Modesto mayor’s two challengers in March primary have faced criminal charges, civil actions
The two candidates challenging Modesto Mayor Sue Zwahlen in the March 5 primary election have legal histories that include being arrested and having criminal charges and civil actions filed against them.
Dewey Bedford Jr. and Sebastian Jones are vying to succeed Zwahlen, who is seeking a second term. The Modesto Bee routinely backgrounds candidates seeking public office.
Zwahlen, 69, was cited in 2009 for using a cell phone while driving, and she paid $149 for the infraction, according to Stanislaus County Superior Court records.
The legal issues for Bedford, 46, in Stanislaus County include his pleading nolo contendere in 2009 to the misdemeanor of disorderly conduct related to loitering, prowling or wandering on private property, and having the DMV place holds on his license twice in 2004 and once in 2014. Two of the holds were for failing to appear in court on traffic citations, and one was for failing to pay a traffic fine.
The California Labor Commissioner’s Office filed judgments totaling more than $16,600 against him in 2014 and 2015 for not paying four employees in his social media marketing business, BU Universal.
The Bee asks candidates to fill out a questionnaire. Besides asking for biographical information and why a candidate is running, the questions include whether a candidate ever has been found guilty or pleaded guilty, no contest or nolo contendere to a crime. Candidates are asked whether they have been sued or been a defendant in another civil action or had a judgment filed against them.
Bedford answered “no” to both questions. When he was informed that those answers did not match public records, he said, “I think I rushed through it. ... That (the court cases) are not on the forefront of my mind.” He submitted a second questionnaire acknowledging the court cases but he did not provide specifics as requested.
Bedford said he has faced his challenges in life, including losing his job and not being able to pay his bills. But he said the experiences will make him an effective mayor because he can empathize with the many other Modesto residents who have faced similar hardships.
“I went through life solo,” he said. “I made some mistakes, and committed to some things and could not finish them. ... Sometimes things don’t work out. That does not make me a bad person.”
Bedford said he is a full-time parent. He also serves on the city’s Culture Commission.
He suggested that as a Black man, he faced unequal treatment regarding the disorderly conduct. He also had been charged with felony attempted burglary and misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a minor, but those charges were dismissed.
“The way the system works for minorities is sometimes they get you and they have to keep you in the system,” he said. “I wanted to fight the loitering charge but did not have the manpower or resources, so I accepted.”
He attributed the problems with BU Universal to a business partner. Bedford said the partner was responsible for the company’s finances. The partner left Modesto because he was having marital problems, Bedford said. “I understand the people who are very upset,” he said. “I could not pay my rent, either.”
Bedford could not provide the partner’s name or address when asked. And the Labor Commissioner Office’s complaints list Bedford as the only defendant.
Bedford also confirmed that he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor grand theft in Santa Barbara County in 1998. He said he was attending Santa Barbara City College and working at Macy’s. The Santa Barbara County Superior Court website states he was sentenced to 10 days in jail, 63 hours of community service and 36 months of summary probation.
Bedford said he pleaded no contest because he declined to help authorities identify the Santa Barbara City College students suspected of shoplifting at the department store. Bedford said he had no involvement in the theft and it was not his job to find the suspects. “I pretty much went down for somebody’s else crime,” Bedford said. “I ended up serving three days in jail.”
Candidate Jones was arrested at his home in 2008
A Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputy arrested Jones at his west Modesto home in March 2008 on suspicion of hitting his former girlfriend twice in the face, according to records obtained by The Bee. The woman alleged that Jones continued to call her after she ended their relationship and that she went to his home to tell his wife about the calls, according to the records.
The woman’s front teeth were pushed back from the impact of being struck, according to the records. The woman could not be reached for comment.
Jones said the woman was the aggressor, was trespassing, struck him, and he was defending himself and his wife, according to the records. While the woman left, Jones asked her to stay and asked his wife to call the police, according to the records.
A judge ruled at Jones’s September 2009 preliminary hearing that there was sufficient evidence for Jones to stand trial on the battery charge.
But during questioning by Jones’s attorney at the preliminary hearing, the woman acknowledged she had hit Jones in the past, talked to him on the phone after his arrest and in 1989 was accused of threatening Jones’s wife with a butcher’s knife. The woman denied making a threat. “She hit me in the head when I first met her, and I ended up with stitches and in jail because they turned it (the incident) around,” the woman testified.
The District Attorney’s Office filed two more felonies against Jones in October 2009: assault and attempting to prevent the woman from reporting the incident. A judge dismissed all the charges against Jones in 2011 at the request of his attorney.
Jones, 61, said in a text message to The Bee: “The legal system, through its due process, concluded that the the allegations against me were without merit ... .”
Jones and his wife had two unlawful detainers filed against them. Landlords file these court actions to remove tenants.
Jones reached a settlement in a 2018 case in which the court ruled he and his wife did not have to pay rent during the four months they contested being removed from their home, their landlord would provide them with a neutral statement and dismiss the unlawful detainer. Jones would not be reimbursed for repairs he made, and he and his wife would have to leave the rental.
But in a 2011 case, the court ruled in favor of the landlord and said Jones and his wife owed $2,145. Jones said the rental was not properly maintained and had rats, a leaky faucet that caused extensive water damage and malfunctioning electrical outlets.
Jones says he’s working to resolve lien against him
The California Franchise Tax Board filed a $10,514 lien against Jones, according to records at the Clerk-Recorder’s Office. The lien was for the 2006 tax year and includes unpaid taxes, penalties, interest and fees. The lien was refiled in 2019 for $14,794, reflecting additional interest and fees.
Jones said in an interview he believes the lien is a bookkeeping mistake and former employees of his now-defunct funeral escort service are responsible for the taxes. He said will try to find his former bookkeeper and resolve this.
Jones is a community activist, executive director of the nonprofit Martin Luther King Jr. Committee and serves on the city’s Board of Building Appeals. He also is a Black man.
Regarding his court cases, Jones wrote in a text: “... I’ve seen firsthand how complicated and unfair the legal system can be, especially for folks who don’t have much, and even more so for people of color. The challenges we face aren’t just about the legal issues ... but also about the biases that can influence these situations. It’s shown me what many people in our city are going through, particularly our communities of color ... .”
Jones answered “no” to the question about whether he ever had been the defendant in a civil action. He said in a text that he answered “no” because he was fighting for what he believed was right: safe, habitable housing for everyone.
Liens filed against Bedford over unpaid wages
In awarding four former BU Universal employees $3,687 in unpaid wages for several weeks of work, as well as $12,973 in damages, penalties and interest, a hearing officer said they provided credible evidence and testimony, according to court records. The records state Bedford was “properly notified” about the hearings but did not attend them or provide a written response to the claims against him.
“He was having us sell social media to local businesses to give them more exposure,” said Alejandro Rocha, one of the former employees. “We would go around Modesto talking to local businesses .... . He wasn’t paying us. I lasted about a month and then I left. I never received a check and just left.”
Bedford said he was not notified about the hearings and learned about them only from The Bee. He claimed the employees were unpaid interns.
The Labor Commissioner’s Office filed four liens against Bedford on behalf of the four employees. The office also filed a fifth lien on behalf of another former BU Universal employee for $4,040 in January 2015. That employee had also filed a complaint against Bedford with the Labor Commissioner’s Office, but the court records no longer exist.
Bedford satisfied that lien in full and it was released in February 2015, according to the Clerk-Recorder’s Office. The four other liens remain in effect.
Off-duty deputy calls 911
Turlock police arrested Bedford and a 14-year-old boy on Feb. 9, 2009, after an off-duty sheriff’s deputy reported seeing the teen in his backyard and both of them in his neighbor’s backyard around 11 a.m., according to documents obtained by The Bee.
The deputy said he was upstairs when he heard his doorbell ring. He looked out a window and saw the teen in his backyard, according to the documents. The off-duty deputy said that as he called 911, he saw the man and the teen in his neighbor’s backyard.
Turlock police arrested the man and the teen a short time later and not far from the deputy’s home. The deputy identified Bedford and the teen as the people he had seen, according to the documents.
The District Attorney’s Office charged Bedford with felony attempted burglary, misdemeanor disorderly conduct and misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Bedford pleaded to the disorderly conduct charge. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail, which was stayed, and 36 months of informal probation.
Bedford said he did nothing wrong. He said he was dressed in a suit and he and the teen were going door to door selling wireless phones and services. “I didn’t go into anyone’s backyard,” he said. “I’m an earner. I don’t steal.”
