Jailed Los Angeles County Assessor celebrates birthday behind bars; Email encourages donations to legal fund

Los Angeles County Assessor John R. Noguez remains behind bars in a Los Angeles County jail cell.

By Brian Hews

Jailed Los Angeles County Assessor John R. Noguez celebrated his birthday behind bars last week and on Monday morning, several of his supporters and friends received an email asking for donations to a legal defense fund on his behalf.

Los Cerritos Community Newspaper was sent a copy of the email.

All donations to the fund must be disclosed to the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters and to the California Secretary of State.

Here are the contents of the correspondence.

“Dear Friends and Family of John:

Those of us who know John, know that he loves to throw his annual birthday celebration.

Most of the time it was a fundraiser. He asked for a contribution, but you donated what you could at the time and he was okay with it. He really just wanted friends to attend to celebrate his special day.

Now more than ever, John needs your support and we are asking you on his behalf. This past Thursday it was John’s birthday and fortunate he was able to spend it briefly with a family member who granted permission to visit him.

We are still raising money to make his bail so that he can be at home to care for his three precious dachshunds, visit his ailing mother, and spend time with family and friends as he moves forward with his legal case.

You can help John by making a donation today to help him make bail. Some of you have questions about donations given that there are certain reporters who are aggressively contacting anyone who is supportive of John. We all want to respect each other’s privacy, especially as private individuals who are not public officials.

The reporters know we do not want to speak with them, but they continue to harass many of us still. If they want to speak about John, they should call his attorney. We are tired of them using John to sell their newspapers as they face bankruptcy. We are especially tire of the illusions of grandeur of the pseudo-online news blogs run by trolls.

Therefore, if you donate $99.00 or less to the fund then your name will not appear on finance reports that are due at the end of the year. If you donate a total of $100 or more, than your name will appear on the financial reports that are public record.

The last email we sent out made to the newspapers. Just to let you know. we are sending this email directly to them.

Finally, attached is an invite to John’s Annual “Surprise” Birthday Celebration and Fundraiser. This is going to be a private event for John’s personal friends and family only.

If you would like to make a contribution by check please send an email to JohnNogu[email protected] and we will send you a form to fill out with all of the information.

We truly appreciate your help. Please pray for John and his family during this very difficult time. Thank you, Friends of John Noguez.

Los Cerritos Community Newspaper will continue to update this situation and will be publishing the names of those who contribute to this fund in the future.

Published: Monday, December 3, 2012