A Kern County public assembly dramatically deviated from the agenda when Supervisor Leticia Perez accused district lawyer employees of trying to “illegally” search her workplace.
Perez stated that round 9 a.m. Friday, Kern County district lawyer investigators arrived at her workplace in downtown Bakersfield. The investigators, Perez stated, tried to “make unlawful entry” by requesting the county administrative employees to provide them entry to her workplace whereas it was locked and empty.
Perez stated the investigators didn’t have a warrant or her permission to look her workplace. A name and textual content to Dist. Atty. Cynthia Zimmer went unreturned, she stated.
“They didn’t have permission, they didn’t present discover to us and they didn’t have a warrant,” Perez stated.
The district lawyer’s workplace denied Perez’s allegations. Investigators have been in search of consent to enter and {photograph} parts of the Kern County Administrative Constructing, together with areas utilized by Supervisor Perez and her employees. When rebuffed, investigators obtained a search warrant from a choose.
“It’s common for investigators to request consent to conduct searches as a part of a pending investigation,” the district lawyer’s workplace stated in an announcement Monday. “When events with entry to info or proof related to a prison investigation decline to voluntarily consent to a search, the subsequent step in an investigation is usually to hunt judicial authorization to conduct the search.”
The district lawyer’s workplace declined to offer further particulars in regards to the scope of the investigation. However investigators belonged to the Public Integrity Unit, which investigates potential prison violations, together with these associated to elected officers.
About an hour into the general public assembly, Perez as soon as once more interrupted the assembly to announce her workplace was within the technique of being searched.
“The D.A. has arrived at my workplace with a warrant to look my workplace … so I’ll be heading as much as should cope with that proper now, and I’m very, very sorry about that,” Perez stated shortly earlier than rising from her chair and strolling out.
With one supervisor seat vacant and Perez gone, the scenario caught Kern County Chairman David Sofa off-guard.
“What does this do to our assembly?” Sofa requested. “We solely have three individuals.”
The Board of Supervisors was in the course of listening to public feedback forward of a vote on what may very well be the state’s first carbon seize and storage venture, a plan to completely retailer carbon emissions underground.
Perez is at the moment operating for reelection for one more four-year time period on the Board of Supervisors. Perez represents County District 5, which incorporates parts of downtown and japanese Bakersfield. She has served as a county supervisor since 2013.