District Attorney Ron Freitas described the release of a warrant by a county court clerk as a “betrayal” and an “assault on our justice system” in a statement Thursday.

On Wednesday, deputies arrested 62-year-old Pamela Edwards, a 27-year veteran of the San Joaquin County Superior Court, who is charged with willfully disobeying a court order. Authorities say Edwards last year made public a search warrant that had been sealed by a judge. 

Released to The Record last November, that warrant detailed the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office’s reasons for searching then-Stockton Unified school board president AngelAnn Flores’ home, as well as school district offices, that same month. 

The warrant was supposed to remain sealed from public view, sheriff’s office and court officials told The Record after it published a story about the warrant. A court spokesperson told the outlet the release was accidental.

But Frietas said in Thursday’s statement that his office would not tolerate anyone “violating the sanctity of a Court Order.”

“We will hold all those involved in this case fully responsible,” Freitas said.

Edwards was being held at the San Joaquin County Jail on $10,000 bond following her arrest Wednesday but has since been released, online jail records show. Her first court appearance was initially scheduled for Friday but has since been pushed back to Dec. 4. 

For her part, Flores is facing felony misappropriation, grand theft and false claims charges, which her lawyer says amount to political retaliation. Flores is scheduled for court on Jan. 21, so a judge can decide if there’s enough evidence to try her. She was originally scheduled to be in court on Monday.

No evidence explaining how the warrant was released – or proving Edwards’ alleged intent  – has yet been presented in court or described in publicly available court records. Stocktonia’s attempts to reach Edwards for comment by publication were unsuccessful. 

While there’s a long road ahead before the facts in her case become public, California’s court system has general rules about how clerks and others must handle sealed documents.

California’s Rules of Court state that any paperwork that “may be filed under seal” should be brought to court in a sealed “envelope or other appropriate container” by the filer. The filer should also clearly label the envelope “conditionally under seal.” If a judge grants the filer’s request, clerks must put a cover on the envelope indicating the records are sealed.

Det. Rocky Bulen of the sheriff’s Agriculture Gang Narcotics Enforcement Team wrote the Flores warrant, The Record reported. However, it’s unclear who brought the warrant in question to court.

With its post announcing Edwards’ arrest Wednesday, the sheriff’s office included a photo of someone wearing a sheriff’s badge standing at a counter, possibly at Stockton’s courthouse, as a second person handles several documents. A red arrow points from those documents to an up-close image of an alleged sealing order dated Nov. 9, 2023, for a search warrant. 

No sealing envelope or container is evident in the photo. And it’s unclear from observing the photo if that “Sealing Order” is among the documents shown. The post also didn’t identify either subject, or say where or when the photo was taken. 

It’s unclear at this time to what extent sheriff’s deputies, court staff and any other official who handled the document followed California’s rules for sealed records.

Regardless, journalists have a right to report on any record they obtained legally. 

“If there’s a court record that the court gave you, or gave one of your colleagues, you have a First Amendment right to report on it if it’s a matter of public concern,” First Amendment Coalition lawyer David Loy told The Record in September.

At the same time, “if a government employee does in fact commit a crime by leaking or releasing info, in theory, yes, they can be prosecuted,” Loy told Stocktonia Thursday. But “there is a risk of prosecutorial overreach, particularly if (the release) was an innocent mistake,” he said.

“It raises a concern (of) if this is retaliation or blowback – in effect, throwing this clerk under the bus to the extent that this information is embarrassing to someone in power.”

Without the facts, Loy can’t say for sure, he said.

Here’s how Stocktonia is covering the story of school board member’s arrest, search warrant.