How Avenal's recall standoff escalated to search warrants at City Hall
.jpg "The Kings County DA’s and sheriff’s offices on July 1 served seven search warrants at Avenal City Hall, community center and homes of recalled officials amid an ongoing investigation.")
For city officials watching Avenal from elsewhere in the Central Valley, events earlier this month offered a stark case study in what happens when a governance dispute outlasts every off-ramp.
The Kings County District Attorney’s Office served seven search warrants on July 1, targeting two municipal properties and five private homes tied to the small city’s leadership.
Investigators searched Avenal City Hall, the Avenal Community Center and the homes of City Manager Antony Lopez, Mayor Alvaro Preciado and Councilmembers Leticia Gamez, Pablo Hernandez and David Reynosa. The four elected officials were recalled by voters in April with more than 73% approval.
“We are not going to comment on an ongoing investigation,” Pat McPherson, chief of the Bureau of Investigation for the DA’s Office, told The Bee outside City Hall. “We want to stay neutral because it is a criminal investigation, and we don’t want to jeopardize the case in any way.”
A cease-and-desist letter preceded the searches
For municipal employees tracking compliance risk, the sequence that led to July 1 matters as much as the searches themselves.
Last month, the DA’s Office notified Avenal officials in a letter to cease and desist from spending any public funds without legal authorization. That warning followed a broader legal escalation: In December, District Attorney Sarah Hacker sued the city for alleged violations of California’s Brown Act, and recall proponents filed a quo warranto application in early June that state Attorney General Rob Bonta approved on June 17, clearing the way for a lawsuit against the four officials.
The city has maintained the recall process itself was illegal, producing a prolonged dispute among the city, recall organizers and Kings County. Residents launched the effort last summer, citing what they described as council members’ disrespect toward constituents, lack of transparency and accountability, and Brown Act violations. A court delay moved one of the recall disputes to a July 9 hearing.
The city manager and deputy clerk during the search
Lopez, the city manager, told The Fresno Bee he had received legal advice not to comment. Deputy Clerk Karla Curiel was seen outside the back of City Hall during the search before returning inside when The Fresno Bee or other news media arrived to the scene. — .
Hernandez and Reynosa could not be reached on July 1. Gamez was seen leaving the Ken Brown Public Safety Center midmorning but did not speak with reporters. At the mayor’s home, John Preciado said his father was not present and that investigators had taken the mayor’s cell phone, along with his own computer and phone and his mother’s phone.
Disruption to routine city business
The practical impact on residents was immediate. Avenal residents arriving at City Hall to pay bills were turned away by DA investigators. A notice taped to the door initially said the office would be closed until noon. Around 12:30 p.m., an investigator changed the time to 4 p.m. By 2 p.m., the search had concluded and the city posted signage announcing the building would be closed for the rest of the day.
Avenal, a city of roughly 60 miles south of Fresno and 35 miles southwest of Hanford, is home to a state prison. Its full municipal operations were suspended for a working day while the searches proceeded.
.jpg "MOB Avenal Search 07-01-26 (6).jpg")
Recall supporters welcomed the intervention. “I couldn’t believe it with my own eyes. In a way, I was happy and ecstatic that this was going on,” recall supporter Ginger Wallis said of the DA serving warrants to city officials.
For observers in comparable Valley municipalities, the sequence — Brown Act lawsuit, recall election, cease-and-desist on public spending, quo warranto approval, criminal search warrants — traces a path few small cities expect to walk, and fewer still have procedures for.
This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence based on our own originally reported, written and published content. Before publishing, journalists reviewed this content in compliance with McClatchy Media’s AI policy.
