San Bernardino officials responded Friday to Councilwoman Treasure Ortiz’s $2 million legal claim against the city that alleges police illegally searched for records of her criminal history for political purposes.
The city released a lengthy statement following closed session, nonpublic meetings about the possible litigation initiated March 28.
Ortiz posted a video on social media explaining why she filed the claim.
“This was not an easy decision, this was not something I take lightly and it certainly isn’t something intended to harm the city, which I’m devoted to serve,” she said. “This is about accountability, transparency and ensuring no resident is ever illegally targeted for daring to speak out.”
In a statement Friday city officials denied the lawsuit’s allegations.
“In the spirit of transparency, and as the City Council has done in other matters involving elected officials, the City Council, on a 6-0 vote, released the following statement and information regarding its denial of the claim, as permitted by (state law),” according to the statement.
Officials said Ortiz’s suit alleges “a former detective in the San Bernardino Police Department conducted an illegal search of her criminal history and then shared that information with her political opponent. In her initial report of the matter to Chief (Darren) Goodman and in numerous social media posts and recorded videos she stated that she has never been arrested. Following a thorough review of facts and circumstances surrounding the original report to Mr. Goodman and the claim that she filed, the city finds the information in the claim to be false and dishonest.”
A review by city officials “determined that the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS) was lawfully accessed by authorized law enforcement personnel in March of 2020.”
The statement went on to call the lawsuit “frivolous, filed in bad faith, dishonest and an attempt to swindle the city of San Bernardino out of $2 million. For the reasons uncovered during the investigation into her allegations and the review of this claim, the city denies the claim.”
Ortiz has six months to file a lawsuit, according to the statement.
“If she does, the city is putting her and her attorney on notice that it will seek to recover all attorney’s fees and costs in accordance with the California Code of Civil Procedure,” officials said. “Furthermore, given that the false claims were filed under penalty of perjury and it is a crime to make a knowingly false claim against a police officer the potential criminal conduct associated with the claim is being reviewed.
Because a $2 million legal claim by a sitting council member “is highly unusual and has been the subject of news and social media reports, the city will release detailed information related to the investigation that was conducted and reviewed in connection with the evaluation of the claim,” according to the statement.
“Mayor pro tem, council members and I all hope that this transparency will bring to light the serious misrepresentations made by Ms. Ortiz,” according to the statement’s conclusion, presumably attributed to Mayor Helen Tran. “(Ortiz’s) conduct as a council member must be above reproach and her reckless allegations must be stopped before they result in real liability to the city.”
According to Ortiz, Goodman told her the CLETS search was illegal and there would be a criminal case against the former officer who did the background check.
“My hope through this whole process is that we are sending a message to the residents, to public employees and to future leaders that no one is above the law,” Ortiz said. “Doing the right thing is not optional, it is expected.”
The agenda for the City Council’s meeting on Tuesday morning indicated another closed session about pending litigation.
Ortiz is in her first term representing Ward 7 after defeating former San Bernardino City Attorney James Penman with nearly 56% of the vote in November.
