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Judge Tosses Cubbison Criminal Case

Superior Court Judge Ann Moorman on Tuesday dismissed a contentious criminal case against suspended Mendocino County Auditor Chamise Cubbison and former Payroll Manager Paula June Kennedy, ending a politically laced prosecution that spanned two years.

Chamise Cubbison

Civil attorneys for Cubbison, a 16-year county veteran, said Tuesday evening they will push for her return as the elected Mendocino County Auditor/Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector now that she is free of the criminal case.

San Francisco attorney Therese Cannata said, “On behalf of Ms. Cubbison, we will be demanding immediate reinstatement.”

Cannata said Cubbison, who was suspended from her $176,000 post without pay and benefits in October 2023, also will vigorously pursue her pending civil lawsuit against the County Board of Supervisors for denying her due process.

Cubbison’s potential for collecting significant civil damages from the county including attorney fees, loss of wages and benefits, and professional reputation is increased with the court’s dismissal of the criminal case.

The financial stakes are high.

DA prosecution and County costs defending against the civil litigation are already estimated to be 3-4 times the $68,000 in disputed extra pay paid to Kennedy for work during the Covid pandemic that DA David Eyster claimed in October 2023 amounted to felony misappropriation of public funds.

Eyster stepped up the ante for taxpayers when within four months of accusing Cubbison of criminal misconduct he chose to hire outside prosecutor Traci Carrillo of Santa Rosa at the rate of $400 per hour to try the case. Civil attorneys defending the County Board of Supervisors already have billed about $120,000 in fees and services.

Cubbison had retained out of pocket noted Sonoma County defense attorney Chris Andrian and his investigator Chris Reynolds to fight Eyster’s criminal charges.

Tuesday’s dismissal was a stinging defeat for Eyster, who Cubbison supporters believe targeted her for challenging him over DA’s office spending. Eyster supported a plan to merge the county’s two key financial offices in apparent hope of knocking Cubbison from her position. When the disputed internal pay issue surfaced, Eyster acted, turning his own team of investigators on the case after the Sheriff’s Office turned over its results.

For Cubbison, Tuesday’s dismissal was a big victory and vindication for being the target of board critics besides Eyster. Cubbison risked a criminal record after she refused Eyster’s original offer to only face a misdemeanor charge if she resigned her post.

From the beginning the Cubbison case was complicated by Eyster’s contentious relationship with the Auditor, and two other Auditors who served before her.

Cubbison ran afoul of Eyster after she challenged DA office spending, including for expenses for staff dinners he labeled “training sessions.” Eyster retaliated by successfully blocking her interim appointment as Auditor in 2021 after publicly denouncing her at a board meeting. When the disputed extra pay for Kennedy surfaced, Eyster had his own team of investigators do follow up work before filing formal criminal charges against her.

Cubbison, her civil attorneys, and her supporters believe Eyster targeted her even though circumstances surrounding the alleged criminal case were fuzzy from the beginning.

Sheriff Lt. Andrew Porter, a 30-year law enforcement veteran, came under scrutiny during the preliminary hearing. Porter acknowledged on the witness stand that he had access to county emails and other documentation when he started to probe the Kennedy extra pay but he did not act to preserve them. Within months it was discovered that the county email archival system had collapsed, throwing case documentation efforts into disarray. Eventually many documents were retrieved but no one could determine what relevant material might be missing.

Then in recent days documentation issues took another turn when it was learned that top county officials and former Auditor Lloyd Weer in fact had been provided regular bi-monthly reports since 2019 showing Kennedy had been open about using a miscellaneous county pay code to add extra money to her own paycheck.

During testimony at the preliminary hearing, Weer, CEO Antle and others said they were unaware of the payments but the internal payroll documents produced by the DA’s office at the last minute showed otherwise.

Moorman said in fact Kennedy had been transparent in her actions.

“If anybody had read the reports, it was clear what she was doing. She was transparent about a serious pay issue that no one at the management level had resolved,” said Moorman.

Moorman said she believed Cubbison did not know the details of a likely extra pay arrangement made between Kennedy and Weer.

Cubbison in fact acted as a “whistleblower” when she informed the County Counsel’s Office of threatened legal action by Kennedy if her chronic pay issues were not resolved, according to Moorman.

Moorman said, “She did the right thing. She did not try to cover anything up.”

Moorman placed evidentiary problems at the feet of Lt. Porter, who she felt had acted unprofessionally about the white-collar crimes issues involved.

“He failed to preserve email evidence when he had access to it before the system collapsed,” said Moorman. “The system collapse wasn’t his fault but his failure to preserve evidence when he had access was,” said Moorman.

The judge also found that the investigator didn’t follow up on questionable issues relating to retired Auditor Weer, and Kennedy.

Moorman was scornful of Weer’s role in the case, and his denial on the witness stand that he might have let Kennedy think she had permission to use the obscure county pay code to reimburse herself, a salaried employee, for the chronic hours she was putting in.

“I don’t believe him,” declared Moorman. The judge cited Weer’s evasive answers as a prosecution witness, and his “defensive demeanor.”

Moorman spoke scornfully about “willful ignorance” shown by county officials who testified during the preliminary hearing they didn’t know anything about the obscure County pay code Kennedy was accused of using to pay herself.

Moorman said the exculpatory evidence turned over by District Attorney Chief Investigator Andrew Alvarado during the final days of the hearing only underscored in her mind how “transparent” the defendants had been about events leading up to Eyster’s decision to file felony charges.

The documents showed that county payroll reports faithfully detailed how Kennedy’s extra pay had been distributed widely to administrators including CEO Darcie Antle and her staff over a three-year period yet no one questioned why.

“It was all there if anyone had bothered to take a look,” said Moorman.

Moorman’s decision to dismiss the criminal case brought relief to the faces of Cubbison, Kennedy and their lawyers. They hugged each other after Moorman finished her statement, and declared the case dismissed.

Public Defender FredRicco McCurry had asked Moorman to toss out the case against Kennedy “in the interest of justice.”

“There is no evidence of any criminal intent. There is only evidence that this employee worked herself into a state of exhaustion,” said McCurry.

McCurry added, “The taxpayers still owe her for work done under very difficult circumstances.”

Cubbison lawyer Andrian said the judge “did the right thing here.”

“There was no evidence to take this case to trial,” said Andrian.

Prosecutor Traci Carrillo said she respected Moorman’s decision “based on how the evidence came out and the various issues that presented themselves.”

“This is exactly the type of case that sometimes needs to simply play out and be challenged at a preliminary hearing in a transparent manner (versus a grand jury proceeding) to further evaluate the totality of the evidence,” said Carrillo.


CHRIS SKYHAWK: Something good happened Tuesday. A good woman was exonerated. She was set up for failure by our Board of Supervisors. Everyone knew combining Auditor-Controller with the Treasurer-Tax Collector was a recipe for failure. It’s FAR too much for one office. And despite her valiant efforts, she has been made a scapegoat. It’s shameful and Exhibit A on why we have a failing county. Again, our Board of Supervisors including Ted Williams should be ashamed of themselves. They won’t be, but at least they’ve been rebuked.

6 Comments

  1. chris skyhawk February 26, 2025

    a good woman was exonerated- she was set up for failure by our BOS everyone knew combining auditor, controller was a a recipe for failure, its FAR too much for one office, and despite her valiant efforts, she has been made a scapegoat, its shameful and Exhibit A on why we have a failing county; again, our BOS including ted williams should be ashamed of themselves, they wont be but at least they’ve been rebuked

  2. Call It As I See It February 26, 2025

    First thing, unbelievable reporting by Mike Gienella.
    Mike should be proud this morning. His reporting was good old fashioned journalism, something this Country has sorely missed. His tenacious reporting could have led to Judge Moorman’s dismissal. He laid this case out clearly with facts.

    Congrats to Chamise Cubbison for her ability to stand up for morals in what must have been one of the toughest moments of her life. Now go back to work and thank Ms. Pearce for keeping your seat warm. You were elected by the people who demand we be represented by our choice. Not an appointed lackey of the BOS.

    Chris Andrian, one of the best lawyers ,who has made a living out of kicking Eyster’s ass in court on regular basis.

    To Da Dave, you should resign. You have proven yourself to be vindictive and your judgement is dangerous. The Attorney General should not only look into your role in this case but should investigate you for fraud concerning training at the Broiler Steakhouse.

    D’Arcie Antle, in the famous words of Donald Trump you should hear, “You’re Fired”

    The remaining BOS, there are three of you. Please resign, we as voters should recall you if you don’t.

    Thank god Andy Porter is retiring, we do not need a law enforcement officer with an agenda and willing to complete a lackluster investigation that could have put a person in jail. Question, how many people are in jail because of his shoddy work?

    To the County Employees who basically lied on the stand, I’ll cut you some slack. Fear of possibly losing your job can make do things out of character. Not an excuse but could be a form of survival.

    Lloyd Weer, an embarrassment. How do you not have the back of your Assistant Auditor who you gave a job to knowing your involvement? You were willing to let Chamise take the fall when she was innocent. What does this say about your character? Plus you straight up lied in your testimony.

    There was a bright spot, Andy Alvarado who turned over evidence that the defense was entitled to. In other words, he didn’t join the conspiracy. He followed his oath he took when he became an officer of the law. Thank you for easing our minds that there are still honest law enforcement officers.

    I called this from day one, it’s too bad we can’t hold McGourty and Gjerde accountable. But these cowards saw the writing on the wall.

    It’s a good day in Mendocino County. Good luck Chamise, give’m hell, you’re earned it.

  3. Maxine February 26, 2025

    Also, the County contract with the SF law firm of Lieberman Cassidy Whitmore, who employs attorney Morin Jacob, needs to be terminated immediately, if it hasn’t already. They dispense bad advice. I still can’t get over Ms. Jacob’s lackluster, snooty performance at 10/31/23 BOS meeting. We paid for that??

    • Maxine February 26, 2025

      *Liebert, not Lieberman! Autocorrect error.

  4. Oops February 26, 2025

    Time to resign Dirty Dave. This will be fun to watch the elected Auditor-Controller-Treasurer-Tax Collector return to office and uncover all of the interesting expenses that have been going on while the fox has been guarding the hen house. Its time for the Board to fully fund the ACTTC office and stop playing stupid games.

    This is the biggest case of prosecutorial misconduct I’ve ever seen. Shame on Moorman for not calling out the DA who was obviously very personally involved in the investigation and now he hides behind Carillo. Instead Moorman excoriates Weer and Porter who are just side players in this game of retribution and destruction. Moorman tiptoes around Dirty Dave and signals how the rest of the County leadership will respond: “Nothing to see here! Porter was incompetent and Weer was scared. Move on.” Moorman does indeed tolerate willful ignorance. Shame on the Board and their CEO for being dumb tools. Taxpayers should be furious.

  5. Jane Doe Ukiah February 26, 2025

    What a waste of taxpayer dollars!!! And wait till the county has to pay out for the civil suit! At ANY time the (previous) BOS and/or CEO could have stopped the bleeding. Especially after finding out all the county emails were destroyed (destruction of evidence). The CEO should be fired. Those BOS members should never be reelected. I still can’t believe MM got reelected when we all watched her complacency in this fraud of a case, waste of tax dollars, and abuse of power. Will this County ever elect officials with integrity? Oh yeah, we did; Chamise Cubbison. Thank goodness we have two new board members that may be able to talk some sense into the other three village idiots.

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