Great question! Sounds like cover-up. Good reporting by The Post.

Well, well, well. Seems like Judge Joseph Scott sentenced a drunk driver to two years in prison once upon a time.

Web Link

A man with seven prior drunk-driving convictions was sentenced to two years in state prison Friday for careening into a San Mateo parking lot while intoxicated and stumbling into a coffee shop - right into the path of two California Highway Patrol officers.

William Scott Simon, 42, of Belmont was promptly arrested by the officers in the January incident.

At a hearing Friday in Redwood City, Judge Joseph Scott of San Mateo County Superior Court sentenced Simon to two years in prison, taking into consideration previous DUI convictions spanning from 1986 to 2005. Simon pleaded no contest in July to felony drunk driving in the latest case.

How did the PADP stumble upon this story. 14 days after the fact.

Their title …….Judge arrested for DUI. yet no booking photo, and no record of being booked.

They report he might have gone to First Chance yet not confirmed that he did.

Redwood City Police Department has refused to return multiple calls seeking comment. I'm not surprised.

If they were involved in a media police log obstruction/manipulation of information, who authorized it?

District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe aka "To those who matter", skipped letting his favorite reporters know of the arrest on his daily e-mail blasts of interesting newsworthy events.

Just like when Wagstaffe refused to report the arrest of the cop who broke down the door of his ex girlfriend's apartment and nearly beat her current boyfriend to death. How can Scott still be a judge after this? The coverup is worse than the offense.

Lets wait for the facts to come out. Remember this story is from a paper and reporter who told the public that I lost an election that I wasn't even in. So much for the truth and no correction after it was brought to editor's attention.

Hon. Judge Joseph Scott is entitled to a fair trial, and I wish him well, but I am very interested in who controlled the information from the public.

Citizens Oversight Committee would be Awesome.

The Daily Post is the only paper to report this. If this is true, the powers that be are obviously doing their part to keep this under wraps.

Michael G Stogner: But of the bunch, the Palo Alto Daily Post is the paper most likely to publish stories our District Attorney does not wish to be made public, like the Luke Lonergan child porn story. Good for them. Sure hope other papers pursue the Scott storyThe Post marches to its own drummer, unlike the San Mateo Daily Journal, which is a complete house organ for the DA's office.

Holly L. I agree with your statement, I was just stating a fact about a recent article.

Here is the San Mateo Daily Journal Archives. No coverage of this story.

Web Link

Why is it that the Daily Post is the only paper to run this story? Would be interesting to find out about how they learned of it. Can the Almanac editors tell us if they recall the arrest being posted on the police blotter two weeks ago? If it wasn't, isn't that part of the story?

Two newspapers have been referenced so far: Holly L. referenced The Palo Alto Daily. Michael G. Stogner said he could not find anything about this in The SAN MATEO Daily Journal archives.

I searched the Palo Alto Daily Journal, Archives for the story or any mention of Judge Joseph C Scott and I could find nothing on it.

If this is a cover-up it is a very disturbing matter. We should try to uncover the facts: EVEN call the person/reporter who put this into The Palo Alto Daily Journal or Police Blotter or whatever. Call the Editor.

Holly L. can you post a link from the Archives of The Palo Alto Daily that will lead us to the blotter or article where this DUI was reported?

I, for one, would like some kind of confirmation one way or another: Was Judge Scott arrested on a DUI? And no local news source reported it?!

We should know for certain on both of those questions.

Holly L.

Just to be clear, I am NOT questioning your post or the validity of it in any way whatsoever.

But if no newspapers picked up on this it is just outrageous and people need to voice their opinions.

"But if no newspapers picked up on this it is just outrageous and people need to voice their opinions."

Welcome to SMC Julie. More of the status quo.

JulieToo: The story about Scott does not appear to be listed on the archives yet.

However, I did contact reporter Michelle Durand from the San Mateo Daily Journal, who confirmed the Scott DUI incident.

Durand stated that "It happened over Memorial Day weekend and the DA's office is waiting his bloodwork before deciding charges."

She also stated that she wasn't sure " if the information was purposely withheld from public release or if the police reporters at the various papers just didn't recognize the name."

Well, surely it was up to the District Attorney to release this information to the reporters immediately.

Where's the Almanac story on this?

Perhaps someone who has a hard copy of the story, such as Michael Stogner, would be so kind as to print at least the first two paragraphs of the story here, and the date the story appeared, and the headline. Thank you.

I'm in favor of Transparency, and I support a Single Point Data Base in San Mateo County.

Todays PADJ article quotes San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Karen Guidotti when asked about the arrest, her first question was.

How did you hear about that?

We must not allow a small group of people to control the public information, Who did this?

Wagstaffe told the Palo Alto Daily Post that people who have never gotten a DUI before, end up at First Chance. But how do we know this is Scott's first -time DUI? Sounds like the Post got wind of this arrest through sheer chance. It most certainly did come from the DA's office.

According to today's Palo Alto Daily Post, the Redwood City police hasn't returned their calls, "seeking information about the circumstances of the arrest. Like what was in his blood-alcohol content? Did he refuse a breath or blood test?

Can anyone explain why anyone else who is arrested for a DUI in San Mateo County, like this woman the Almanac did a story on a few days ago, gets their names plastered all over the papers, but there's a shroud of secrecy when it happens to a judge who just happens to have sent people to prison for having DUI's? Where's the outrage from the Almanac? This is a big story and the secrecy- which is nothing new in the county- is a big part of it.

Not on the RCPD daily log, not in the court computer...

Funny how three judges from Broward County in Florida who were driving drunk recently were all arrested, and jailed, and the press was notified of the arrests. Story here

Web Link

In the Judge Scott case, we don't even know where he was driving or whether he hit a median or anything.

What's really disturbing is that he has sentenced people to jail who've had DUI's.

Holly L.

Thank you for providing me with that information.

In your post you asked: "Where's the Almanac story on this?"

I think the only Almanac story on this is your story on this. The Almanac does provide a Forum where the public can make comments, post questions and, essentially, do their own investigative reporting. For that reason, the Internet is the new newspaper. But readers shouldn't have to do the work of reporters. This is not the 1700's where people had to write, print and door-to-door distribute pamphlets to inform the public. That is what the newspaper business is charged with doing in this democracy.

I think you got the "scoop" on this story. Maybe the newspapers in the area ought to waste no time in coming out with some news and facts now, even though it was not them who "broke the story".

How many times has DA Steve Wagstaffe concluded a San Mateo county cop got it wrong and arrested an innocent man?

Zero.

That's why the Redwood City PD – the police department that arrested Judge Joseph Scott – instituted the Steve Wagstaffe man of the year award (and gave the first one to Steve Wagstaffe himself).

But this time, with mugshots being withheld, Scott not appearing on the press release blotter, Guidotti challenging the press' right to know about the arrest, something smells different.

I predict the "blood tests" that Guidotti said are forthcoming will be used to exonerate Scott. (There's already something fishy about them, since a blood test takes a matter of minutes to conclude, and even assuming a healthy dose of bureaucracy, it's been two weeks since Scott's arrest).

Former RWC PD chief Bolanos will tell the arresting officer he did a good job, but needs to stand down. His field sobriety test and breathalyzer will hopefully fall through the media cracks.

As for Scott, he'll owe his neck to Wagstaffe and Guidotti.

What a horrible corruption of the integrity of the criminal justice system this will be for everyone in San Mateo County. Certainly for the next criminal defendant expecting to have a fair trial before Scott in a situation in which Wagstaffe just has to have that conviction.

Michael Stogner: you have said let's wait, Scott deserves for the facts to come out before passing judgment. You're right. Scott is entitled to the presumption of innocence. But he's also entitled to no better and no worse treatment than any other individual arrested for DUI in San Mateo County. This has NOT happened here. Wagstaffe did not deem this arrest noteworthy for his press releases, but isn't that absurd? How can the arrest of the chief judge not be considered newsworthy? The RWC PD won't release his mug shot. The stink factor here is incredible.

My Prediction:

I agree with everything you said in your post.

I, too, wondered about those blood tests and what could be taking so long. Let's hope there is not some "mixup" and they mysteriously "get lost". The "heat is on" that lab.

No news about the breathalyzer test either.

Certain people in County Government are walking on eggs on this one.

Unless there is some valid reason that we are not aware of for withholding this information, these officials are playing with fire.

This is, pure and simple, abuse of power.

If they are being complicit in burying the truth, they need to remember what oaths they have taken and step up to the plate and honor them.

San Jose Mercury News picked up the story:

Go to a search page to find link.

Does know whether the Almanac is going to investigate this story?

Someone I know wanted to know if any reporter in San Mateo County has investigated the following:

It seems it would be easy to determine based on arrest records in San Mateo County for DUI/DWI, (a) how many were first timers and (b) how many got arrested, sent to jail, spent the night, bail hearing, regular hearing, etc. and (c) how many were assigned/sent (as it seems this Judge was) immediately to this diversion program rather than having to go through the usual painful (and expensive) steps of arrest, a night in jail, a bail hearing the next day, etc., first. How many other citizens of the County were offered this diversion program in the same manner as this judge as it seems he was offered the program before he even had a chance to sober up!

Here is the LINK to the story in the San Jose Mercury News. It came out around 3 pm today, Monday June 9, 2014.

Web Link

Here's the link to the Mercury News story.

Web Link

The cops won't say why they pulled Scott over or who he was with. Every other person who gets arrested in San Mateo County gets their name in the police blotter and Wagstaffe notifies the press and tells them what the driver was doing. Really curious that they won't say who he was with. To reporters: why won't they say who he was with? Is he married? If so, was he with someone other than his wife? Why wasn't the press alerted about this? Why did Karen Guidotti say to the Post " How did you find out about this?" The press should be outraged at this arrogant stonewalling. The public is paying for the salaries of these judges.

From the San Jose Mercury News: ( today; June 9, 2014)

"San Mateo County judge arrested on DUI charges

By Erin Ivie eivie@bayareanewsgroup.com

Monday, June 9, 2014 - 2:54 p.m."

And would you believe they have nerve to label this "Breaking News"?

He was arrested May 24. Today is June 9.

I guess it takes quite a bit of time to get all of your ducks in a row before issuing what amounts to a Press Release.

The DA's office seems to have different rules for poor anonymous Hispanic citizens who are arrested for DUI's than they do for Judge Scott.

Information about the DUI arrest of Jimmy Alameda Velasco was released to the press just six days after his arrest. The information includes details his accident and his BLOOD ALCOHOL level. Yet the DA and the police refuse to say why Judge Scott was arrested and what his blood alcohol levels were and whether he had a passenger. They also don't say why they didn't notify the press. Why is it they notified the press about poor Jimmy Alameda Velasco but not the honorable Judge Joseph C. Scott?

Web Link

Excerpt:

A man who reportedly told authorities “I’m a little drunk” after rear-ending a stopped SamTrans bus in South San Francisco last week pleaded not guilty to intoxicated driving charges.

Jimmy Alameda Velasco, 31, reportedly hit the bus just before 6 p.m. Jan. 3 as it stopped at the intersection of El Camino Real and Arroyo Drive. Many passengers were taken to local hospitals but Velasco was unharmed and said “I hit the bus, I’m a little drunk,” said District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

Velasco reportedly couldn’t finish his field sobriety tests and preliminary blood alcohol levels were .17 and .19. Once arrested, he allegedly vomited in the back seat of the patrol car.

Lets give credit where credit is due.

The Almanac has reported nothing on this story of Redwood City Police Department manipulating public information.

The San Mateo Daily Journal is also silent on this news.

I checked in with CHP today to see if it was their arrest, no record of it.

Business as usual in our corrupt county.

Redwood City Council needs to wake up and get involved, this is their problem. This is public information that is being corrupted by their employees.

Unless they are combative or have outside warrants, all first time DUI offenders are taken to First Chance in lieu of booking in jail in San Mateo County. That's not unusual. Scott's name being left off the Redwood City PD "blotter" that is screened by the press (or public) is unusual. Pocketing the case upon its submission to the DA's Office is common for Wagstaffe's administration if and when anyone of note is arrested until a filing decision is made. That looks bad, but that's been the practice they've maintained for Wagstaffe's entire administration so it is not unique to Scott.

Other than The Post, most everything printed about criminal cases is based upon what the press is spoon fed by the DA's Office in their daily press briefings. Makes it easy for the press to get a story, yet the release of information is completely controlled by the DA. (Notice you never hear when the DA loses a case, only when they win...) The Post reporters deserve a lot a credit for however they dug this story up and printing the facts. Nice to see a free press still exists in some places.

To Menlo Voter, Michael G. Stogner and Nathan:

Yes!

Nathan, so true re The Palo Alto Daily.

Holly L., if you had not posted I would not have been aware of this story. Thank you. It is a very important story. You fought for the truth.

I don't know why The Almanac did not do this story but thanks to them that they are providing this Forum for us to alert each other to important, really critical, information regarding the ethical things that matter in our community and our world.

I hope that our local newspaper people will be more vigilant in the future. It seems that vigilance has become a necessity, unfortunately, from the stories that are breaking about local government departments lately.

San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe filed DUI charges yesterday.

I still think this would be an excellent case to to recuse himself from and have the State prosecute.

If the Almanac writes a story about the charges, it absolutely needs to credit the Palo Alto Daily Post for breaking this story wide open and persisting in writing about it, in editorials. The Post is doing what a paper should do- challenging the status quo and asking hard questions.

The fact that none of the papers have thought to credit them is considered really bad form in journalism. Give the Post credit where credit is due!!!