San Joaquin County District Attorney Ron Freitas on Monday accused his predecessor’s administration of fraud, his office said.
Freitas said the alleged malfeasance arose from the handling of an auto insurance fraud grant program dating back to 2017. The program would furnish district attorney’s offices across the state with funding to investigate and prosecute auto insurance fraud, he said.
“While performing an audit of the 2024 Auto Insurance Fraud Grant Application, it was discovered that an investigator within the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office had been falsifying timesheet information in order to justify the District Attorney’s Office Receipt of Grant Funds,” said Freitas’ office on social media and on the county’s website.
Freitas said that the investigator has been placed on leave, but “when confronted with the alleged fraudulent time sheet information, the investigator in question provided information showing that the alleged fraud had been committed at the urging of leadership in the prior administration of the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office.”
Former District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar on Monday responded to the accusations in an email, which she said were an example of retaliation from Freitas.
“From 2015-2018, Mr. Freitas was the Assistant District Attorney who oversaw the Auto Fraud Division, he never raised any concerns,” she wrote, adding that, “Legally, it would be a clear conflict for the District Attorney’s Office to investigate their own team member.”
Verber Salazar said she was going to request an investigation into the current administration by the state attorney general and FBI regarding payments made to Freitas’ campaign manager, which she said were $33,000 a month for a total of $267,000 over 8 months.
“To date the DA refuses to answer questions into that sweetheart deal,” said Verber Salazar. “And now this. I said from the very beginning, no one is safe from his retaliation.”
When asked to respond, the District Attorney’s Office said it would not be commenting on “ongoing prosecutions.”
“We will litigate our cases in a court of law, not the court of public opinion,” said spokesperson Erin Haight. “We stand on facts, not rumors, unlike the former district attorney. To be clear, the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office is driven by integrity, not retaliation.”
The district attorney said he alerted the California Department of Insurance and the state Attorney General’s Office of his alleged findings. Currently, the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigations is carrying out an internal investigation, Freitas said. He is also asking the San Joaquin County Auditor’s Office to conduct its own audit and has notified both the San Joaquin County Administrator and the county Board of Supervisors of the alleged fraud.
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Unbelievable! On the heels of charging a cooperating federal witness with fraud over credit card disputes, we have a District Attorney alleging her attorney is also guilty of fraud for mismanaging programs he was in charge of. It sounds like we have a DA who is not only out of control, but may well be the focus of an investigation himself.
Freitas sued Salazar in 2019 while he was asst da and she was da. They have had issues with each other from way back.
Sacramento needs to immediately investigate the SJC DA’s office. There are too many inconsistencies and questionable actions/inactions that have occurred since Freitas took over.
–Why did he gut the Public Integrity Office established under the previous DA?
–Why will he not take questions at any pressers?
–What is going on with investigations into SUSD?
–Is he using his office to retaliate against whistleblowers and assist allies that may be under current investigation(s)?
–Has he neutered Penal Code 905?
We need outside eyes on this office. San Joaquin deserves better.
Citizens need to request a grand jury investigation to hopefully get to the truth of these ricocheting accusations. No bias on my part; I’d just like to know.