Sheriff’s deputies arrested a former San Joaquin County Superior Court clerk Wednesday, alleging she provided a reporter a copy of a search warrant that was supposed to remain sealed, according to a department statement.
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office said 62-year-old Pamela Edwards released a “highly sensitive, sealed warrant related to a potential public corruption investigation … to a media member” in November of last year.
Deputies arrested Edwards in downtown Stockton on a misdemeanor charge of disobeying a court order, the statement said. They booked Edwards at the San Joaquin County Jail about 4:30 p.m., according to jail records.
Last November, San Joaquin County Superior Court staff provided Stockton Record reporters a copy of a warrant, stating it had been “unsealed,” The Record reported.
The warrant was for a search of then-Stockton Unified school board President AngelAnn Flores’ home in south Stockton, as well as school district offices, The Record reported.
The document outlined the sheriff’s justifications for searching Flores.
In April, Flores was charged with felony counts of misappropriation of funds, grand theft of school funds exceeding $950 and making false claims, the charging document showed.
Flores’ lawyers claim the investigation and charges are a form of political retaliation. A preliminary hearing in her case is set for Monday.
Days after the court released a copy of the warrant in November, court spokesperson Erica Ochoa stated in an email to The Record that the warrant had been disclosed by accident.
But the sheriff’s office statement, posted online late Wednesday, said its investigation found evidence that Edwards “saw and disobeyed” the court order sealing the document.
In August, two deputies from the sheriff’s Special Services division went to the home of a Stockton Record reporter and asked questions about the release of the search warrant, saying they wanted to know “what happened with that,” the Record reported. A sheriff’s sergeant and a spokesperson later declined to answer questions about why deputies had visited or what their questions had to do with the investigation.
On Wednesday evening, District Attorney Ron Freitas told Stocktonia that charges in the case will be filed Thursday, and a statement will be issued that day.
Jail records show Edwards is due before a judge Friday at 1:30 p.m. and bail is set at $10,000.
Here’s how Stocktonia is covering the story of school board member’s arrest, search warrant.
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