Antioch Search Warrants Reveal Mayor and City Clerk Engaged in Possible Criminal Conduct

According to court documents released Tuesday, the Antioch Police Department found evidence that implicates Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe and City Clerk Ellie Householder who potential engaged criminal conduct and Brown Act Violations.

The Share Order (sharing of information pursuant to CAl. ECPA Search Warrant), filed August 9, stated that the Contra Costa County Court Superior Judge Patricia M Scanlon, found probable cause to believe the information obtained by Detective Bledsoe is also relevant to both the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Political Corruption Unit and/or the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Political Corruption Unit.

This stems from the Antioch Police Department issuing a series of Search Warrants of Shagoofa Khan relating to an arson investigation on January 9, 2021 where Khan was identified as the person responsible for setting fire to a “Blue Lives Matter” sign outside the police department—she was charged with felony arson after the case was presented to the District Attorney’s Office.

The search warrants are filed as:

• P21-312
• P21-313
• P21-314
• P-21-315

On January 15, Khan was taken into custody in the City of Lafayette where at the time her cell phone was seized as evidence—a search warrant of the phone was granted by a judge.

According to the Share Order:

“While reviewing the records and contents of Shagoofas device related to the arson, I discovered multiple instances of potentially criminal conduct between Antioch elected officials and Shagoofa Khan. The elected officials include the Mayor of Antioch and City Clerk.  These instances included text message communications, which included attachments, between the individuals and Shagoofa Khan during City Council meetings and involved the release of information not yet available to the public. Many of these communications are arguably violation of the Brown Act and further investigation is warranted.”

The Share Order did not provide any examples of the communications or screen shots, but stated the data range was between Dec. 1, 2020 through January 15, 2021 which included all communications, social media, images, videos locations, web history from Shagoofa Khans phone.

In the investigation Summary, it stated that Officer Lenderman was the officer who identified Khan. Khan was identified as a local resident who routinely instigates protest in front of Antioch Police and City Hall. From the footage, it shows Shagoofa ripping down a Blue Lives Matter sign that was affixed to a tree outside the employee entrances gate. The sign was province given to APD by the mother of a fallen Pittsburg Police Officer.

Note – Lenderman is now subject to an online petition by members of the public, which was supported by members of the Antioch City Council, to resign him to another assignment within the department.

The summary continued.

“Numerous members of APD knew the fallen Pittsburg officer personally as well as were present during the investigation of his murder on 4-24-2005. The actual sign itself was made of whiteboard, ribbon and small blue line flags. The sign was routinely maintained by members of the public for several years, APD officers see it as they return to the station through the employee gate.

The footage further depicts Shagoofa carry the sign away from the tree, place it on the ground before stomping on it and setting it on fire. There were multiple other protesters in the area and a few of them appeared to assist Shagoofa with setting the fire, with one unknown male subject appears to put liquid (presumably flammable) on the sign just before it was lit on fire.

As it burns, she appeared to film and/or photograph the sign burning. The fire was directly blocking the rear entrance/exit gate to the complex so that a patrol car or an emergency vehicle would have to drive over the flames to get into or out of the parking lot. This caused a potential for unnecessary delays to emergency services to the community and directly impacted police personnel from coming and going as the fire burned

Shagoofa is known to push the limits of the protests in effort to prompt a police reaction. APD has largely avoided any reaction or intervention to the protests organized by Shagoofa, including the incident on 1/9/21. In the most recent incident, Shagoofa was captured on camera wearing body armor over black clothing. Body armor such as that worn by Shagoofa, is designed to minimize the effectiveness of less lethal devices and can be shown as a visual defiance towards law enforcement. This was particularly concerning as with each protest, Shagoofa seemed to step-up her attempts to entice a police reaction. Under the current climate of civil unrest and violent protests, Shafooga’s attire combined with her actions suggested she was elevating her efforts.”

According to Scott Alonso, Contra Costa District Attorney’s Spokesman, he said he would look into whether or not a case has been presented to them regarding the Antioch Mayor and City Clerk being involved in alleged political corruption and was unaware of the recent share order filed Monday.

For Khan, she is due back in court regarding the arson arrest in September, while she is also facing charges of assault/battery from an August 2020 incident involving Antioch School Board Trustee Mary Rocha.