Yolo DA’s Office declines to file charges after controversy plagues Davis schools, library

The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office declined to file charges related to alleged doxxing incidents that arose after an event hosted by a Moms for Liberty chapter at a Davis library gained the attention of national conservative platforms.

The controversy began after a speaker misgendered a trans women at a forum in August called “fair and safe sports for girls” by the Moms for Liberty. That language prompted an employee at the Mary L. Stephens branch of the Yolo County Library system to reportedly ask the speaker to leave. It was all captured in a video and received more than one million views when uploaded on social media site X.

In a parallel investigation, the police department was investigating any alleged doxxing that happened in the wake of the Moms for Liberty event.

It’s also unclear who reported any doxxing, but Davis Joint Unified School District staff members have said publicly their personal information has been posted online.

“It’s quite sad that there isn’t a legal way to either address or hold people accountable,” Victor Lagunes, the president of the Davis Teachers Association and a junior high school history teacher said in a phone interview. “At least as of yet.”

There was insufficient evidence to prove any criminal charge beyond a reasonable doubt based on the investigation submitted by the Davis Police Department, Chief Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Raven with the Yolo County DA’s Office wrote in an email on Friday. He said prosecutors would review the case again if Davis police were to get more information.

Raven said his office was considering filing a charge under California Penal Code 653.2, which says it is illegal for any person to publish online any personal identifying information with the intent to place another person in reasonable fear for his or her safety or the safety of the person’s immediate family.

Prosecutors also considered two education code statutes. The first one, Education Code 44811, doesn’t allow any person to disrupt classwork or extracurricular activities when a school employee is working. The second education code forbids any person, including a pupil, to use a recording device in any classroom without consent from a teacher or principal.

School district staff are also seeking a temporary restraining order against Beth Bourne, the chair of the Yolo County Moms of Liberty chapter, according to court records. Bourne was served Wednesday with a notice that the district’s request for a temporary restraining order was granted.

A hearing to show cause is scheduled for Oct. 25.

The library and the Davis Joint Unified School District received six bomb threats since the August gathering. Police also searched homes of two school district employees when authorities were investigating the bomb threats. There was no evidence linking local residents to the bomb threats but the correlation between the library event and the menaces “cannot be ignored as part of the overall criminal investigation,” the Davis Police Department said in a Sept. 25 statement.

There is no relationship between the doxxing and the bomb threats, Beckwith, a spokesman for the Davis Police Department, previously said.

Lagunes, who has heard about teachers’ experiences, said there’s no way to remedy the harm caused by bomb threats and alleged doxxing if legal recourse cannot be achieved. He thinks about the tension and despair caused by teachers having their homes searched because of bomb threats.

Educators’ duties include creating a safe place and maintaining the safety of all students, he said. As teachers’ lives get disrupted by these repeated scares, he said the ability to focus on the core mission is disrupted.

“Suddenly, people must learn how to scrub the internet with any personal information and think about security measures. That’s the emotional toll teachers have to carry on top of teaching,” Lagunes said.

People are also tense about when the next incident will unfold, Lagunes said. There hasn’t been a bomb threat in about two weeks.

“It doesn’t look like it’s in the past,” Lagunes said. “Or, it doesn’t feel like it’s in the past.”

Much of the recent inflammatory rhetoric has centered around trans students. But another facet of school could be targeted, he said.

Through every scare, Lagunes said educators were still going to support and maintain the safety and instruction of every student.

“They are not going to influence or change the way we view and respect each student and help them grow,” he said of those making the threats. “They are the No. 1 thing for us, the center of everything we do. And we are just going to keep that at the heart of everything.”