Publisher of Paso Robles Daily News facing cruelty and battery charges

June 18, 2025

By KAREN VELIE

After a barrage of criminal and civil allegations against a publisher of the Paso Robles Daily News, a judge banned him from participating in running the news agency.

Publisher Scott Brennan allegedly began behaving erratically in Oct. 2024, according to court records. Since then, he has been arrested twice in two different counties and is legally restrained from contacting three people.

Scott Brennan is facing charges of battery, willful cruelty of a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Scott Brennan told CalCoastNews he began meeting with former Paso Robles City Manager Ty Lewis and Tribune staff in Oct. 2024 to discuss Lewis’ allegations of conspiracy that focused on Councilman Chris Bausch, a CalCoastNews reporter and three candidates for the Paso Robles City Council – Linda George, Michael Rivera and Glen O’Hagan.

Even though Paso Robles Daily News Editor Sky Pratt did not want to publish Clive Pinder’s columns supporting Lewis’ allegations, Scott Brennan posted mutiple opinions columns by Pinder, according to an email Pratt sent Linda George.

At the end of Dec. 2024, Scott Brennan sent his wife and co-publisher Beth Brennan an email describing his issues with hypomania and opioids. In the email, he describes hitting a shopping cart and almost killing people while driving a vehicle. He later woke up in his car with cuts on his hands and arms, according to the email.

“I had 1 unit of wine last night (at mom’s), zero hydrocodone, zero cannabis for 13 days now, zero news addiction, zero phone addiction, zero nicotine addiction,” Scott Brennan wrote in the email to his wife. “For my Christmas present I want to fast from tech, and sins, and addictions.”

A week later on Jan. 2, Scott Brennan allegedly pulled a family member out of their bed and forced the relative to drive him and a homeless man around. Brennan then allegedly threw hair he cut off the homeless man on his family member who left and walked several miles home in pajamas. Brennan is also accused of trying to force the minor to drink alcohol.

The SLO County District Attorney’s Office then charged Brennan with willful cruelty of a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The next day, Beth Brennan filed for divorce.

Scott Brennan headed for Fresno, where he now resides. On Jan. 10, he was arrested in Fresno for battering his girlfriend.

Three days later, Beth Brennan filed for a restraining order against Scott Brennan.

Scott Brennan texted Paso Robles Daily News Editor Sky Pratt on Jan. 13 to say he was resigning from the paper, according to the text.

The next day, Pratt and Beth Brennan took down Pinder’s columns because they were defamatory and inappropriate, Beth Brennan said.

Later that day, Tribune Editor Joe Tarica sent Scott Brennan a text requesting he put Pinder’s columns back online while attempting to get more information about why the articles were taken down.

“If Karen is holding something over your head, I’d like to know that, whether on the record or off,” Tarica wrote in his text to Brennan on Jan. 14. “It sounds like you don’t want to say anything about Karen, but I worry about the loss of the public record on this, and it’s important to explain to readers why they’re getting 404 errors on those stores.”

While attributing information to Pinder, the Tribune posted an article on Jan. 17 that wrongly accuses CalCoastNews of having an attorney threaten the Paso Robles Daily News with legal action if it did not take the columns down. Tribune staff has repeated the false allegations, along with their claims of bullying, in multiple articles.

“A six-part series of columns published by the Paso Robles Daily News about city manager Ty Lewis’ $2.275 million claim against the city and his allegations of a conspiracy has been removed from the publication’s website — with no explanation,” the Tribune published on Jan. 17.

In an email to the Tribune, Pinder said that the Paso Robles Daily News publisher shared info about the threat with him.

“I was told by the publisher that, as a result of a threat of legal action by a lawyer representing Karen Velie, my satirical tongue-in-cheek columns have been removed and no more will be commissioned. At least not by the Paso Robles Daily News!” Pinder wrote to the Tribune in an email. “Ms. Velie appears to be trying to deplatform and cancel me, the act of a bully and a coward. I don’t intend to let that happen.”

Beth Brennan confirmed that it was her and Pratt’s choice to take down Pinder’s columns and that an attorney for CalCoastNews did not contact the Paso Robles Daily News.

In March, Beth Brennan filed for exclusive control of the Paso Robles Daily News, a request the court later granted.

More recently, the Tribune selected Pinder as its new columnist.

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