Trial in Oxnard Trustee Tape-Recording Case Postponed

A jury trial for Oxnard school district employee Pedro R. Placencia, accused of illegally tape-recording the phone calls of trustee Jim Suter, has been postponed until Dec. 2.

Placencia, who headed the elementary school district’s migrant education program, was scheduled to stand trial Wednesday in Ventura County Superior Court. But his attorney, Victor Salas Jr., said he needed more time to interview potential witnesses in the case.

The Ventura County Grand Jury indicted Placencia last month on six felony counts of illegally tape-recording Suter’s phone calls. Placencia is suspected of using a radio scanner to record the calls this summer.

Placencia allegedly left two 90-minute cassette tapes containing 18 of the recorded phone calls on the doorstep of another trustee, Mary Barreto. Prosecutors believe Placencia was seeking political gain, trying to gather intelligence on Suter’s efforts to gain support for a controversial decision to name the district’s newest campus after a former superintendent.

Barreto was initially a target of the district attorney’s probe into the matter, but the grand jury did not return an indictment against her.

In transcripts made public Tuesday of the grand jury proceedings, Barreto testified she did not know the tapes had been illegally recorded.

Salas said Wednesday that one of the issues still to be decided is whether all or a portion of the taped conversations will be played in open court.