Susan Bassi

“They are lying!”
Often the first thing we hear from people shocked to discover that in our modern courts, lying — even perjury — is routinely tolerated.

Worse still, there are cases where individuals knowingly file false police reports to gain an advantage in family or criminal court proceedings.

We submitted public records requests to several California District Attorneys’ Offices, asking how many times over a 10-year period they prosecuted cases involving perjury or filing false documents (either in court or in the form of a police report). Only one county responded.

Case 1: Lake County

Lake County provided one case where a mother made false rape allegations in a police against her child’s father.
Coming from a conservative family, she had been working as a caregiver for a disabled man, entered into a relationship with him, and became pregnant. Out of fear of her family’s reaction, she also filed for a restraining order, lying about the relationship that led to her pregnancy in order to win in court.

She was prosecuted for filing a false police report ( a misdeameanor) and for perjury ( a felony).

Case 2: Santa Clara County

The only other instance we could find of a district attorney prosecuting perjury or false document filings came from Santa Clara County, under DA Jeff Rosen and Public Defender Mary Greenwood. We found the case not through a public records request, but a published appeal.

The case involved a divorce heard by private judge Ed Mills.
The mother, representing herself (“pro per”), faced her attorney ex-husband, who was represented by two attorneys — Lynne Yates Carter (now deceased) and Tracey Duall Cazes (now a private judge herself).

The case was referred from the private judge to the public court and district attorney, who accused the mother of filing false proofs of service and withdrawing $1 from a bank account in violation of a court order — even though she immediately repaid $1.01.

She claimed she withdrew the money only to show that the account, which held the proceeds from the sale of the family home, was not frozen and that her ex-husband — with two attorneys assisting him — could easily access it.

The result was devastating:
She was sanctioned $1 million, declared a vexatious litigant, lost custody of her only son, and was denied access to community funds to hire her own lawyer — forcing her attorney to withdraw.

The Uneven Playing Field

One of the most troubling realities in family court is the lack of balance in legal representation. Roughly 90% of litigants represent themselves. Family court often feels like criminal court with a malicous prosecutor and an incompetent public defender- the defendant , much like a pro per in family court, doesn't stand a chance.

If you have an attorney, they can sign a proof of service.
If you don’t, you must hire a process server or rely on someone else to serve documents — which can lead to disputes or accusations of falsification.

It’s unclear whether the mother in the Santa Clara case forged the proofs of service or simply couldn’t locate the friend she said had served them. Still, the lawyers labeled her a liar, and despite the rarity of such prosecutions, the Santa Clara DA pursued her case.

A Deeper Problem

The relationship between divorce attorneys, police, and district attorneys is more intertwined than most people realize.

This weekend, we’ll be reporting on these troubling patterns and systemic issues on my YouTube platform. Stay tuned. Here is today's short video: www.youtube.com/shorts/3sXmPG...

19 hours ago (edited) | [YT] | 375

Susan Bassi

Many of you watched the video we had to do when Sunnyvale police failed to comply with California's Public Records Act. The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYNFl...

Posting the video got the police department in gear. They produced 2000 pages of records related to our investigation of WomenSV , a shady nonprofit (NGO) we have been reporting on since 2023.

Also in the records- was what appears to be a Bassi BOLO from Los Gatos police records and communication employee Sarah Tada. This was issued after our first live stream at a police department doing a public records request.

So far the town attorney and police chief- Jamie Field , haven't called me back to explain why Los Gatos police didn't produce this record over the last five years and why we had a hell of a time getting records on Ruth Patrick Darlene who is " training" these police officers throughout Silicon Valley depsite her lack of credentials, and history of mental health problems.

We address this issue in our next LIVE - stay tuned.

3 days ago (edited) | [YT] | 480

Susan Bassi

As politicians on both sides of the country’s national and local government debate if the “Epstein Files “ should be released to the public , a reporter I follow on ‪@LinkedIn‬ got Epstein’s emails from a Yahoo account through a FOIA request.

FOIA requests are what we make to the federal government. When the records aren’t produced as requested, Jason Leopold has always had lawyers willing to help him fight in court to get them.

High ranking officials in the government have been known to call Leopold a “FOIA Terrorist “- a title Leopold proudly wears as he gets his federal records. Some dating back years !

At a state level records requests here are made under California’s Public Records Act, or CPRA and rule 10.500 for records from the state’s courts. Too few reporters make these requests as we do - watching Leopold as the gold standard.

This week Jason Leopold has been releasing records from a recent request that produced email records far more interesting than what could ever be in the Epstein files.

This record was from 2007 - it was sent to Epstein from a PR firm that told Epstein how to write an apology after police in Palm Beach Florida arrested him and the media had gotten ahold of information related to his criminal prosecution.

For a time , public employees and elected officials communicated via email , unmindful they could be produced as public records. Now they use Proton mail and tell us the records don’t exist.

Emails tell the public the real business of the government and about the views , opinions, ideas and conduct of individuals the public pays to work for local, state or federal agencies.

Locally we have obtained hundreds of thousands of emails from elected officials , prosecutors and even judges. We have been surprised and even shocked by some of the records we got and those we couldn’t.

Because we could never write articles about all these records or cover them in the way they should be reported on - we will continue to point out the worst of the worst.

After all- don’t we all deserve to know what elected officials and public employees say when cameras aren’t watching and no fancy PR firm is telling them what good words to use when they are ?

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 281

Susan Bassi

Divorce attorneys and family court judges have fought so fiercely against reporting on family court cases, that they routinely use restraining orders and place parents on supervised visitation as retaliation against anyone who dares to speak about what is happening in our modern family courts.

While focusing so intently on her “investigation” into how reporters obtain information, divorce attorney Nicole Ford has exposed that the courts themselves have a serious problem with their electronic filing system.

A few years ago, the courts mandated that attorneys submit documents through e-filing. Yet attorneys and litigants have long complained that the court does not promptly process these filings—often leaving lawyers and parents waiting weeks or even months to secure court dates or to properly file and serve motions and evidence needed for hearings.

Instead of addressing these problems with real solutions that would benefit all court users, Nicole Ford operates using a McCarthyism playbook, threatening attorneys and litigants who dare to speak to members of the free press.

Beyond the failures of e-filing and the lack of court reporting, parents with no history of violence are being forced into professional supervised visitation, stripped of custody rights, as attorneys like Ford assume the role of both mental health therapist and self-proclaimed expert on journalism.

In reality, courts are failing to comply with the law by delaying mandated mediation and postponing hearings needed to correct errors in temporary custody orders. As a result, parents remain stuck on costly supervised visitation for months while waiting for their right to care for their children without monitoring to be restored.

These delays translate into more billable hours for attorneys, while the courts continue to cut staff responsible for filing documents, conducting mediations, and keeping the system running.

In every case we’ve investigated involving this one attorney, there is a consistent pattern of incompetence as minors’ counsel— and representation of violent criminals with ties to undocumented immigrants awarded full custody based on false allegations and made up psycho- babble, as the attorney sits on political bodies and markets their practice for supporting " survivors". All of which judges continue to support with court orders.

Due process violations, constitutional rights being trampled, and endless delays in divorce and child custody cases in the welathiest state and county in the world, all seem to pale in comparison to the so-called “cardinal sin” of parents, or their family members, speaking to the press about what actually happens inside these courtrooms.



When attorneys or politicans ( judges) complain that a reporter is "harrassing" them by reporting on how they do their job- a good reporter knows they have found the right story.

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 407

Susan Bassi

Ethics in Policing?
This week our videos focus on police officers who respond to domestic disturbances and how those responses can land folks involved in a bitter break up in jail, or family court, where costly attorneys, court delays, junk science therapists and court appointed attorneys for children can emotionally and financially devaste parents and their extended families.

Armed with discretion and immunity - how can we tell if police officers are ethical on and off the job?

This was obtained from a public records request to the Santa Clara Police Department.

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 254

Susan Bassi

The answer is always “discretion.” We all know it when we see it. When mixed with immunity- it is the most dangerous weapon.
Discretion is what your parents used when raising you without formal rules or scripts. It’s what teachers relied on when they always chose the AV kid to run the projector or make copies for the class. It’s the gray area a criminal judge leans on when sentencing two people for similar crimes. And it’s what we see in family court when one parent loses custody of their children—and no written law explains why a judge made such orders relying on their discretion and immunity as they did.
It’s also what police officers exercise every day. Sometimes it’s giving a buddy a pass, or deciding to arrest someone who dared to talk back. It’s whether to make an arrest in a domestic violence case, or simply tell a couple in a bitter breakup to cool off at a friend’s house instead of sending them down a path that ends in court.
Having covered California family courts for more than a decade, we know: these cases rarely end well. The longer people spend in court—and the more attorneys that get involved—the worse it gets. Add court-appointed minors’ counsel, therapists, and other so-called “experts” billing hours on the pain and suffering of families, and the outcomes are devastating. At the center of the devastation- immunity and discretion.
Take the Los Gatos case we’ve been reporting on since 2020. An immigrant mother lost full custody of her son to a man she married overseas who was not the child’s father. The case began in 2012, when neighbors called the police for a domestic disturbance. She was arrested, and the case landed in family court. Eventually, her son was placed with the ex-husband—again, not the child’s father—who moved him to Hawaii. Court-appointed attorneys claimed this was in the boy’s “best interest.”
The result? The was never enrolled in school, never obtained a green card, and remains in limbo to this day with his mother praying the feds will deport him so he can escape the harm done by a California court and a judge who did ride-alongs with Los Gatos police as he was assigned these cases.
One bad police call. One officer’s “discretion.” The result: a mother losing her child, and years later still begging authorities for help.

Most Americans believe the U.S. has the best courts in the world—fair, just, where due process prevails. Many think injustice only happens in so-called “third world” countries. But anyone who has spent time in a California family courtroom knows better. There are no cameras allowed. Police body cams aren’t always turned on during domestic violence arrests. And when discretion and immunity mix where no body cams exist - justice is the first thing to disappear.

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 356

Susan Bassi

“I have begged every federal agency to deport my son, and have been ignored.” This after her run in with the Midnight Cowboy Family Court Judge doing ride- alongs with the Los Gatos police.

She was raising her son in the Philippines when a Mormon missionary offered her a way out. He accepted her dowry from her farming family, promised her and her child a better life after a religious ceremony, and brought them to Los Gatos, California—where his own parents were struggling to pay their mortgage.
Instead of welcome, she and her son were pushed into a camper in the family’s garage, surrounded by gasoline fumes. Her food was considered “too stinky,” her child “too bothersome.” Her new husband stayed in the family home with his parents and brother, visiting her only at night to demand “marital rights.”

She was forced to work at La Rinconada Country Club, turning over every paycheck to her mother-in-law as “rent” for the camper and food.

In late 2012, an argument erupted when she found her son playing video games with her husband and his brother. She was strangled by the brother as neighbors called the Los Gatos police. When officers arrived, they saw no bruises on her brown skin, labeled her the “dominant aggressor,” and arrested her. She sat in jail until an LDS minister connected her with an LDS attorney, Jason Pintar. Her divorce began just six months after she had arrived in America seeking a better life and just as Judge Towery was doing ride- alongs with Los Gatos police who made such arrests.

Her husband hired attorney Constance Carpenter, who arranged a custody agreement over a child that was not Carpenter’s client. It would take five years before the DA prosecuted him for spousal r*pe and abuse. Even then, while he sat in jail, she was relegated to supervised visits with her own child—who remained in the care and supervision of the very brother who had assaulted her. A brother who would later unlive his wife and himself, leaving his own child orphaned in Idaho.

The charges against her ex husband were later dropped, and a midnight hearing was set by Judge Towery, who personally wrote in the late hour by hand. It was not a mistake - it was corruption in the courts revealed. This order shows what it looked like.

After appointing minors’ counsel, Judge Towery stripped her of custody of her only son. She was ordered to pay child support while working in Silicon Valley, even as her son was moved to Hawaii under the care of a “fake father.” Her son never again attended school, never received a green card, and is now in Hawaii unable to work or go to school.


Today, her son is an adult— an undocumented immigrant, living on an island with no way off. Despite years of pleas, no federal agency has intervened.

The case reveals not only personal tragedy but also systemic failures: when police and family courts are not just incompetent or complicit, but corrupt, it looks like this.
Lesson now - handling undocumented immigrants when family courts are involved is not what we see on the nightly news or in those ICE videos on social media.

2 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 385

Susan Bassi

One police officer in Los Gatos makes over $400,000 in pay and benefits. Harold Hoyt is he officer in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JbK8...

Is the public getting their money's worth?

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 301

Susan Bassi

Video just dropped this morning is related to this public record produced from the town of Los Gatos. It is an email and agenda from the underground BBMP we did not discover until 2022. We reported on it widely in 2023 and it was shut down.

The group was led from 2014- 2023 by Judge James Towery. It operated with public recourses but was never noticed to the public. Only select cops, attorneys, prosecutors and nonprofit operators were invited for off record discussions with select members of the local press. They kept it a secret since 1989 and held election and political forums for members of the club that the public were not invited to attend.

James Towery had been attending this club since 1989 when he was president of the local bar association. He is the family court judge who was running this club while he wanted to be connected for ride alongs with cops who would appear in his courtroom in high asset- high profile divorce cases.

The district attorney, Jeff Rosen, benefited from this group that helped him get elected in 2010. He has been in office since 2015 and is known for selective enforcement, protecting attorneys and for failing crime victims and not prosecuting child SA cases while he fills the jails with family court contempts, residents struggling with mental health and smash and grab crimes that look spicy on BBMP news, and Nextdoor apps, as the real threats to public safety go unchecked.

Bradanini was a woman who smashed into and elderly man hanging Chrismas lights, while driving her Range Roover awarded to her in a divorce assigned to Judge Towery. She was criminally charged and admitted to driving under the influence yet had crimes reduced and spent only one day in jail. Similar crimes have seen defendants spending 22 years in jail. All based on discretion of a local district attorney, or DA.


DA Jeff Rosen is up for reelection in 2026 having never been subject to a viable recall. This time he has competition.

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3 weeks ago | [YT] | 279

Susan Bassi

Individuals working in local government—especially attorneys—will always behave badly when it comes to public records. This is a records request to Los Gatos related to our investigations into code enforcement, police, family court, and private judges. Stay tuned as we show our work along the way.

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3 weeks ago | [YT] | 295