OAKLAND – A political operative and key figure in the FBI’s massive political corruption investigation is now accusing Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price of an attempted $25,000 shakedown, before she charged him with a felony.
Mario Juarez’s claim, filed Thursday in Alameda County Superior Court, describes back-alley dealing amongst Oakland’s ruling class and corruption from within the criminal justice system, set against the backdrop of a city reeling from the shocking killing of an undercover cop by a brazen burglary crew.
The allegations come from a man who has been on Oakland’s political scene for years, having unsuccessfully run for city council, peddled sensational election mailers and racked up friends and foes amid his financial troubles and multiple failed business ventures. Most recently, he’s become a critical subject in the sweeping FBI probe encircling Oakland City Hall — an investigation that has yet to result in any arrests.
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While Price’s office opted to withhold comment on Juarez’s allegations Friday, the district attorney’s former top lieutenant, Otis Bruce Jr., called alleged statements made by him in the motion “outright lies.”
Juarez’s claims center on a felony grand theft charge that Price’s office filed against him earlier this year that, he says, came after rebuffing the district attorney’s request for “love and support” in the form of a $25,000 cash donation.
A motion authored by Juarez’s lawyer, Ernie Castillo, seeks to dismiss the charge due to “outrageous government conduct” and vindictive prosecution in “what can only be called quid pro quo political corruption.”
It includes a sworn statement by Castillo, a longtime and widely respected criminal defense attorney, alleging the deputy district attorney assigned to prosecute Juarez had confided in Castillo that she would have dropped the case if Price’s administration hadn’t insisted things move forward. A hearing for a judge to decide on the motion is scheduled for next month.
Adding to the controversy is the fact that Juarez and Price were political rivals at the time, each of them running on opposing slates for seats to control the influential Alameda County Democratic Committee. Juarez had earlier created a website – badpam.com – bashing Price as a “loser with a shady history of fraud, violence and racism.”
In a statement, Price’s communications team said her office “cannot comment on pending matters,” adding that “we will address any motions filed by the defense in court where it is appropriate.”
Juarez’s political differences with Price alone should have been enough to ensure that Price referred any possible prosecution to the state Attorney General’s office, Castillo contends.
But the most damning allegation in Castillo’s motion says Price attempted to solicit thousands of dollars from Juarez and urged him to ease up on his own outspoken support for her ouster, as she prepared to fight a recall election now on the Nov. 5 ballot.
It was after Juarez and Price, separately, attended the Jan. 10 funeral of Oakland police Officer Tuan Le, a ceremony where Attorney General Rob Bonta and Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao were also present, that Juarez claims he was approached by Price with a not-so-subtle request. She allegedly wanted Juarez to “show love and support for her” in the form of a $25,000 campaign contribution “in cash,” the filing says.
After Juarez told Price “he would continue his ‘quest’ against her political efforts,” Price “laughed” and responded that it was “too bad” and “it will not be pretty especially during the political campaign that we are both facing,” according to the court filing. She allegedly warned that “he would be hearing from her office soon,” the motion says.
Price’s office charged Juarez with a felony on Jan. 23 for allegedly bouncing three checks, a case filed just 16 days after the conversation, the motion says. Oakland police records say the department finished its investigation several months earlier, in May 2023.
Castillo’s filing claimed Price’s office sat on the check fraud investigation — which stemmed from political mailers Juarez made to attack Thao’s mayoral opponents in 2022 — for eight months before the alleged shakedown. He also stressed that her office never had proof he planned to commit fraud, and he subsequently filed a complaint with the State Bar of California against Price.
“That she held on to the potential charge without acting on it is proof that she saw the potential charge as leverage, not as a case requiring justice,” Castillo wrote in the court filing. “When Ms. Price told Mr. Juarez that her office could have helped him, she made clear that she would not have filed the charges had he yielded to her request for money.”
The private meeting after the group saw each other at the funeral took place at 1211 Embarcadero, the same Oakland waterfront building the FBI raided on June 20 as part of its ongoing public corruption investigation. Also raided that day were homes belonging to Mayor Thao and the father-and-son duo of David and Andy Duong, owners of California Waste Solutions, the city’s curbside recycling contractor.
Two people have filed sworn declarations backing up Juarez’s claims against Price. One is Cecilia Mendez, the contract administrator for Evolutionary Homes LLC, the housing company Juarez co-founded with the Duongs. She is a former girlfriend who had a child with Juarez, as well as a two-decade long business partner, previous court and business filings show. The other is a maintenance man who was there that day to repair surveillance cameras and heard Price tell Juarez she needed “thousands” of dollars, but couldn’t recall the specific amount, according to court records.
Juarez – a two-time Oakland City Council candidate and ever-present political operative – has been a perpetual vector in the FBI’s public corruption probe and the subject of at least one FBI subpoena delivered to Oakland’s city attorney.
In addition to the fraud charge connected to the 2022 election mailers, Price’s office is also investigating accusations that Juarez stiffed the Duong family out of a $1 million investment in Evolutionary Homes, court investigative records show. All of that money was supposed to go toward the production of 50 homes made of revamped shipping containers, but Juarez only delivered two, the Duong family told county investigators.
The dispute led to dueling claims that each side assaulted the other during a May 3 confrontation at the 1211 Embarcadero offices. Roughly a month later, Oakland police say Juarez’s home was shot up in a failed attempt on his life, a shooting that Juarez told responding officers was “retaliation” for his involvement in a criminal investigation, according to police records.
Other business ventures including in entertainment and clean energy led by Juarez have led to litigation or ended in closure. County records show regulators filed at least $96,000 worth of state and federal tax liens against him since 2015. He also was forced to surrender his real estate license in 2015 amid allegations of wrongful business dealings.
His business history appeared of little concern to Price’s second-in-command on the day of the officer’s funeral, according to Castillo’s motion.
After Price and members of the Duong family left the Embarcadero building, then-Chief Assistant District Attorney Otis Bruce Jr. remained with Juarez. They both allegedly became intoxicated after drinking alcohol and Bruce allegedly pitched Juarez on the possibility of becoming business partners, the filing said. His stated goal: Take Evolutionary Homes’ work to Alabama or Mississippi, where “he could help with political hurdles,” the motion alleged.
Bruce also assured Juarez “he would not have any problems with the District Attorney’s office if they became business partners,” the motion said. Juarez declined the invitation, according to the filing.
Bruce resigned from the DA’s office on June 25.
In an interview Friday with the Bay Area News Group, Bruce said he was “totally shocked” by the allegations, and called them a “total fabrication.” He said he visited Evolutionary Homes that day, but called it a “happenstance encounter” where he only spoke to Juarez for five to 10 seconds.
“At no time did I make any statements or have any conversations as alleged by Mr. Juarez,” said Bruce, adding that an inspector not named in the motion overheard the entire, brief interaction. “These are false, fabricated, outright lies.”
Castillo claims Bruce’s advances “essentially interfered with Mr. Juarez’s right to do business as he saw fit.” The attorney also castigated Price for her alleged shakedown.
“This is conduct and language to expect from a crime boss, not from the chief law enforcement official of Alameda County,” the motion said, adding that Price appeared motivated “to win her recall election and destroy everyone who doesn’t support her.”