The mailers were deeply controversial, after the face of a Black mayoral candidate, then-Councilman Loren Taylor, appeared to be darkened on one mailer, while fellow mayoral candidate Ignacio De La Fuente, a former councilman, was also portrayed in an unflattering way.
The mailers appear to have been the opening move in a sprawling “pay-to-play” bribery scheme allegedly orchestrated by Thao, her romantic partner Andre Jones and the father-and-son duo of David and Andy Duong of California Waste Solutions, according to federal indictments filed last month.
Federal prosecutors say David and Andy Duong agreed to pay for the mailers in exchange for promises by Thao to ensure they would be the recipients of lucrative federal grants, as well as a say in mayoral appointments and staffing hires. The indictments also accused the Duongs of agreeing to pay Thao’s partner, Andre Jones, a $300,000 “no-show” job with their new housing company, which they started with Juarez.
Thao, Jones and the Duongs all face bribery, conspiracy and fraud charges in the alleged scheme. Juarez is largely believed to have been the unnamed “co-conspirator 1” who was not charged in the round of indictments unsealed on Jan. 17.
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.