Baldwin Park Council Member Ricardo Pacheco Files a Temporary Restraining Order Against Local Citizen

Mugshot of Baldwin Park
Council Member Ricardo Pacheco

On Feb. 24, 2016, Baldwin Park Council Member, Ricardo Pacheco, filed a temporary restraining order (TRO) on local business owner, Gregory Tuttle. According to Pacheco's complaint - he was in fear of his life. The TRO orders Tuttle to stay away from the Council Member.

Greg Tuttle's stay at the Santa Barbara Fess Parker Hotel triggered Pacheco and the other council members to vote to spend city funds to hire an attorney to secure a personal TRO for Pacheco, until the permanent restraining order hearing on March 15, 2016.

Although Pacheco claims that Tuttle was stalking him at Santa Barbara, Tuttle states that he witnessed the council members and mayor staying at a fancy hotel. The council members were caught eating at fancy restaurants and wining and dining with vendors - who he believes were influencing the vote of the council members. Tuttle also discovered that Pacheco's family members were staying at the Santa Barbara hotel and wonders if the City was paying for the little family vacation.

At the hotel, however, Pacheco began filming Tuttle without his permission. He then asked Council Member Raquel Garcia to question why he was at the hotel. Because Tuttle didn't appreciate the intrusion into his affairs, he mailed a cease and desist letter to the Council Members and Mayor to leave him alone on his personal time. Two weeks later, a vote was taken to file a TRO against Tuttle.

What makes Pacheco's filing of the TRO suspicious, is that Tuttle was not served with an original complaint. Generally speaking, in the court of law, a court doesn't issue an order, until it hears both sides of the story. But here, Pacheco claimed that he was in fear of his life; therefore, he didn't have to serve Tuttle. Tuttle believes he was not served because the allegations against him were false, and that Pacheco didn't want him disputing his account of the story.

The filing of frivolous TROs is a common pattern amongst the council members and Mayor of Baldwin Park. Baldwin Park Mayor Files Frivolous Temporary Restraining Order Against Me In that case, I had to defeat the Mayor and his attorney, to teach them a lesson that public officials have to respect the First Amendment. It appears here, that Pacheco hasn't learned that concept yet. (Yours truly, also told the California Supreme Court to review the issue - so that those in power would stop filing frivolous TROs.)

When Tuttle was questioned about the TRO, he stated, "Pacheco is doing this against me to stop me from exposing his corruption. I'm not going to side with him in making illegal contract deals, like with his oil filter scandal, and I'm not going to give him a bribe. This is what he does when he doesn't get his way."

When asked how he felt about the whole thing, Tuttle said, "It's a sad day, when politicians have to stoop so low, just to prevent people like us from exposing their corruption."