A Pattern: Police Commissioner and Public Defender Wife Help Hide Fleeing Man After He Torched Woman

SFPD Chief needs to release responding officers’ bodycams

Definition of a “believer”

When I was in SFPD, we defined a “believer” as a narrow-minded transplant that believed all arrested people are innocent, are really the victims themselves, and they are only in trouble because of the existence of police officers. 

The Yanez couple is an example of “true believers.”

Jesus Yanez was nominated to the San Francisco Police Commission by Board of Supervisor Hillary Ronan on November 29, 2021.^[1]  He resides with Public Defender Ilona Solomon Yanez, believed to be his wife.   (Hereafter: “Jesus” and “Ilona”)

Despite sharing the same surname and residential address, when Jesus filed his Form 700^[2] with the San Francisco Ethics Commission, he was vague as to whether Ilona is his wife.^[3]  

Why is this important?  And why have defense attorneys contacted me as to whether I can confirm with 100% certainty that Jesus and Ilona are married?  Consider how you would feel if you were cited for speeding by a police officer with the surname of Rockefeller, and then you appeared in court before a judge with the same surname of Rockefeller?  Wouldn’t you want to know if they were married?

Defense attorneys and other sources have confirmed that Ilona files complaints against SFPD officers with the Department of Police Accountability. Then the officers’ disciplinary hearing is held before the Police Commission, where her husband Jesus sits.  Even if Jesus recuses himself from the hearing (and we don’t know if he does), think of the pressure upon the other commissioners that sit elbow-to-elbow with Jesus to not to reject his wife’s charges?   It’s messy and the conflict lacks transparency.  

Ilona is also close to SFPD Chief Scott.  She sits on a working group that monitors the technical aspects of the Department’s general orders as she helps add layers of paper bureaucracy to SFPD officers’ workload.   This relationship raises ethical issues of a wife writing policy that her husband will then render judgements on. 

Reliable sources have told me that Ilona has met privately with SFPD Chief Scott to discuss matters beyond the Department’s rules. However, SFPD’s response to my public records request stated the meetings were not on the Chief’s calendar.

At a recent Police Commission meeting, Jesus concluded that by SFPD employing a “heavy-handed policing strategy” of arresting drug dealers, they are actually driving up fentanyl deaths.  Brilliant, Jesus.  Shame on us for not believing.

Consider how the couple’s ultra-progressive views toward empowering women and defending women against violent abusers evaporates once the California Penal Code becomes involved.

Incident #1: as exposed by ABC, Ilona’s believer’s efforts to defend violent domestic abuser

On February 21, 2024, ABC’s Dan Noyes released his investigation into how Ilona denigrated the domestic violence victim at a jury trial in an effort to earn a lighter sentence for the abuser, her client.  The domestic-abusing boyfriend had punched, kicked, kneed, and choked the female victim.  Besides requiring stitches for her forehead lacerations, she also suffered a broken nose, fractured eye socket, a black eye, and facial asymmetry.

Screenshot from ABC Dan Noyes segment.

At the jury trial:

1)    Ilona shamed the victim for being obsessed with her client and then accused the victim of suffering from a “fatal attraction syndrome.”

2)    Ilona back-doored the domestic violence victim’s attorney and tried to directly negotiate with her to have her abuser pay off his debts to her-- with the intent of softening her testimony.

3)    After the attacker’s guilty verdict, but before sentencing, Ilona went to a bar and bought drinks for the members of the jury to influence them on the terms of her client’s sentence.  And,

4)    At the trial, Ilona put on an Oscar theatrical performance of sobbing and gasping during her presentation in her desperate effort to influence the jury (see 13:31 for audio in ABC link).

Incensed by Ilona’s ethical lapses, the San Francisco Sheriff’s union filed a complaint with the State Bar of California for her actions in court.

For the Police Commission meeting that was held the same night as Dan Noyes’ released segment on Ilona, coincidentally Jesus caught a mysterious illness and could not attend in person.  He had to participate via teleconferencing.

Incident #2:  Man tries to set fire to woman, Jesus and Ilona aide and harbor his flight

This past Wednesday, March 13^th, at about 6:30 in the evening, the Mission five-car was sent to an aggravated assault call on the 100 block of Capp Street.^[4]   Police dispatch described that a male had tried to set a female on fire.

When the five-car arrived, Officers Perez and Peraza met with the burn victim, Yesenia Lacayo.   She told the officers that she had her friend had just exited a class on the same block.  They were in their vehicle conversing but they were also blocking Tristan Farnon’s driveway.  It’s not like they abandoned  their car unattended.

The women’s conversation was disrupted when Farnon approached Lacayo in the passenger seat and banged on the car door.   Farnon blurted, “Move your fucking car” and pointed “That’s my garage.”

It is unknown if Lacayo said anything to Farnon.

Then, through a slightly open window, Farnon turned on a propane torch that threw off a flame.  The heat from the flame melted some of Lacoyo’s hair and eyebrows.   Lacoyo exited the car to confront Farnon, when he again projected the flame at her face. She and her friend tried to grab Farnon, but he wrestled himself away, opened an entry gate with a key, and then disappeared into the four-unit building.

Lacoyo called SFPD.

Officers Perez and Peraza arrived and started to interview Lacoyo and her friend.  During their conversations, Ilona walked past the officers and unlocked the front gate to the building.  (At that point, Perez and Peraza did not know Ilona was a public defender.)  Perez held the door open for Ilona, but she resisted the officer’s entry, “What’s going on?  Hold on one second.” 

Perez showed Ilona a photograph of Farnon and she confirmed he lived in the building.  Ilona said, “I’ll text him.”  To Perez, this was confirmation that Farnon was in the building, and this justified the “fresh pursuit of a violent alleged felon.”   

Perez locked a pair of handcuffs on the gate to secure its opening.  This is a trained-tactic used to keep access to a violent incident open in case the first arriving officers need emergency assistance from additional officers.

As Perez was placing his cuffs on the gate, a woman came downstairs and asked Ilona if all was okay.   Ilona told the woman that she thought everything was okay, but never shared with the officers it was Farnon’s wife that was inquiring. 

Ilona went upstairs to get Farnon and returned stating, “He is not here.  He’s definitely not here and you need a warrant to come into our house.  This is a private dwelling.  I’m a lawyer.”  She added that the entire four-unit building was hers.

Ilona and Farnon’s wife then told SFPD to remove the handcuffs from the entry gate.   Ilona specifically demanded, “Can you take them off because this is our home.”  And if the officers didn’t remove the handcuffs, she would call the captain of Mission Station to have them removed.

During this exchange, another resident of the building approached Officer Peraza and volunteered that she has had previous problems with Ilona and her husband, and that the Yanez’s are “in cahoots with (Farnon).”   The resident said all the residents mutually own the building (“tenants in common”).  The resident then invited the officers into the four-unit building through the garage and gave them permission to search the common areas of the building.

The officers were unable to find Farnon in the common areas.  Next, the officers went to Farnon’s unit, but his wife said she was by herself and refused to allow the officers to search her residence.

While speaking with Farnon’s wife, Ilona and her husband, Police Commissioner Jesus^[5] approached the officers and spoke with Sergeant Petuya:  

“I already informed you guys this is private property, and you are not allowed to go through this door.  You don’t have a warrant.  You can’t come into our property.  I am a public defender.  I know the First Amendment like the back of my fucking hand.  And I know First Amendment law and when you have a locked gate, and someone tells you (that) you can’t come in.  You’re not allowed to come in without a warrant.” Ilona, the First Amendment references free speech. Were you referring to the Fourth Amendment and unreasonable searches? What law school did you go to?

Though San Francisco police commissioners are issued police stars, Jesus never identified his position as a police commissioner.  Ilona also refused to give SFPD her name. Jesus then asked if the handcuffs could come off the gate.   A man tried to burn a woman’s face, and Jesus is only worried about the handcuffs?  Brilliant, Jesus.

As Sergeant Petuya explained to Ilona “fresh pursuit” of a violent felon does not require a warrant.  (And secondly, the officers were invited into the common area of the building by another resident).  The officers left to complete their voluminous paperwork documentation, prescribed by Police Commissioner Jesus.

About four hours later, Ilona called SFPD worried that the victims were threatening to burn the building down, and she was “worried about some vigilante justice.” Note the change of heart as it appears that Ilona and Jesus now trust the police.

Ilona said that if Farnon was to be arrested, she could talk him into surrender.

Farnon came outside and Officer Perez asked him if he knew why he was being arrested.  Ilona immediately intervened and told him she had advised him he was not going to answer SFPD’s questions.

Issues with the ethically deprived Yanez’s involvement

·      Why are Jesus and Ilona so consistently insensitive to the trauma women suffer at the abuse of violent male attackers?

·      By the fact that Farnon’s wife would not let the officers search her residence, he had no escape route after he burned Lacoya, and then he magically appeared four hours later; it is overwhelming evidence that he was in his residence the entire time.  Both Jesus and Ilona knew this, and they factually criminally violated the law when they harbored and aided a fleeing felon.

·      Did Ilona call Chief Scott or anyone else on the SFPD command staff? 

·      And then why was Jesus’ name withheld from the SFPD incident report?  Were officers instructed to conceal his identity?

·      Clearly Farnon is a property owner and didn’t need the services of a public defender—Ilona.

How Chief Scott can resolve the issues with this case

A senior official at SFPD described this caper as follows: “You have a police commissioner and his wife shielding a fleeing criminal from the police?   The City has gone mad.  The Chief has to go.”

While I am not advocating that Chief Scott resign over this incident, it does raise issues of his unequal employment of transparency.   When officers are involved in a shooting, he immediately releases the bodycam footage.   Why not release the officers’ bodycam footage of Commissioner Jesus’ condoning his wife’s actions and his constructive assistance to her in harboring a fleeing violent felon? 

At the next police commission hearing, Chief Scott must show the bodycam footage and release his cellphone and text records for March 13, 2024 (1800 hours and 2359 hours). By not doing so, he is feeding his officers’ theories that he is conspiring with the Police Commission Four^[6] and the Department of Police Accountability.

Commissioner Jesus Yanez, you have a unique manner of celebrating Women’s History Month

Commissioner Jesus Yanez, you and your wife should be arrested for harboring and aiding a fleeing violent criminal abuser of women.  You have no place on our SF Police Commission where you are allowed to render judgements on SFPD officers. It would be appropriate for you to resign immediately.

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^[1

^[2] Form 700 is a required city form that lists a person’s community property assets, income, and relationships.

^[3]

^[4] Withholding specific address because this incident involves a public official.

^[5] A screenshot from SFPD Command Staff Notification 3/13/24

^[6] Board of Supervisor-appointed Cindy Elias, Kevin Benedicto, and Jesus Yanez.  Also, Max Carter-Oberstone who Trojan Horsed Mayor Breed to get appointed.