.Feds Target Napa County Politician

The sweeping federal investigation into Napa County government officials and other local power players has a new poster child: County Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza. That’s partly because the two main news outlets covering this story closely, the Napa Valley Register and the Press Democrat, were finally able to confirm that the FBI raided his home near the Silverado Country Club back at Christmastime. There have been rumors going around for months to this effect — including a direct accusation during the public comment period at a recent county supervisor meeting — but now our local papers of record have their hands on the cold, hard documents. “Records show that the FBI apparently searched a house owned by Napa County Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza in the Silverado area on Dec. 18,” the Register reports. “This comes at a time when Napa County has been served with several federal subpoenas asking for information kept by the county. Though none mention Pedroza, one required information for Vinedos, an Atlas Peak-area land deal completed in 2021 by Pedroza’s in-laws with Pedroza’s help. The document shows Shaun Owen, an FBI supervisory agent, informed local law enforcement officials by phone he intended to search the Silverado Springs Drive house. Owen on LinkedIn is listed as an agent who deals with cases of public corruption and civil rights. As with the subpoenas, the document doesn’t accuse Pedroza or anyone else of wrongdoing. It doesn’t mention Pedroza’s name. It doesn’t say what the object of the search might be. The ‘remarks’ section of the document says no assistance is needed and ‘should be pretty low key.‘ Owen apparently contacted local law enforcement at 6:59 a.m. and the search ended at 1:23 p.m.” As has been constant throughout this developing story, no one can say what the FBI’s suspicions were or what they found or what kind of evidence they’re sitting on. (And Pedroza isn’t talking.) There are just these breadcrumbs the feds are leaving for us, in the form of which specific people and places and decisions and deals they’re choosing to look into. Meanwhile, the handful of local activists in the Napa Valley who’ve been suspicious of Pedroza for years now are having a bit of an “I told you so” moment right now; indeed, they will happily tell you precisely what they think he did to deserve this federal scrutiny. Another interesting thing to note is that Pedroza’s challenger four years ago in the race for the fourth-district supervisor seat, Amber Manfree, now might be the one to take over his seat this November, if the most recent ballot count holds from the March 5 primary election. Her challenger this time around, Pete Mott, is a longtime local politician and more of a pro-business type, while she’s a career scientist with an emphasis on environmental issues. Which does seem to sum up the divide in Napa County politics right now. And in the fourth district at least, covering the northeast part of Napa, the voters are speaking. Pedroza’s successor, the Press Democrat writes, “will be tasked with rebuilding public trust within the district.” (Source: Napa County Government & Napa Valley Register & Napa Valley Register & Press Democrat & Press Democrat; paywall)