Postage still owed on mailers supporting Sheng Thao during Oakland mayoral race
Many questions remain about the raid at Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao's home including why the Postal Inspection Service also took part.
And while the Postal Inspection Service has declined to comment on why it was involved, CBS News Bay Area learned the USPS is owed tens of thousands dollars after delivering campaign mailers that aimed to benefit Thao when she was running for mayor.
Samari Johnson owns Butterfyl Direct Marketing, a direct mailing agency in Oakland. Johnson said his company printed the attack flyers and mailed them out in 2022.
Johnson said a couple of weeks before the November 2022 general election, a long-time customer, Mario Juarez, contracted him to print roughly 170,000 attack mailers targeting Oakland mayoral candidates Ignacio De La Fuente and Loren Taylor.
"The picture of me was doctored up. My skin is darkened. My eyes are turned red. The eyebrows are pointy, sort of invoking images of a devil or something like that," recalled Taylor.
Johnson said the attack ads went out about one week before the election. He said Juarez paid him $31,200 for his service and gave him three checks to pay the U.S. Postal Service for the postage. After the mailers went out, he said all three checks bounced, totaling more than $53,000.
Johnson said with interest, Juarez now owes the US government roughly $60,000.
"It's been very heartbreaking, very disturbing, very emotional," said Johnson. "The USPS put a postal stop on my business direct mail permit."
He said his permit remains suspended.
The fine prints on the mailers said they were funded by Juarez and his independent expenditure or I.E. account called California Forward Now.
CBS News Bay Area checked to see who donated money to that I.E. account. But it did not appear Juarez filed any paperwork to identify the donors, which is required by campaign financing laws.
But Renia Webb, Thao's former chief of staff, said she knows who paid for those flyers. Webb served as Thao's chief of staff when Thao was the District 4 councilmember. She also volunteered on Thao's mayoral campaign.
However, Webb resigned from Thao's office after Thao won the election citing concerns over public corruption.
CBS News Bay Area did an extensive report on Webb's pay-to-play allegations against the mayor and her boyfriend, Andre Jones.
"The post office is involved with this investigation because it was the mail fraud with them using the funding to get those flyers sent out," said Webb.
Webb said Andy Duong of California Waste Solutions was backing Thao for mayor. Webb claimed Duong was paying Juarez to attack Thao's chief rivals, De La Fuente and Taylor.
She recalled one meeting between Thao, Duong, and Juarez at a Jack London Square restaurant.
"Andy was like, 'Yeah, I need to talk to you about something.' And Mario was like, 'Yeah, I need some more money.' That was his exact words. And he and Sheng and Mario went off to the corner right outside of Seabreeze where the Jack London (cabin) is. And they stood right there and talked maybe for about 15 minutes," said Webb. "I know that they're not supposed to be doing that. During campaigns, the campaign and that I.E. account are never supposed to work together. They're supposed to be two separate total entities."
Webb and Johnson believed the unpaid postage or the mailers could be one reason why the U.S. Postal Inspection Service was involved in last week's raid.
"I can't speak to the U.S. Postal Service investigation. But what I can say is that to stiff a small business based in Oakland, a Black-owned business out of $60,000 is shameful," said Taylor.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service deferred all questions to the FBI, which had declined to comment on the raids.
FBI investigators have not accused Thao, Duong, or Juarez of any wrongdoing. But the Alameda County District Attorney charged Juarez with one count of felony for passing bad checks.
As for Johnson, he's used to printing mud-slinging ads, but he's not happy he's caught up in one.
"And it's also an embarrassment to my business to be involved in this type of situation," said Johnson.
Thao's spokesperson released a statement that read, "as Mayor Thao has previously said, she is committed to cooperating with the investigation and looks forward to the opportunity to vindicate herself. But she will not indulge rumor and innuendo. We expect there will be an opportunity to say more, but now is not the time."
CBS News Bay Area contacted California Waste Solutions to get a comment from Andy Duong. CBS News Bay Area also contacted Mario Juarez. They did not respond back before publication deadline.
Taylor lost the 2022 mayoral election to Thao by less than 700 votes. Taylor is assemblying a team to run for the mayoral seat if Thao is ousted. Thao insisted at a recent press conference she would not resign.
But she is facing a recall in the November election.
"If the best way for me to serve my city and make sure that we get on top of these issues is to place my name on the ballot for mayor, then that's what you'll likely see," said Taylor.
If voters recall Thao in the November election, the city council president would serve as the interim mayor. The county election's office would then have 120 days to set up a special election to elect a new mayor.
