MODESTO – A declared Turlock City Council candidate who sought a restraining order against the administrator of the “Save Turlock” Facebook page had her petition dismissed with prejudice by Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge John R. Mayne on Tuesday.
Kelley Coelho, a private investigator who owns of B and C Investigations, is a declared candidate for Turlock’s District 1 city council seat. She claimed that Ron Bridegroom has harassed her and her 14-year-old daughter through comments made on the “Save Turlock,” page. She also claimed that Bridegroom was being paid by political operatives to post content.
Mayne felt otherwise, classifying the “Save Turlock” comments as free speech protected by the First Amendment.
Last month, Mayne dismissed with prejudice Coelho’s request for a restraining order – on behalf of her 14-year-old daughter – against substitute teacher Vance Yarbrough.
The daughter claimed Yarbrough assaulted the girl during his Oct. 22 teaching assignment at Turlock Junior High School. Yarbrough denied the allegation, and investigations by the Turlock Police Department, TJHS and Turlock Unified School District found no wrongdoing. He filed his defamation lawsuit against Coelho on Dec. 4.
Coelho has since been on a scorched-earth campaign, alleging during council meetings, school board meetings and on her “Turlock Revealed” Facebook page, that the Turlock Police Department and the Turlock Unified School District have conspired to cover up the Oct. 22 incident.
During the March 10 city council meeting, Coelho said she intends to initiate a recall effort against Mayor Amy Bublak, who is up for reelection in eight months, and that she has filed a federal lawsuit against the city. As of 4 p.m. on Tuesday – a week after making those comments – no federal lawsuit has been filed.
At one point Tuesday, Coelho informed Mayne that she had filed a complaint against the judge based on his past Facebook friendship with TPD Officer Juan Arroyo – a fact that Mayne mentioned during the Yarbrough hearing on Feb. 27.
“I’m going to ask that my case be moved to federal court, and I will be filing to consolidate this in a federal court, your honor,” Coelho said.
“Good luck with that,” Mayne said. “The federal court does not have jurisdiction; a plaintiff cannot remove a case to federal court; you can file an initial case in federal court, but your motion to remove the case to federal court, by me, is denied because I lack jurisdiction to do that.”
Later, Coelho asked Mayne what “elements” he was basing his decision not to recuse himself.
“Ma’am, there is no written (request to disqualify) in this case,” said Mayne. “You made an allegation in a different case, which is concluded. So, that is not before me; there is no reason to recuse myself from this case… Please proceed.”
Coelho responded: “I was just asking what are the merits that you’re basing your decision off of.”
“Why would I do that?” said Mayne, who seemed to grow increasingly frustrated. “There’s no written request to recuse me off this case, ma’am.”
Meanwhile, Bridegroom and his attorney were content to sit back and watch Coelho spar with Mayne. In fact, Bridegroom uttered just three words during the entire 60-minute proceeding.
“No, your honor,” Bridegroom said when Mayne asked if anyone pays him to post things on his Facebook page.
Mayne concluded, “I intend to dismiss the case with prejudice. If Mr. Bridegroom does other things in the future, that doesn’t stop you from bringing a new lawsuit. But I will not consider these current things in this lawsuit. Because even if your allegations are true – and I am assuming that everything you’ve alleged that Mr. Bridegroom has done is true, and I note that he has denied – they do not constitute civil harassment and are, expressly, protected political speech.”
