No evidence of misconduct in Shasta District Attorney's handling of Zogg Fire settlement

Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett did nothing wrong when she chose not to continue to pursue criminal charges against Pacific Gas and Electric Company, instead reaching a $50 million civil settlement with the utility for allegedly starting the deadly 2020 Zogg Fire in western Shasta County.

That’s the conclusion made by the California Attorney General’s Office in a letter sent to county Supervisor Patrick Jones on Jan. 29.

Jones was chairman of the board when he sent a letter on Aug. 29 asking the Attorney General’s office to review the case and to potentially appoint a special counsel to investigate Bridgett’s conduct.

Supervisors had said they wanted to know more about what led to the Shasta County District Attorney's Office deciding to reach a settlement with PG&E over the Zogg Fire and how the money was distributed in the community.

The Zogg Fire killed four people, destroyed 204 structures and burned 56,000 acres in western Shasta County in September 2020.

“After thoroughly reviewing the court records, available reports, and information about the settlement, our conclusion is that the District Attorney did not abuse her discretion in dismissing criminal charges and instead reaching a significant civil settlement,” the letter in part said.

The letter further stated that there was ”no evidence of misconduct or impropriety” in how the settlement with PG&E was reached.

The letter was from Lance Winters, the chief assistant attorney general in the criminal division.

The DA's office did not see the attorney general's letter sent to Jones until this week, after Bridgett's office asked AG about the supervisor's request from last summer.

"I would have liked to receive a copy of the letter when it was initially sent. Upon receipt of the letter this week, I determined it needed to be released to the public to bring closure to that case and the issues raised about it. It is my hope that this decision by the Attorney General’s Office will provide answers to those in our community that had questions concerning its handling by myself and my office," Bridgett said in an email.

Jones said he did not share the letter with DA Bridgett because he was no longer chair of the board and he assumed everyone got a copy of the letter.

“It’s not my responsibility to see if the DA got it or not, so I assume the Attorney General would have sent her the same letter,” he added.

Asked if he shared the letter with anyone, Jones said, “I am certain I talked to the chair about that.”

Supervisor Kevin Crye has chaired the board since Dec. 5, 2023. He said he doesn’t know why the letter was not shared. “I know CEO (David) Rickert or Patrick told me first about it,” Crye said, adding that he remembers asking what the next step should be.

Crye raised concerns about the Zogg Fire settlement last summer and at the time said he wanted to hire an independent counsel to find out why Bridgett didn't push harder to criminally prosecute PG&E for allegedly starting the blaze.

In September 2021, the DA's office charged PG&E with manslaughter, along with other charges, in connection with the deaths in the Zogg Fire. After a preliminary hearing on evidence in the case, Shasta County Superior Court Judge Bradley Boeckman ruled there was enough evidence to send the case to trial.

But in April 2023, Judge Daniel Flynn overturned Boeckman's ruling, preventing the DA's office from going forward with the case.

"We could have refiled the case but that would have forced us to start the entire case over. A case that had already taken two years to get to that point," Bridgett said in the email.

"If we had refiled the case, there’s also the possibility that it would have ended with the exact same result. That means we could have put the entire community and all the victims through two more years of waiting for no better result. Considering all those factors, we decided to do everything we could to help the community right now, to get as many resources as we could back into the community for fire prevention," Bridgett said.

Supervisor Tim Garman, whose district includes the area the Zogg Fire burned, said he also did not know about the letter sent to Jones in January.

“The other supervisors may or may not have known about it. So much for transparency,” Garman said.

He also said supervisors did not discuss the response letter from the AG’s office.

“We haven’t discussed it all, nor would we have discussed it, (but) the public has the right to know,” Garman said. “They made a huge deal out of that (sending a letter to the AG’s office). Those (fire) victims deserve to know that the DA did everything correctly.”

Jones said the AG's response letter did not surprise him.

Crye did not have a comment on the response letter.

Garman wonders if the letter wasn’t released because it came about a month before the March 5 election. Both Jones and Crye were on the ballot.

Jones lost his re-election bid and Crye beat back an attempted to recall him by 50 votes.

Jones and Crye said politics did not play a role.

“I didn’t look at it that way. I wasn’t the chair in January. I assume everybody got the letter. How would I know he (Garman) didn’t get the letter,” Jones said.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Shasta District Attorney's conduct appropriate in Zogg Fire settlement