While the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office might not have recommended charges in the matter of an exchange between current Lathrop City Councilwoman Minnie Diallo and former Lathrop Manteca Fire Chief Gene Neely and his wife Rozelle, that doesn’t mean the spat won’t see the inside of a courtroom.
According to documents posted to the San Joaquin County Superior Court’s online database, Diallo filed for a temporary protective order against Neely and his wife for harassment back on Oct. 22, and the motions were granted with a court date of Nov. 10.
Individual petitions were filed by Diallo against both Gene and Rozelle Neely. Both matters will be heard by San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Tony Agbayani inside of the Manteca branch courthouse at 10:30 a.m.
Diallo will now have to provide evidence to the court to warrant a permanent restraining order.
The issue at hand is the conversation that Neely and his wife had with Diallo following October’s meeting of the Lathrop City Council where she cast the lone dissenting vote in a motion to place Neely on the committee that oversees Measure C – Lathrop’s one cent sales tax increase to fund city services.
At the time that the conversation took place only Neely, his wife Rozelle, Diallo, and Lathrop Mayor Sonny Dhaliwal were in the room.
During the discussion prior to the vote on Neely’s appointment Diallo said that she – along with the rest of the Lathrop City Council – had been sent a video that showed a house fire that had not yet been responded to by the Lathrop Manteca Fire District with a suggestion that the people that the video was initially sent to monitor the response times in the future.
That video was taken by Neely’s wife Rozelle. Neely was reportedly upset that it was mentioned in the council meeting without clarifying that he had nothing to do with the video – which served as the crux of the conversation that ensued following the meeting.
The matter was investigated by the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office – the current acting Lathrop Police Chief was not present for the meeting, and no replacement was sent in his place – who announced last week that they would be forwarding the case on the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s office without a recommendation for charges.
In typical instances where a preliminary restraining order is issued the person that is being served will have to temporarily surrender any registered firearms until the matter is adjudicated. Whether that is a provision in Neely’s case is unknown because the records are currently sealed.
When reached for comment Monday night, Neely said that he’s looking forward to presenting the actual facts of the case in a court of law.
When asked for a comment Diallo had her lawyer – San Joaquin County Attorney Allen Sawyer – respond on her behalf. Sawyer provided a letter that Diallo authored that was sent to the council that included a description of what transpired that evening.
“On Monday October 11, 2021 after our normally scheduled meeting I was confronted by our former Fire Chief and his wife,” Diallo wrote in the letter. “Things got way out of hand to where after Mr. Salvatore (Steve Salvatore, Lathrop City Manager) finished walking them out he returned back inside council chambers to say that ‘After the incident he felt unsafe with me walking to my car alone and that he or the Mayor should escort me to my car.’
“The Mayor offered and then walked me to my car and also followed me home.”
To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.
