Lathrop Mayor Sonny Dhaliwal will appear Wednesday in San Joaquin County Superior Court under a subpoena from the lawyer representing the man that Lathrop City Councilwoman Minnie Diallo is seeking a restraining order against.
Dhaliwal has received a subpoena requested by Scott Malm – the attorney for former Lathrop Manteca Fire District Chief Gene Neely – to appear in court on Wednesday to offer his take as to what occurred during an exchange between Diallo and Neely after a council meeting last month.
Malm is a partner in the Stockton law firm of Malm Fagundes.
As the only person in the room when the conversation between Neely, his wife Rozelle, and Diallo took place, Dhaliwal has a unique perspective in the request from Diallo to have a restraining order issued against Neely for what she claimed was harassment that resulted in her having heart palpitations and a general fear for her safety.
And Dhaliwal isn’t the only one getting subpoenaed by Neely’s lawyer.
Lathrop City Manager Steve Salvatore has also been issued a subpoena to appear before Judge Tony Agbayani in San Joaquin County Superior Court in Manteca at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday . That’s one day after he will appear before Agbayani himself on a related but separate matter where Diallo requested a temporary restraining order against him, which was denied.
Salvatore, who is being represented by Albert Ellis of the Stockton law firm Hakeem Ellis and Marengo, is set to appear Agbayani today at 10:30 a.m.
Malm filed a response with the court last week where Neely categorically denied the claims made by Diallo, and formally requested that she cover the $2,000 in legal fees that he will incur in fighting the allegations that have been made in the case.
“The allegations against me are false,” the response from Neely reads. “I did not engage in conduct that qualifies as ‘course of conduct’ or ‘credible threat of violence’ or ‘harassment’ or ‘unlawful violence’ as those terms are defined in Code of Civil Procedure Section 527.6.”
Diallo alleges that during the conversation Neely said that he knows “where she lives” – a comment that she said made her fear for her safety and that of her young daughter. She claimed that Neely was “shaking his fist” during the exchange – which centered on Diallo’s mention of a “video” that was sent to her before the meeting as why she was voting against her appointment.
According to the police report prepared by San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Luiz, Neely told officers that investigated the matter that he was asking Diallo why she mentioned the video without offering the context as to what the video contained – leaving people the opportunity to fill in the blanks on their own as to what it may have contained.
The video in question was taken by Neely’s wife Rozelle – who also has a temporary restraining order against her in the matter and will appear in court at the same time – and showed a structure fire without any engines present on scene.
While Lathrop has enjoyed a period of relative political calm in the last decade, the incident and its aftermath harkens back to a more turbulent time in Lathrop politics – before the collapse of the housing market in 2008 and the ensuing financial crisis – when police reports and accusations were not out of the ordinary.
To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.
