Nearly two dozen people – the vast majority of them Alameda County residents – were recently arrested as a part of a serious operation to dismantle a nationwide burglary ring targeting marijuana dispensaries across California, state and native law enforcement officials announced Thursday.

The arrests were the culmination of a months-long investigation into at the least 15 break-ins at marijuana dispensaries in nine different counties, from the California-Mexico border to the state's coastal wine country, based on the California Attorney General's Office. In total, the suspected burglars stole about 975 kilos of marijuana, leading to total damage of $1 million, the agency said.

Oakland Police investigators and members of town's Ceasefire program played a key role in identifying the suspects and coordinating their arrests, said Deputy Chief Frederick Shavies of the Oakland Police Department.

“This operation has made not only the city of Oakland safer, but the entire state of California,” Shavies said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao praised the arrests as an indication of town's commitment to eradicating crime.

The investigation began in February, lower than two months after Oakland undercover detective Tuan Le was shot and killed during a break-in at a harborside marijuana plantation. The Dec. 29 shooting was the primary killing of an on-duty Oakland police officer in about 15 years.

At least two cops who helped arrest suspects in Les' death also played key roles in the following nationwide crackdown, Shavies said.

Still, Shavies made no suggestion of any connection between the officer's death and the operation announced Thursday. He said he had no information that any of the suspects arrested within the operation were involved within the burglaries along the Embarcadero the morning Le was shot.

Most, if not all, of the suspects arrested within the operation are expected to be prosecuted by the Santa Cruz County District Attorney's Office due to county's high variety of burglaries, authorities said.

Early Wednesday, state cops responded to clear a homeless encampment on Caltrans property under Highway 580 in Oakland, but found they were barred from entering because a girl had chained herself to the fence.

The woman was Andrea Henson, an attorney and executive director of the homeless organization Where Do We Go, who claimed the eviction was an illegal displacement. When Henson refused to maneuver away from the fence, she was arrested by the California Highway Patrol.

“I don't care how poor you are. If you're homeless or retired, you're entitled to due process,” Henson said in an interview after she was released from jail a couple of hours later. “Caltrans is not above the law.”

Since Governor Newsom issued an executive order on July 25 directing state agencies to step up their efforts to clear homeless encampments, activists have feared that the rights of the homeless may very well be trampled on in the frenzy to comply with the order. The move got here after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Grants Pass v. Johnson, which overturned a precedent and gave the federal government the authority to ban homeless encampments even when no other shelter is offered.

Wednesday morning's sweep was an example of sweeps going too far, Henson said.

The camp's primary resident, John Cardone, a 70-year-old former truck driver, had signed a sublease in 2020 to park his RVs on the Caltrans property at Louise Street and Highway 580 for $350 a month, based on documents reviewed by the brand new organization. He lived there for years together with his partner, son and daughter.

After paying rent for a yr from March 2020 to March 2021, Cardone stopped paying rent throughout the pandemic.

Still, Caltrans would have needed to undergo formal legal proceedings to evict him, based on a brief restraining order filed by Where Do We Go in court on Wednesday to forestall the eviction.

Instead, on August 5, just two days before the eviction, Caltrans posted signs throughout the location warning that any property left there could be removed, the injunction states.

Neither Caltrans nor the California Highway Patrol responded to a request for comment.

By afternoon, Henson was back on the campground, continuing to plead with Caltrans officials to not impound Cardone's RV.

In a live video posted by Henson on Facebook, Cardone said Caltrans employees told him he had to go away the development site or face jail time.

Henson worries about residents like Cardone who may very well be forced to maneuver quickly without facing justice. It's also unclear where Cardone's family will go next.

“Nobody is paying attention and the state does what it wants,” said Henson. “Without oversight, there is a regime of terror against our most vulnerable.”

Originally published: August 7, 2024 at 16:04

OAKLAND — A Martinez resident has been charged with drug trafficking, two years after a Contra Costa sheriff's deputy searched his automotive and located five kilos of methamphetamine and a pair of,000 pills of fentanyl, court records show.

Kory Kingsley, 51, was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of possession of methamphetamine and fentanyl for resale. The former count carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Prosecutors also sought to seize about $3,100 in money and a handgun that were allegedly present in his possession, the indictment states.

Kingsley stays in federal custody for now. At a court hearing on July 9, Judge Donna Ryu said she was willing to release him to a halfway house in San Francisco as soon as a bed becomes available there, based on a transcript of the hearing. He is due back in court next month.

According to court records, Kingsley was the topic of a Contra Costa Sheriff's investigation in 2022 after a confidential informant accused him of being a drug dealer. Investigators placed a tracking device on his Chevrolet and followed him on May 25, 2022, as he drove through Pleasant Hill, Pacheco and other locations conducting alleged drug deals.

An officer eventually stopped the Chevrolet and searched it after a Pittsburg police sniffer dog “alerted” the presence of medication within the vehicle, police said. Inside, officers found a 5.5-pound bag of methamphetamine, 4.3 ounces of heroin, 100 ecstasy pills and a pair of,000 pills of fentanyl, based on court documents.

Meanwhile, at Kingley's Jordan Court home, police arrested a lady on suspicion of attempted destruction of evidence and drug possession when she began loading a vehicle with various items from the house. Cocaine, marijuana, fentanyl, a suspected meth pipe and $3,820 in money were later present in the automotive. The woman refused to talk with police, and she or he was released without charges, authorities said.

A loaded firearm and ammunition were present in a protected in the home, authorities said.

Originally published: July 25, 2024 at 16:05

OAKLAND — A member of the family that runs the Oakland recycling operation and whose home was recently raided by the FBI was also involved within the operations of a former coffee shop and karaoke lounge that the state agency linked to alleged drug dealing, pimping and human trafficking, records show.

Andy Duong, whose family runs the recycling company California Waste Solutions, “posed as the owner” of the Music Cafe, a downtown restaurant and karaoke lounge, records show. The business, which closed in February 2019, was linked to “straw donors” that Duong allegedly used to hide donations to Oakland and South Bay candidates.

His Oakland Hills home was searched by federal authorities on June 20, together with the homes of his father, David Duong, and Mayor Sheng Thao, in addition to the offices of California Waste Solutions.

Andy Duong was never arrested or charged with a criminal offense in reference to the Liquor Control Board's 2018 investigation of the Music Cafe in Oakland's Chinatown. The investigation into the cafe resulted in three arrests and two convictions for conspiracy and aiding and abetting.

A spokesman for the Duong family didn’t reply to specific questions on Andy Duong's alleged ties to the ninth Street Café, but in a general statement described the family as “good citizens who always obey the law.”

“We believe we have not been involved in or committed any illegal activities and are awaiting the decision of law enforcement,” the statement said.

A person allegedly a “straw man donor” on behalf of the Duong family was arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking following a raid on the cafe.

Charlie Ngo, 35, the alleged “straw man donor,” was among the many individuals who either managed, owned or were related to the cafe and donated around $18,000 between 2016 and 2018, mostly to candidates for Oakland City Council. They all allegedly donated money within the name of Andy Duong, who was accused of getting “cash in a drawer in his CWS office” that he donated to a person tasked with soliciting straw man donors, Fair Political Practices Commission documents say. An investigation is ongoing.

Since 2019, Andy and David Duong have been under investigation by the town's Ethics Commission for allegedly evading campaign finance limits through the use of various individuals and firms to funnel money to candidates.

In a motion for a declaration of reasonable suspicion in reference to the sham donor investigation, Angela J. Brereton, director of the FPPC's enforcement office, wrote that Andy Duong “is associated with several businesses, including … the former Sancha Bar/Music Cafe.”

Investigators with the Oakland Public Ethics Commission wrote in a separate document that they “are in possession of private messages in which Andy Duong identifies himself as the owner of the Music Café, also known as Sancha Bar.”

Brereton wrote that state Rep. Ash Kalra told investigators that “Duong spoke about his business, Sancha Bar/Music Cafe. Kalra stated he knew Duong owned that business.”

Kalra provided investigators with several text messages he received from Duong, including one from October 2017 about Duong's karaoke club, “in which Duong asks Kalra to let him know when he wants to come over so he can set it up 'really well for you.' Duong also sent a photo of the karaoke room. According to Kalra, he had lunch with Duong years ago but did not discuss campaign contributions.”

“These interviews demonstrate how much access Duong had to the candidates, how he hosted fundraisers even though he made no campaign contributions himself, and how much Duong knew about his failure to make contributions when CWS was bidding for a contract. In addition, Duong had the opportunity to promote another company, Sancha Bar,” court documents say.

In an announcement sent Friday, Kalra's office said FPPC records show that Kalra “fully cooperated with the FPPC in its investigation of California Waste Solutions and Andy Duong in 2020.”

“Other than a few text messages and a single lunch six years ago, as noted in the filing, the Assembly member had no relationship with Mr. Duong and has not returned to his premises or had any contact with him since,” wrote Zena Hallak, Kalra's communications director.

According to a 208-page State Liquor Control investigation file obtained by this news organization, 4 undercover agents made several late-night visits to the cafe in 2018. Inside, they said, they managed to steal ketamine and ecstasy from employees.

About 20 female “companions” were brought into the undercover officers' karaoke room for selection, police records show. The investigators said they paid each of their companions $100 to return along.

The women went from room to room and were capable of get drugs from the agents, the police file said. After obtaining a search warrant, agents searched the constructing on Oct. 4, 2018, and seized greater than $1,000 in money and medicines they found on the premises, police said.

Andy Duong just isn’t named within the ABC investigation. The cafe was closed 4 months after the raid.

Three people were arrested and charged with crimes related to the investigation in October 2018. Alleged straw donor Ngo was ultimately charged with only two serious crimes: possession on the market and sale of ketamine., Charges that were later dropped.

There isn’t any suspicion that the opposite two co-defendants were used as straw man donors.

A defendant originally charged with 11 counts, including human trafficking, sale and possession of narcotics, and pimping and procuring, was pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit a criminal offense.

The other perpetrator accepted a deal in June 2022 through which he pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting after the actual fact. In return, prosecutors dropped three charges of possession of ketamine on the market.

According to the FPPC's filing, Ngo didn’t have the funds for in his checking account to make the contributions he made. For example, he donated $700 to Friends of Desley Brooks despite having only $49.58 in his checking account; $700 to re-elect Oakland City Councilman Larry Reid in 2016 despite having only $2.14; and donated $800 again to Brooks, the previous Oakland City Councilwoman, in 2018 despite having $5.32.

Each time, “he made a large deposit shortly before or after writing his check,” city investigators said in court documents. He can also be listed in campaign documents as a donor who gave $700 to Oakland City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan in 2016, $700 to Oakland City Council candidate Viola Gonzales, $600 to San Jose City Councilor Tam Nguyen and $250 to Milpitas City Councilor Anthony Phan's campaign in 2016.

According to records, Mayor Thao, then a city councilor, received a complete of $2,400 from people related to the cafe.

One of the cafe owners admitted to donating $5,000 to then-Oakland City Councilwoman Lynette Gibson McElhaney's legal aid fund and $800 to then-Oakland City Councilman Abel Guillen. These elected officials weren’t charged with violating campaign finance laws.

The criminal defense attorney representing Ngo said he “welcomes all efforts to hold Oakland officers accountable for their actions.”

“It is critical, however, that the public recognize that these investigations may be politically motivated and disproportionately target people of color,” said attorney Curtis Briggs, who also represented Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow in a wide-ranging public corruption case in San Francisco.

But even after the “straw donor” allegations, Ngo, who now lives in Sacramento, was not finished sending campaign contributions.

On October 19, 2022, he sent a $500 donation to the campaign of Terry Wiley, who was then just weeks away from Election Day and was making an ultimately unsuccessful bid for the office of Alameda County District Attorney. The money was transferred the identical day that the District Attorney's Office decided to drop the case “in the interest of justice.”

Wiley said he was on voluntary leave from the district attorney's office on the time to run his campaign and was not involved within the case. He didn’t know Ngo and denied knowing in regards to the donation. Wiley, who’s now set to grow to be an Alameda County judge after running unopposed in March, just isn’t suspected of any wrongdoing.

“How am I supposed to know who is who? Hundreds, thousands of people are donating to my campaign,” he said in a recent interview. “I ran a clean campaign. I want to get to the bottom of this.”

A small group of about 20 community activists critical of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao gathered outside Oakland City Hall on Sunday and called for her resignation.

“With the budget crisis, their absence is conspicuous,” said Edward Escobar, one among the event's organizers. The group held signs criticizing Thao and her allies on the City Council, Nikki Bas and Carroll Fife, and calling for his or her resignations.

“If you or I were to commit such a lapse, we would be fired immediately,” Escobar said. “Your behavior is unacceptable.”

The group, led by the Coalition for Community Engagement and #AsiansUnite, chanted “Where is Sheng?” and “Sheng Thao, resign!”

The rally followed an FBI raid on Thao's home and a mass shooting at Lake Merritt that left 15 people injured last week.

Thao has not made any public statements because the raid on her home a couple of days ago.

Although the topic of the investigation is unclear, investigators have removed quite a few boxes from Thao's Lincoln Highlands home and searched three properties linked to the Duong family, owners of California Waste Solutions. The investigation comes just days after a recall attempt against the mayor, who was in his first term and qualified for the November election, and has left local political observers stunned.

According to a report within the San Francisco Chronicle, Thao's attorney Tony Brass said officials from the U.S. Attorney's Office didn’t indicate that Thao was the goal of the raids. He also said the mayor would cooperate with the investigation and make a public statement next week.

Seneca Scott, one among the foremost organizers of the recall campaign, said on the event that the budget crisis should persuade Oakland voters to recall the mayor.

“If the current budget is passed, the city will go bankrupt,” Scott said.

Earlier this month, around 40,000 Oakland residents signed the recall petition – excess of the 24,644 valid signatures needed for a brand new election.

The City Council is anticipated to debate whether to place the recall resolution on the November ballot during a gathering on July 2.

Local businessman Francisco Acosta said he supported the recall because Thao had allegedly failed to scale back crime in town.

“I'm a real estate agent and I don't feel safe walking the streets of Oakland or the entire Bay Area, showing homes and trying to help people achieve the American dream when there are so many dangers,” Acosta said.

Oakland experienced a devastating spike in crime through the pandemic, which is now slowly declining. According to data, overall crime across town fell 33% in June in comparison with the 2023 annual statistics.

Although the info suggests a decline in crime, Acosta just isn’t convinced.

“Even in broad daylight, you don't feel safe because Oakland is in a downward spiral. It's a very dangerous place. And with the budget cuts, it's only going to get worse.”

According to a press release from Oakley Police, 11 men were arrested on suspicion of using the Internet to locate children and sexually exploit and abuse them.

Of the 11 arrests, two men were from Pittsburg, two from Concord, two from Antioch and two from Hayward. Other suspects were from Oakley, Oakland and South San Francisco. All suspects were taken to jail.

Police arrested them after discovering that the boys had allegedly engaged in inappropriate and sexually motivated relationships with people they believed to be children. Each of the boys was arrested after attempting to satisfy with their intended goal at an agreed meeting point. Some of the boys brought candy or contraceptives with them.

The operation was conducted between May 24 and May 31 with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which included multiple agencies, including the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Service, several local police departments, and the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office and District Attorney's Office.

“I have always valued proactive, mission-oriented operations. This operation, in my opinion, is one of the most important proactive, mission-oriented operations,” said Oakley Police Chief Paul Beard. “Literally, the innocence of children was saved by the efforts made in this operation. Knowing some of the histories that led to these arrests, I feel a deep sense of disgust for the men who were arrested.”

If anyone has details about these arrests or other cases of kid sexual abuse and exploitation, they will contact Oakley Police at 925-625-8855. For those needing resources on this topic, the Greater Bay Area Child Abuse Prevention Council Coalition has been working to coordinate resources and advocate for public policy for over 30 years.