Shasta Sheriff won’t release communications with conservative groups due to ‘open investigation’

Corrections & Clarifications: This story has been updated to be precise about what the Record Searchlight knows about an investigation being conducted by the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office.

The Shasta County Sheriff’s Office is not releasing information about electronic communications that Sheriff Michael Johnson has had with numerous conservative groups around the country because the documents are an “intrinsic part of individual confidential law enforcement investigative files,” the agency says.

The sheriff’s office said it will not comment on any information related to those communications, including what it is investigating.

Word of the documents came to light when American Oversight, a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group, submitted a public records request seeking copies of electronic communications between Sheriff Michael Johnson and a list of 20 individuals and groups.

The list includes groups such as True the Vote, the Election Integrity Project California and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who has challenged the 2020 presidential election results.

Also on the list are Jeffrey O’Donnell and Doug Frank, who have spoken in Shasta County and promoted conspiracies related to the 2020 election being stolen from Donald Trump. O’Donnell appeared via Zoom at a July election town hall hosted by Shasta County Supervisor Patrick Jones.

Former Shasta County resident Reverge Anselmo, who has donated more than $1 million toward local conservative candidates and issues, is also on the list. Another person mentioned in the records request is Terry Rapoza of Redding, a supporter of conservative issues in the county.

In a letter sent May 18, 2023, the sheriff’s office notified American Oversight that it has records that are “responsive” to the group's request, but it declined to share those records with the nonprofit.

“However, please be advised that the requested records are maintained within and are an intrinsic part of individual confidential law enforcement investigative files,” according to the letter, signed by sheriff’s Staff Services Analyst Carrie Volberg.

She goes on to cite the California law that allows the sheriff’s office to withhold the records from release.

Law enforcement agencies routinely decline to release information about ongoing criminal investigations.

When asked by the Record Searchlight what the sheriff’s office was investigating, sheriff’s spokesman Tim Mapes said he could not provide any further information.

“What I can tell you right now is that the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office continues to work on the investigation referenced in the document you provided. Due to it being an open case, we do not have any further information that we can release at this time,” Mapes said in an email.

After this story published Tuesday, Mapes contacted the Record Searchlight and verified the statements he and Volberg made were accurate, but he said the organizations listed on the records request were not involved in an investigation and were not under investigation.

He would not elaborate further.

What is American Oversight?

Heather Sawyer, executive director of American Oversight, said her organization files requests for records across the country to “shed light on actions that are happening to challenge the integrity of our elections, to foment false claims of voter fraud and really trying to shed light on efforts of a group, honestly, of election deniers who operate in many places throughout the country.”

Since 2017, her group has filed more than 11,000 requests for public records from local, state and federal government agencies.

American Oversight had learned that the county Board of Supervisors had canceled its contract with Dominion Voting Systems so county officials could instead hand-count election ballots, she said. That prompted the group to submit its records request to find out what was happening behind the scenes, Sawyer said.

“So, we submitted the public records request to really try to just get a sense of what really is going on. Oftentimes what people are saying in public isn't the full story. So we wanted to try to figure out what is really going on here? Who are these officials talking to and why are they making this move?” Sawyer said.

Rapoza, who also has been involved in efforts to split part of far Northern California into the State of Jefferson, said he hasn’t heard from anyone with the sheriff’s office and he didn’t know why he was part of an investigation. He said he planned to contact Sheriff Johnson to find out more.

The Record Searchlight sent emails and left phone messages with several of the organizations and individuals listed on American Oversight’s list, but as of Tuesday most of them had not replied.

Elaine Paine, president and co-founder of Election Integrity Project California said Tuesday she had not heard from the sheriff's office, but she was curious what the investigation could be about.

The document request from American Oversight does not name Paine, but asks for any communications ending in eip-ca.com, the email address for integrity project's California chapter, which is based in Santa Clarita.

Paine had heard of American Oversight and said the integrity project encourages groups around the state to monitor local elections and to remain independent and nonpartisan.

"So we're sometimes made aware of someone looking into us. But we cross our T's and dot our I's. We're very careful in the way we do our work. So I'm not concerned about it, but I do find it interesting," she said.

County provides email from MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell to Kevin Crye

American Oversight also asked the county Clerk of the Board of Supervisors Office for electronic messages between members of the board and most of the same people mentioned in the watchdog group's letter to the sheriff’s office.

The clerk of the board provided several text messages and emails written between county Supervisor Kevin Crye and Rapoza and between Crye and Lindell.

The handful of text messages in March of this year between Rapoza and Crye consisted of attempts to set up a meeting and chat about Facebook friend requests.

There were also a few text messages between Crye and Lindell, also about attempts to talk by phone. Also included in the documents turned over to American Oversight was an email from Lindell to Crye about providing support to the county if it canceled its contract with Dominion.

Crye’s communication with Lindell back in February has been well documented, including his trip to Minnesota to meet with him.

“Thanks for reaching out to me. It was great talking to you today about this critical decision to be made,” Lindell wrote in the email, dated Feb. 27. “As everyone is aware, we need to get rid of all electronic voting machines in our elections.”

In the email, Lindell said he provided Crye with information about “the best hand counting paper ballot system you can use in lieu of the machines” and the federal law that allows the county to do hand counting.

“I promise if you have any pushback, including lawsuits against your or your county, I will provide all of the resources necessary (including both financial and legal) for this fight. Also, the election crime bureau will be at your full disposal,” Lindell wrote.

In March, Crye flew to Minnesota to meet with Lindell — a trip that cost Shasta County taxpayers nearly $1,400 ― to seek advice on how to hand count ballots.

Since that trip, Crye also has appeared as a guest on The Lindell Report, a far-right online program.

Shasta County’s Registrar of Voters Cathy Darling Allen said she met with Crye and Jones earlier this year to discuss a hand counting system used in Missouri. However, that system cannot be used in California, she said.

No financial assistance to county from MyPillow CEO

So far, Lindell has not provided any funds to the county to help pay costs associated with its transition to hand counting, which has cost the county more than $1.5 million so far.

Shasta County counsel doubts legality of ordinance governing citizens election committee

Darling Allen estimates that a full hand count for the March 2024 presidential primary will cost $658,925, in addition to the $1.5 million that has already been spent. The estimate includes staffing costs in an election that will likely involve counting at least 17 races and propositions and 53,000 ballots with 125 possible selections.

The move to cancel machine counting ballots is a primary reason a group of Redding residents mobilized to recall Crye. Darling Allen has said recall supporters have gathered enough signatures to put the recall on the March 24 presidential primary ballot.

The hand-counting effort could become moot within the next month, as the state Legislature passed a law this year banning paper ballot counting (except for elections with fewer than 1,000 voters) and requires counties to use machine counting.

Because it was “urgency” legislation, the law would go into effect immediately, in time to use in the November 2023 election. The bill awaits the governor’s signature.

Reporter Damon Arthur welcomes story tips at 530-338-8834, by email at damon.arthur@redding.com and on Twitter at @damonarthur_RS. Help local journalism thrive by subscribing today!

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Shasta sheriff won’t release communications with conservative groups