OAKLAND — In the latest development in a scandal that involves three Bay Area police departments, an Alameda County judge dismissed all charges against an East Bay man accused of pimping a relative of the Richmond police chief, who remains on administrative leave over allegations she threatened the man’s mother.
Superior Court Judge Don C. Clay dismissed pimping and pandering charges at a Monday preliminary hearing for 34-year-old Ojo McNair, who also goes by Oho McNair and Joseph Goldman, court records show. According to one attorney familiar with the case, Clay spoke at length about how the evidence failed to even reach the relatively low legal bar to proceed at a preliminary hearing.
McNair was charged with pimping a relative of Richmond police Chief Bisa French and her husband, Lee French, who is an Oakland police sergeant. The 18-year-old woman was called to testify Monday but invoked her Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination and refused to testify, attorneys familiar with the case said.
Meanwhile, a restraining order the woman filed against Bisa and Lee French last October remains in effect. The order accused the Frenches of using “police holds” and other violence on her during a heated argument, and of threatening McNair’s mother after traveling to his home in Vallejo. The Frenches’ attorney has denied the accusations and said the Frenches were trying to save their loved one from being trafficked.
At an Oct. 25 court hearing, the Frenches agreed to a two-year stay-away order on the condition that they be able to keep their firearms. The Solano District Attorney’s office is still investigating the accusation that they threatened McNair’s mother.
Both Bisa and Lee French remain on administrative leave in their respective departments. The city of Richmond has ordered a third-party investigation into the allegations.
On Oct. 7 — the same day the restraining order requests were filed — Oakland police secured a warrant for McNair. When he was arrested four days later in Richmond, the family member was with him, according to the statement. McNair previously was convicted of human trafficking in 2014 and sentenced to 288 days in jail, according to Alameda County Superior Court records.
At an earlier court hearing for McNair, the woman asked a judge to lift an automatic restraining order that prevented McNair and her from being in contact, stating that she was on the verge of homelessness. Now that the case is dismissed, that order is moot.
Oakland police had alleged that McNair convinced the woman to engage in prostitution after they met at her job at a grocery store in Orinda, and that she admitted he was her pimp to an FBI agent and Oakland police sergeant. In court records, the woman said she made the admission out of fear, not because it was true. Oakland police have denied that Lee French was involved in the investigation, even though an investigator said in a sworn statement that the Frenches called the FBI agent and OPD sergeant to their home, amid a dispute with the woman.
Source: www.mercurynews.com