San Joaquin County District Attorney Ron Freitas has 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.”

San Joaquin County District Attorney Tori Berber Salazar speaks at the press conference following the arraignments of Nicholas Bloed and Ny Tran at the DA’s office in Stockton, Calif., on Nov. 14, 2022. (Harika Maddala/ Bay City News / Catchlight Local)

“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.

Katy St. Clair got her start in journalism by working in the classifieds department at the East Bay Express during the height of alt weeklies, then sweet talked her way into becoming staff writer, submissions editor, and music editor. She has been a columnist in the East Bay Express, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Examiner. Starting in 2015, she begrudgingly scaled the inverted pyramid at dailies such as the Vallejo Times-Herald, The Vacaville Reporter, and the Daily Republic. She has her own independent news site and blog that covers the delightfully dysfunctional town of Vallejo, California, where she also collaborates with the investigative team at Open Vallejo. A passionate advocate for people with developmental disabilities, she serves on both the Board of the Arc of Solano and the Arc of California. She lives in Vallejo.