The Newsom-Becerra Corruption Case Runs Through Davis, California. Now Yolo County Has an Evidence Problem.
By Christine Bish
Federal prosecutors have already pointed to the map.
Dana Williamson, former chief of staff to Governor Gavin Newsom, pleaded guilty in a federal corruption case involving stolen campaign funds, false records, a no-show job, tax crimes, and lies to federal agents. DOJ said Williamson and others looted roughly $225,000 from a dormant political campaign account and routed the money through business entities for personal use.[1]
That dormant account has been publicly identified as tied to Xavier Becerra’s political operation. Two Davis men — lobbyist Greg Campbell and former Becerra chief of staff Sean McCluskie — also pleaded guilty in the same conspiracy.[2][3]
Newsom. Becerra. DOJ. Campaign money. No-show jobs. Davis insiders.
That is not a local story.
That is Sacramento’s corruption class.
And it runs through Davis, California.
Davis likes to market itself as “California’s College Town.” Quaint. Bicycle racks, coffee shops, university seals, and all the soft-focus branding money can buy. But Davis also sits in Yolo County, just outside Sacramento — close enough to serve California’s political class, small enough to avoid national scrutiny, and connected enough to matter.[4]
Now, Yolo County has another problem.
The District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting Jose Garcia, a Republican elected trustee on the Yuba Community College District Board. The case has been framed as a family fraud dispute involving relatives, trust money, and contested financial conduct.
On paper, that sounds local.
It is not.
Garcia is a Republican elected official on a college board that shifted to a Republican majority. And now the prosecution has blown open a question far bigger than the family dispute: what happened to the evidence?
According to the Davis Vanguard, Yolo County DA Investigator Brett Hancock had extensive communications with Mini Garcia and Lucy Garcia, central witnesses in the case. Texts presented in court reportedly showed Hancock telling Mini Garcia she had “a special place” in his heart, calling her “beautiful,” saying she had a “heart of gold,” discussing lunch, and communicating with her during the investigation. Hancock reportedly testified that he did not believe the relationship required him to recuse himself.[5]
Then the defense demanded the full communications.
Then, right on cue, key messages reportedly disappeared.
The Vanguard reported that defense counsel told the court text messages between Hancock and Mini and Lucy Garcia appeared to have been deleted. Prosecutors reportedly said the DA’s Office did not yet know who deleted them or when. The defense is seeking a forensic review of Hancock’s phone.[6]
Stop me if this sounds familiar.
Hillary’s emails. Secret Service texts.
Different scandals. Same smell.
The FBI did not recommend charges against Hillary Clinton, but James Comey still called her handling of sensitive information “extremely careless.” A government watchdog later said Secret Service text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021, were deleted after oversight officials requested them.[7][8] Americans have seen this movie: politically sensitive evidence disappears, officials insist there is probably an innocent explanation, and the public is told to move along.
Yolo County does not get that benefit anymore.
Not after the Williamson case.
Not after the Davis connection.
Not after the Board of Supervisors publicly pushed back against Civil Grand Jury findings after the deadly Oakdale Fire. The County said the Grand Jury lacked later information and rejected several conclusions as unsupported. Fine. The Board can respond. California law allows that. But responding is not supervising. The Board does not oversee the Grand Jury. The Grand Jury oversees them.[9][10]
And not after what happened to me.
In 2021, I was assaulted at a Recall Newsom petition booth in a West Sacramento parking lot. The police report says the man moved his car in front of our booth, walked toward me, and said, “Do you wanna go” as he swung his hand at me. I stepped back. A witness intervened and said, “You can’t hit a woman.” The other party later admitted he made what he called a “fake swiping gesture.” The report was marked “Information only.”[11]
I demanded charges.
They were not filed.
Instead, the Yolo County DA’s Office hid behind process: no report, had not read it, did not know what happened, could not charge without the West Sacramento Police submitting the case.[12]
Translation: When I demanded prosecution, Yolo County gave me a procedure.
Now Garcia, a Republican elected official, gets a prosecution — while evidence inside the government’s own case allegedly disappears.
That is the story.
The Williamson case exposed the Davis pipeline into California’s political machine. The Grand Jury fight showed how Yolo County reacts when oversight gets too close. My case showed how quickly the system can stall when the victim is a conservative woman collecting ‘Recall Newsom’ signatures. The Garcia case may now show what happens when the Yolo County DA’s Office prosecutes a Republican elected official while evidence involving its own investigator allegedly vanishes.
This is not random. This is not local noise. This is an insulated political ecosystem.
Davis is the quiet university town where Sacramento’s corruption class hides behind a bicycle rack and a university seal.
The court should order an independent forensic review of the missing Garcia communications. The DA’s Office should disclose who handled Hancock’s phone, who extracted the records, who had access to the evidence, and when prosecutors first learned the messages were missing.
For every criminal to be charged for any kind of fraud, there's a corrupt judge standing by to dismiss the case.