ANOTHER RESTRAINING ORDER FILED AGAINST COUNCIL MEMBER
Colleague’s accusations against LeBaron mirror some made by husband
An elected official in Lemon Grove has formally accused a colleague of harassment, marking the second time in less than a year that someonehas filed a restraining order against Councilmember Liana LeBaron.
Jennifer Mendoza said LeBaron has repeatedly screamed obscenities at her, twice blocked traffic in front of her home while honking the horn and falsely told the Sheriff ’s Department she had been assaulted by Mendoza, according to records filed Feb. 16 in Superior Court.
A temporary restraining order was granted ahead of a hearing scheduled for early next month.
“I’m afraid that LeBaron’s stalking and harassing of me is escalating,” Mendoza wrote. “I am becoming increasingly fearful of what she will do to me next.” While LeBaron has not “directly threatened to harm me,” Mendoza said she’s now always looking over her shoulder.
The move deepens tensions on a governing body thathas often been in turmoil since LeBaron was elected to a four-year term in 2020. Multiple Lemon Grove leaders have described similar treatment, and the mayor, who is Black, said LeBaron once used a racial slur against her. City staff have also reportedly complained of harassment, although officials won’t release the alleged
evidence.
LeBaron did not immediately respond to a voicemail and emails seeking comment. She has previously denied bullying, racism and violence and said she’s the real victim of a broad effort to sideline her.
Mendoza’s allegations mirror some of the accusations made by LeBaron’s husband, an El Cajon police officer.
LeBaron was arrested last year after her spouse said shehad hit, kicked and bit him as well as “threatened to make false accusations” to get him fired. She was barred from being near him for about two months until he told a judge they had “sorted things civilly.”
But in September, LeBaron’s husband filed a new restraining order request, saying years of abuse had sometimes left him with “bruising,” “abrasions,” “emotional harm” and “significant loss in productivity at work.” Amid divorce proceedings, LeBaron would allegedly show up at his home unannounced and once stopped her Jeep so he was blocked from leaving the driveway, according to the filing.
That restraining order was granted. Another hearing is scheduled for May.
LeBaron’s attorney said those accusations had been filed “in anger” and were “meritless.”
“The two parties are now working amicably with their respective counsel to settle their divorce and move forward with their lives,” Marlea Dell’Anno wrote in a text message. She predicted that the newest order would likely be dismissed.
LeBaron’s husband and his attorney did not immediately return requests for comment.
Until recently, tensions had appeared to be thawing in Lemon Grove.
After LeBaron’s preferred candidates were soundly defeated in the last election, she seemed to offer an olive branch by voting with her colleagues on measures she was nonetheless skeptical of, including a tradition-breaking plan to keep her from a leadership position.
Yet LeBaron has still verbally attacked council members and staff from the dais, using condescension and sarcasm in ways that have sometimes led other city leaders to snap back.
The result is a “toxic” and “hostile work environment,” Steve Swaney, the former head of the Heartland Fire and Rescue Department, recently said. Heartland serves much of East County, including Lemon Grove, and
Swaney recently used one of his first days of retirement to show up at a public meeting and warn of LeBaron’s “temper tantrums” and “bullying” against city employees.
Mendoza’s restraining order tells LeBaron to keep at least 100 yards away.
In an interview, Mendoza said she was not asking LeBaron to be barred from council meetings as long as they didn’t have to sit next to each other.
“I don’t want to keep her from her job,” she said. “I just want her to leave me alone.”
The mayor and city manager were not immediately available to comment. A records request with the Sheriff’s Department seeking more information about the alleged false report Mendoza accused LeBaron of making is pending.
LeBaron has earned a base of support in the community. Supporters praise how responsive she is to a broad range of concerns and for how she’s willing to challenge decisions made by other leaders, and a large group of residents helped her beat back a formal censure last year.
LeBaron has compared her situation to the Lemon Grove Incident, a landmark school desegregation case, and suggested her critics were similarly discriminating against her and, by extension, other Latinos.
“What I’ve noticed over and over again from this City Council is that there’s that same effort to try to silence and outcast the one Latina that the people have chosen to represent them,” she said in January. “There’s a very, very intense, intense and concerted effort by all my colleagues and city management to make it so this community doesn’t have their seat at the table.”