San Bernardino Councilmember Treasure Ortiz gets ‘cease and desist’ letter from city

San Bernardino City Councilmember Treasure Ortiz has received a cease and desist letter on behalf of the city stating that she must stop behaving in ways that could be “perceived as harassment or retaliation.”

The Friday, Feb. 27, letter, which is also posted on the city’s website, is part of a continuing legal battle between Ortiz and other city officials, including San Bernardino police Lt. Jose Loera, the president of the San Bernardino Police Officers’ Association, and Police Chief Darren Goodman.

Ortiz has filed a lawsuit against the San Bernardino Police Officers Association, naming Loera and Goodman as defendants. She alleges they spread information intended to hurt her city council campaign. She is seeking $2 million in damages. Loera and Goodman have denied Ortiz’s allegations. Loera called them “false, dishonest and without merit.” The San Bernardino City Council dismissed the claims as “false, inflammatory and without evidence” and affirmed its support for Goodman.

Ortiz’s attorney, Peter Schlueter, in a Tuesday, March 3, interview called the letter a “blatant attempt by the city to weaponize taxpayer dollars against a duly elected official who dares to speak truth to power.” 

The letter alleges that the council member had engaged in a pattern of “harassment, misuse of authority, and the creation of a hostile work environment” toward city employees. It also stated that Ortiz used her platform as a council member to “amplify” accusations of “corruption and mismanagement” against the city and its police department.

Ortiz was charged by the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office with violating California’s two-party consent law for recording, according to a January city news release. She pleaded not guilty during a Thursday, Feb. 19, arrangement.

Ortiz’s November federal lawsuit against San Bernardino alleges that police resources were used to dig up dirt to derail her political campaign.

Ortiz’s lawsuit alleges that a former San Bernardino police officer used the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, a law enforcement database, to search her to gather information to undermine her political activism before her campaign for the Ward 7 seat on the council.

After Ortiz’s arrangement, Schlueter said the law does not prohibit recording conversations. “It says you can’t record confidential communications,” he said, adding that recording in an open forum is not illegal.

On Tuesday, San Bernardino spokesperson Jeff Kraus said matters related to the letter would be handled by the law firm Atkinson, Anderson, Loya, Ruud and Romo, which wrote it. Kraus would not comment on the reasons it did not use attorneys in the city attorney’s office.

As of early Tuesday afternoon, March 3, Atkinson, Anderson, Loya, Ruud and Romo did not respond to requests for comment. Ortiz could not be reached for comment.

The letter cites five instances in which Ortiz allegedly made harassing and disparaging statements about city staff and officials.

•  On Aug. 15, 2024, Ortiz is accused of secretly recording a conversation with Loera without consent.  She later used the conversation in public announcements, accusing the city and its police of “corruption, mismanagement and dishonesty.” The letter states that Ortiz’s act of “secretly recording” another city official shows a “concerning lack of good faith, professionalism, and integrity,” and also could be perceived as “intimidating” and “coercive.”
• On April 29, 2025, Ortiz posted a video on her social media channels announcing she had filed a legal claim against the city that alleges “mismanagement, corruption, and operating with disregard for the rule of law.”  Ortiz is accused of making pointed statements about “illegal targeting” by Loera and Goodman. This public conduct by Ortiz can be perceived as “damaging” to city employees,  the letter states.
• Because a city investigation into Ortiz’s allegations found no wrongdoing, her allegations were “false and dishonest,” the letter said. Ortiz alleged she was “illegally targeted” through the telecommunications system, but investigators hired by the city determined the system was “lawfully accessed by authorized law enforcement personnel” and called her allegations “frivolous, filed in bad faith, dishonest, and an improper attempt to obtain money from the city.”
• Ortiz’s Aug. 6, 2025, news conference outside city hall repeated her corruption allegations, “directly attacking the character, credibility, and integrity of city staff,” the letter states. It alleges her statements were made with a “knowing indifference to factual findings” because she had been told the allegations were “untrue, unsupported, and made in bad faith.”
• During a recent city council meeting, a former city commissioner shared what appears to be another secretly recorded conversation between Ortiz and Loera. The letter says this follows the filing of charges against Ortiz for “illegally recording” the conversation and calls it a “misuse of information obtained through your official position and a continued disregard for professional boundaries.”

Schlueter said Ortiz is calling out “dishonesty and mismanagement.”

“You have to realize that they’re being very crafty in their letter, but they’re not actually threatening a lawsuit or administrative action,” Schlueter said.

Schlueter said the city is deliberately vague in describing potential consequences in the letter.

“It avoids any specific mention of lawsuit, criminal prosecution or administrative sanction,” Schlueter said.