Where there is an end, there is a beginning.
The same week that former Chula Vista Councilmember Andrea Cardenas and city residents saw the justice system draw the curtain on one legal drama, it raised another on a separate opening act, albeit on a larger stage.
Cardenas and her big brother Jesus pleaded guilty to two felony counts of grand theft—one charge for ripping off the federal government’s PPP funds, otherwise known as the Payroll Protection Program set up to help businesses stay afloat during the uncertain days of the COVID pandemic, and a separate charge of ripping off the state of California Employment Development Department.
The siblings remain free until sentencing later this year, March for Jesus, August for Andrea.
While Andrea Cardenas’ name remains on the March 5 ballot for city council it’s unlikely District 4 voters will put her back in office or in a November runoff, even though Chula Vista voters in 2022 chose a deceased candidate to take the helm at the City Attorney’s office. (That political farce will finally come to an end when voters decide next week between two living candidates running for the city’s top legal position).
Andrea Cardenas’ plea is presumably the best move for her. Those who backed her, however, will be left wondering what she was thinking, given that there won’t be a trial and Cardenas won’t publicly share her side of the story. In other words, to explain what she was thinking.
Across town, the country even, on another stage the curtain rose on the Tale of Howard Freelove .
The Chula Vista man was arrested and charged Monday in federal court for being among the throngs of people who stormed the Capitol in Washington D.C. Jan. 6, 2021. The day of the failed coup.
Freelove’s role appears to be that of a looky-loo as, according to media accounts, he is allegedly seen wandering around the Rotunda filming with a cellphone. He is charged with four misdemeanors.
Freelove is the same man who not long ago was cited and released by Chula Vista police after harassing patrons at a Third Avenue coffee shop, proclaiming “I’m White!”
The drama continues.
