'Crime boss' conduct: Pamela Price accused of $25,000 extortion attempt

Alameda County DA Pamela Price has been accused of soliciting a $25,000 cash donation from a political critic to help her fight the effort to recall her, according to court papers filed this week.

Two weeks after Mario Juarez refused to pay Price or curtail his criticism of her, the DA's office hit him with a felony check fraud charge dating back to 2022 — despite having been aware of the allegation "for at least eight months," according to the motion filed Thursday by veteran defense attorney Ernie Castillo.

And, reportedly, it didn't end there.

According to Castillo, the case against his client was set to be dismissed over the summer until Price and her second-in-command, Otis Bruce Jr., "interfered" in the matter, removing a prosecutor who had found insufficient evidence to proceed.

Juarez says Price had offered to help him in January in exchange for "love and support" in the form of the $25,000 donation, Castillo wrote.

Price also told him their relationship should change, Castillo wrote, a nod to their past antagonism.

Back in 2022, Juarez had created a website called badpam.com, attacking Price as "a loser with a shady history" and highlighting her failed bids for state Assembly in 2016, Oakland mayor and Alameda County DA in 2018, and "Democratic Party Chair" in 2020.

When Juarez "rejected her request" in January, Price told him "he would be hearing from her office 'very soon'" and that it "won't be pretty," Castillo wrote.

Castillo is now asking the court to dismiss the single felony count against Juarez, describing it as "vindictive prosecution" and "outrageous government conduct."

"This is conduct and language to expect from a crime boss, not from the chief law enforcement official of Alameda County," Castillo wrote. "Though dismissal is an extreme remedy, the conduct and intentions of the District Attorney are still more extreme."

He also wrote that Price had sent a "clear message" to Juarez that he "would be subject to criminal prosecution" if he did not pay her campaign $25,000.

Calling it "quid pro quo corruption," Castillo said the conduct was "professionally reprehensible" and "borders on the criminal," in the form of attempted extortion or bribery.

On Friday, the Alameda County DA's office said it "cannot comment on pending matters" and "will address any motions filed by the defense in court where it is appropriate."

The motion is expected to be heard Nov. 15.

Juarez, who made two unsuccessful bids for Oakland City Council more than a decade ago, has been back in the headlines this year for problems of his own.

Numerous media outlets have identified Juarez as a "key figure in an FBI corruption investigation" involving Oakland politicians and members of the Duong family.

Juarez also said assassins tried to kill him at his home in June in "'retaliation' for his involvement in a criminal investigation," the East Bay Times reported over the summer.

And, while Juarez may face credibility questions, two people have filed sworn declarations saying they heard DA Price solicit the campaign donation during a conversation Jan. 7 after the funeral of Oakland Police Officer Tuan Le.

One of those witnesses, who had been hired by Juarez to install surveillance cameras, said he "overheard Ms. Price request money in the thousands from Mr. Juarez," Castillo wrote.

The other witness, Cecilia Mendez, "heard Ms. Price telling Mr. Juarez that their relationship should be better … and that she needed $25,000.00 for a political campaign," Castillo wrote.

(The East Bay Times also reported that Mendez was a longtime business partner of Juarez who previously dated him and has a child with him.)

"Shakedowns for campaign funds"

Castillo himself filed a sworn declaration as part of this week's motion describing how Assistant District Attorney Angelina Clay had told him earlier this year that she "believed there was insufficient evidence to … prove fraud" by Juarez back in 2022.

That's when Juarez commissioned someone to print political mailers attacking Oakland mayoral candidate Loren Taylor during election season, wiring him $31,000 and also giving him about $17,000 in checks to cover the costs.

"On the same date, $32,500 was transferred out of Mr. Juarez's accounts," leaving an insufficient balance to pay for the mailers, Castillo wrote.

But the DA's office never established that Juarez was aware of the low balance, and had not ruled out an accounting error by others who had access to the account, he wrote.

According to Castillo, Clay said she planned to drop the case in mid-June but was told "her office would not allow her to move forward with the dismissal."

"I was informed that Otis Bruce told Ms. Clay that Pamela Price would not be happy about a dismissal," Castillo wrote.

In early July, Castillo said Clay told him "the administration had removed her from the case."

Castillo argued that his client's due process rights had been damaged not only by the weak case but also because Price had stopped Clay from dismissing it.

"Ms. Price removed the deputy from this case and refuses to allow anyone to dismiss this case, regardless of a prosecutor's ethical obligation to do so based on the lack of evidence," he wrote. "Ms. Price's interest in pursuing this action … is motivated by a vindictive and politically motivated desire to win her recall election and destroy everyone who doesn't support her."

Castillo also argued that the dismissal was necessary to help not just Juarez but to assist "others in this community who might be subject to similar shakedowns for campaign funds."

Mario Juarez: Price "said we could have helped each other"

On the day of the alleged campaign solicitation by DA Price in January, Mario Juarez had gone to Officer Le's funeral with Cecilia Mendez as well as Andy and David Duong.

Price and Otis Bruce Jr., who was second-in-command at the DA's office at the time, were also at the event, according to the motion. So was Stewart Chen, who runs the Oakland Chinatown Improvement Council.

After the funeral, the motion says, Chen invited Price and Bruce to an Oakland showroom for Evolutionary Homes LLC to see modular homes being built out of shipping containers to house formerly homeless people.

(Evolutionary Homes LLC, which was owned by Juarez and the Duongs, was raided by the FBI in June "as part of its ongoing public corruption investigation," the East Bay Times reported.)

In his declaration, Juarez described both Price and Bruce as friends of Chen "and the Duong family."

According to this week's motion, Bruce drove himself to the meeting in his own vehicle but DA Pamela Price arrived "in a black SUV driven by an inspector from the District Attorney's Office."

After they got to the showroom, Price "pulled me aside and away from the others to speak with me privately," Juarez wrote. "She explained that as the District Attorney for Alameda County she could help me. But to get her help I 'need to show love and support to her.'"

Juarez wrote that Price then asked for $25,000 in cash to help fight the recall against her.

Juarez rejected the request and "made clear to her" that he would not support her, according to the motion.

"In response to my comments, Pamela Price laughed. She told me 'too bad' and said we could have helped each other," Juarez wrote. "She ended the conversation by saying that I would be hearing from her office soon and 'it will not be pretty especially during the political campaign that we are both facing.'"

At the time, Price and Juarez were each seeking seats on the Democratic Central Committee in the 18th Assembly District, which would be up for grabs in the March election five weeks later.

"After I refused to support her or make any financial contributions to her campaign, we returned to the showroom area with everyone else," Juarez wrote. "I heard Pamela Price tell David Duong she needed financial support from him, and David Duong agreed."

Just 16 days later, Juarez wrote in his declaration, the DA's office charged him with a single felony count related to alleged check fraud dating back to October 2022.

Castillo pointed to "the short time that elapsed between Ms. Price's veiled threat and the actual filing of the charge" to support the idea that the case had been "motivated by his refusal to donate, not by the fair and objective review of the evidence."

The timing was noteworthy because the allegation had come into the DA's office in May 2023 — eight months before it was filed, according to the motion.

Castillo also argued that the case against Mario Juarez should be dismissed on First Amendment grounds, saying Price filed it "in retaliation for his exercise of his First Amendment political rights" to criticize her and refuse to donate to her campaign.

Juarez has also filed a complaint with the state bar alleging ethical violations by DA Price, according to this week's filing.