Tuolumne school official can’t be charged for alleged threats to kids. Senator seeks change
A legislator seeks to tighten the law regarding a Tuolumne County school board member accused of threatening to kill children and other people.
Jason Vassar, 50, was detained for a mental evaluation after the threats were reported in November. He has not been prosecuted because current law requires a showing of intent to carry out the violence.
State Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil, D-Jackson, has introduced a bill to ease that standard in future threats involving schools or places of worship. She cited Vassar and similar cases in her vast district, which stretches from Stanislaus County to the Nevada border.
“The incident involving Vassar is a prime example for why we need to implement stricter laws to hold individuals with nefarious intentions accountable,” Alvarado-Gil said in a March 28 opinion piece for the media. “We cannot afford to wait for a tragedy to occur before deciding it is the right time to address safety in schools and places of worship.”
District got restraining order
Vassar is on the three-member board of the Belleview Elementary School District. Located about six miles west of Twain Harte, it has a single campus for preschool through eighth grade.
The district obtained a restraining order that keeps Vassar at least 1,000 feet from the Belleview campus, students and employees. The board is in the process of removing him for mental unfitness. It was not clear Friday whether he remains in a secure psychiatric center.
The measure, Senate Bill 796, has support from several law enforcement, education and religious groups, the state Legislative Analyst’s Office wrote.
The bill is opposed by the California Public Defenders Association. Laws concerning erratic behavior are “often misused to penalize conduct that does not truly belong in the criminal justice system,” the San Francisco public defender said. “This is particularly true for indigent community members with mental health conditions, who often suffer from paranoia and delusions. The fear these clients experience can lead them to say things that are easily misinterpreted or are simply a product of their illness.”
Alleged threats across 93 pages
The details about Vassar first were reported by the Union Democrat newspaper in Sonora, based on the school district’s petition for the restraining order.
It said Vassar had met Oct. 30 with Superintendent/Principal Carmel Portillo and another administrator to discuss his mental health, along with school board business. After leaving, the filing said, he sent them emails totaling 93 pages of sometimes profane comments. It said he mentioned COVID-19 in schools, the Antichrist and other biblical references, and complaints about communists and socialists.
“I was kind of shocked to read in Revelations that I was going to be executioner for God and kill your children,” Vassar allegedly wrote.
The district said no specific people were targeted at the school or elsewhere.
“While we are beyond fortunate Vassar had not acted on his demented urge,” Alvarado-Gil said, “as the matter stands now, there is no criminal case against him.”
