Alameda County sergeant charged with felony eavesdropping

A sergeant with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department was charged with four felony counts of eavesdropping on privileged conversations between in-custody juvenile suspects and their public defender, the district attorney’s office announced Wednesday.

The charges came after prosecutors provided discovery, which included videos of the juveniles’ consultation with their attorney, to the public defender’s office in June.

Body camera footage of Sgt. James Russell, a 20-year veteran with the sheriff’s office, was later obtained that reveals a conversation with a supervisor to whom he suggested recording privileged conversations is a regular practice.

“What we’ve done is, like, well, we’ve had these recordings,” Russell said to Lt. Timothy Schellenberg in the video.

An inspector with the district attorney’s office referred to Russell’s implication that eavesdropping routinely occurs in a declaration in support of probable cause.

“The lieutenant then asks Russell if he records the meeting,” the declaration states. “Russell replies that he does record such confidential meetings (thereby admitting to the crime listed above).”

Russell faces a maximum sentence of five years if found guilty on all four counts, according to Assistant District Attorney Teresa Drenick.

Alameda County prosecutors maintained they were not aware of Russell recording conversations between the four minors and a Deputy Public Defender John Plaine while the sheriff’s office said the alleged misconduct was an isolated incident by a single person.

“The district attorney’s office was completely unaware of what the sergeant was doing,” Drenick said.

The cases of Plaine’s clients were dismissed once the district attorney’s office realized the conversations were recorded.

The juveniles were alleged to have robbed a Castro Valley market on March 15, 2018. They were taken to the Eden Township Sheriff’s substation, where Russell notified the public defender’s office it had four potentially new clients.

The district attorney’s office has begun to review all juvenile cases, charged or uncharged, submitted by the sheriff’s department.

“Every one of us working in the justice system must be held to the highest of standards when it comes to protecting an individual’s constitutional rights, including the sacrosanct right to privileged communication between a client and his or her attorney,” said Alameda District Attorney Nancy O’Malley in a statement.

Russell was reassigned to administrative duties after the sheriff’s department learned of the allegations. He was placed on paid administrative leave prior to the filing of charges, according to a department spokesperson.

Alameda Superior Court Judge C. Don Clay admonished the sheriff’s department in response to evidence Russell eavesdropped on conversations but declined to issue an order prohibiting such practices in the future.

“Although the sheriff’s [department] called it an isolated incident, we remain concerned,” said Deputy District Attorney Jeff Chorney.

The Los Angeles and Orange County public defenders’ offices have also alleged their respective sheriff’s departments recorded privileged conversations.

Russell is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 17.