Will others be swept up in SLO County corruption investigation?

August 30, 2024

OPINION by STEW JENKINS

I’m lawyer Stew Jenkins, host of SLO County Public Policy and the Law on K-NEWS, FM 98.5. Last weekend’s show featured my interview with Assistant U. S. Attorney Mack Jenkins, who was kind enough to appear on the show to tell listeners about how he led the bribery, corruption and fraud investigation and prosecutions related to former San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Adam Hill, Helios Dayspring, and Ryan Pettit (Wright), PB Companies, and John Belsher.

To be clear, Mr. Belsher has not yet been criminally charged as of the date of this article. It was evident that the investigation is ongoing and that others may yet be swept up into prosecutions brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office here in San Luis Obispo County and its subdivisions.

So, you can hear my interview with Assistant U. S. Attorney Mack Jenkins again this weekend at K-NEWS, FM 98.5 from 11 am, Saturday, Aug.31, and at 4 pm Sunday, Sept. 1. Or, if you like to listen on your smart-phone or computer, at those times you can hear the interview streamed. Podcasts of the show are also available here.

On the show, we also talked about similar investigations and prosecutions that Mack Jenkins and his team spearheaded into corrupt kickback schemes, bribery, obstruction of justice and deprivation of honest services by public officials across southern California that had resulted in federal prison terms of from two to 14 years just in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Supervisors, city council members, water agency personnel, and even attorneys for public agencies were among those convicted.

One reason that Mack Jenkins said he was pleased to appear on the show was to give the public information about the importance of stamping out corruption in government as a bulwark to faith in our democratic form of government. His other reason was to highlight, as a deterrent, that the U.S. Attorney’s Office is ready and anxious to prosecute and jail local corrupt elected and corrupt appointed public officials wherever they are.

For local officeholders tempted to sell their official actions for personal gain, knowing that the Civil Rights and Corruption Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office is watching and ready to prosecute should help them avoid soliciting or accepting a bribe.

Finally, one of the things that Mack Jenkins stressed was the importance of coming forward. He reported that many of the leads that have triggered prosecution of corrupt officeholders have come from citizens, or from county, city and district employees, or from other honest officeholders. Mack Jenkins told us that folks have a way to report corruption, anonymously if they like, by calling a monitored tips line at (310) 477-6565 or by emailing the FBI at: tips@fbi.gov.

Stew Jenkins is an Attorney in San Luis Obispo who has been appointed repeatedly by the Superior Court as Special Master. He provides customized estate plans for client and represents owners of commercial, industrial and farming property. His phone number is (805) 541-5763. He is the host of the weekend radio talk show, SLO County Public Policy and the Law, K-NEWS, FM 98.5.  And, Mack Jenkins is not known to be Stew Jenkins’ cousin.