Overview
- Big Picture Educational Academy reported to police after Rene Campos held a Feb. 27 news conference across the street around 3:45 p.m., and the school’s leaders said they also directed counsel to issue a cease-and-desist.
- Campos, 41, pleaded no contest in 2018 to a misdemeanor charge for possessing child sexual abuse material, served probation, and is required to register as a sex offender.
- California law does not generally disqualify people with most misdemeanor convictions from running for local office; Campos claimed he thought the school was closed, but officials said students were present in after-school programs.
- Several Fresno City Council members said they will pursue a local ordinance to limit or bar registered sex offenders from serving on the council.
- Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria plans to amend state legislation to prohibit such candidacies, while the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws says it will challenge any ban, and as of Thursday morning Campos had not yet filed for the ballot with a Friday deadline approaching.