Stanislaus bailiff's exit tied to raids at cycle shop

Legal papers show he's suspected

By SUSAN HERENDEEN
sherendeen@modbee.com

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A longtime Stanislaus County bailiff who was suspended last month is suspected of passing information to a retired deputy who owns a motorcycle shop that has been the target of a federal investigation, according to a search warrant obtained by The Bee.

Legal papers show that retired deputy Dave Swanson's abrupt departure from the courthouse Feb. 5 is tied to high-profile raids of Road Dog Cycle in Denair and the investigation of Capt. Raul DeLeon, who was escorted from the administrative suite at the Sheriff's Department in early December.

Swanson, who was placed on paid leave only three days before his retirement, said he has no connection to owners of the motorcycle shop and has not compromised any investigation during 25 years on the job at Stanislaus County Superior Court.

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Timeline

A high-profile investigation revolving around Road Dog Cycle, a motorcycle shop in Denair, has prompted plenty of speculation in the Modesto legal community. Federal investigators served search warrants on owner Robert Holloway, a retired sheriff's deputy who was acquitted of murder seven years ago, and his wife, Kathy Holloway, who left the Sheriff's Department after she was investigated for misusing the computer system. Her former boss, sheriff's Capt. Raul DeLeon, was placed on leave without explanation. And investigators were looking for ties between the Holloways, the Hells Angels and a bailiff who was placed on leave last month when they served a search warrant in Stanislaus County Superior Court. Just what the authorities are looking for is unclear, but their work has spilled into the public arena on a number of occasions. The following is based on court papers and observations of FBI raids:

• Sometime in the fall: The Sheriff's Department notifies Kathy Holloway that the district attorney's office wants to share statements she gave during an internal affairs investigation with a criminal grand jury. Holloway worked for the department for 25 years, including a stint as a confidential secretary for DeLeon. She left in 2005, after she was investigated for misusing the computer system. When she hears about the subpoena, Holloway hires defense attorney Mary Lynn Belsher.

• Nov. 1: Belsher calls DeLeon to ask about the subpoena seeking Kathy Holloway's personnel file. DeLeon refers Belsher to Chief Deputy District Attorney Dave Harris. Harris tells Belsher he can't confirm or deny any pending grand jury, because such proceedings are confidential.

• Nov. 26: Steven P. Jacobson, an investigator with the district attorney's office, comes to Belsher's office to ask how she knew about the grand jury case involving Kathy Holloway. Belsher says Jacobson accused her of compromising an investigation.

• Nov. 29: Belsher files a motion to quash the subpoena for Kathy Holloway's personnel file. Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Donald Shaver sets a Dec. 5 hearing.

• Dec. 4: Harris files a motion saying the subpoena is moot because the grand jury hearing has been canceled, adding that he can't be in court Dec. 5.

• Dec. 5: The judge reschedules Kathy Holloway's case for Dec. 10.

• Dec. 6: Federal investigators escort DeLeon from the Sheriff's Department. Sheriff Adam Christianson sends his top staff a memo saying DeLeon is on administrative leave pending the outcome of a federal investigation.

• Dec. 10: The judge orders Harris and the Sheriff's Department to prepare legal briefs responding to Kathy Holloway's request.

• Jan. 8: The judge hears arguments on Kathy Holloway's case. Harris says the judge can't limit future grand juries from reviewing personnel files from the Sheriff's Department. Belsher says Kathy Holloway's statements are not admissible because she was told they could not be used in any criminal proceeding and advised that she would be fired if she did not speak with investigators. Deputy County Counsel Marc Hartley says the Sheriff's Department did not want to interfere in any criminal investigation.

• Jan. 8: Shaver issues a written ruling saying the Sheriff's Department had a duty to notify Kathy Holloway about the request for her personnel file because she had been promised that her statements could not be used in a criminal proceeding. The judge says the district attorney's office must give Kathy Holloway time to seek a protective order if it requests her records again.

• Feb. 1: Members of the Central Valley Gang Impact Task Force raid Road Dog Cycle, smashing the front door to serve a search warrant before the shop had opened for business. Investigators also search the Turlock home of Robert and Kathy Holloway, on Moberg Road, and the home of their son, Brent Holloway, on Adair Road west of Modesto.
• Feb. 5: Sheriff's deputy Dave Swanson, a bailiff in Stanislaus County Superior Court, is placed on leave three days before his retirement. A search warrant says investigators could look for anything that might tie Swanson to the Holloways, attorneys who represent the Holloways, a private investigator, the Hells Angels or any other outlaw motorcycle gang.
• Feb. 7: Task force members return to Road Dog Cycle to serve a second search warrant.
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PDF: OMG Search Warrant Application & Affidavit
PDF: Motion to Quash Subpoena Ruling
Agents swarm former deputy's cycle shop
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PDF Graphic: Map of FBI raid on Road Dog Cycle

"I have never given confidential information to anyone that would jeopardize any law enforcement investigation," Swanson said in a statement, which was provided by defense attorney Robert Forkner.

Sheriff Adam Christianson and a spokesman for the FBI declined to discuss the matter, saying the investigation is ongoing. A spokeswoman for the district attorney's office could not be reached for comment.

Raids were performed by members of the Central Valley Gang Impact Task Force. A search warrant, signed by U.S. District Court Judge Oliver W. Wanger in Fresno, was prepared by Steven P. Jacobson, an investigator from the district attorney's office who is referred to as a task force agent with the FBI.

Jacobson and several FBI agents served the warrant on Swanson on a Tuesday morning, after Judge Ricardo Córdova finished his morning docket. Investigators confiscated Swanson's cell phone and sifted through his desk, filing cabinet, mailbox and locker.

An affidavit filed in support of the search warrant shows that the authorities were looking for anything that would tie the bailiff to:

Robert Holloway, owner of Road Dog Cycle on Main Street in Denair, which is known for rare motorcycles and a wide selection of parts. Holloway, a retired sheriff's deputy, had his 16-year career cut short in 1985 after a drunken driver slammed head-on into his patrol car. He gained notoriety in July 1997 after he confronted a career criminal who tried to rob his shop, accidentally killing the man during the scuffle. A jury acquitted Holloway of murder charges in 2001.

Kathy Holloway, wife of Robert, who worked at the Sheriff's Department for 25 years and was a secretary for DeLeon for a portion of that time. She left the department in 2005, after she was investigated in connection with misuse of computer services. Kathy Holloway is a deputy city clerk in Ceres, but she was placed on paid administrative leave last month after the authorities served search warrants at her husband's motorcycle shop, their Turlock home and their son Brent Holloway's home west of Modesto.

Defense attorney Kirk McAllister, a longtime friend of Robert Holloway. He won not-guilty verdicts when Holloway was accused of murder and argues that the latest raids on Road Dog Cycle show that investigators still are mad about losing the murder case.

Defense attorney Mary Lynn Belsher, who represents Kathy Holloway. In January, she convinced Stanislaus County Judge Donald E. Shaver to quash a subpoena that Chief Deputy District Attorney Dave Harris sent to the Sheriff's Department. The prosecutor wanted to share copies of statements Kathy Holloway gave during the internal affairs investigation with a criminal grand jury and complained in legal papers that a closed-door proceeding had to be canceled because of Belsher's interference. The judge sided with Belsher because Kathy Holloway was told that nothing she said during the April 2005 internal affairs investigation could be used in a criminal proceeding.