Treasure Ortiz started working for the FBI as a confidential informant for a federal corruption investigation a few years before her election to the San Bernardino City Council, court testimony revealed Tuesday.
During a special hearing Tuesday to determine whether certain evidence or witness testimony could be admitted in the misdemeanor eavesdropping case against Ortiz, it was disclosed she secretly worked for the FBI between 2022 and early 2025. She was elected to the council in November 2024 and continues to serve on the council.
The hearing was held before a jury was selected, with San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Melissa Rodriguez deciding that no evidence related to Ortiz’s role as an informant would be shown to the jury. According to Ortiz’s attorney, Peter Schlueter, after the hearing, the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office, which charged her with the two misdemeanor eavesdropping counts, wanted to ensure that the partnership did not enter into evidence in the case.
Ortiz faces the criminal charges for allegedly secretly recording conversations with police officers, including San Bernardino Police Chief Darren Goodman and San Bernardino Police Officers Association President Jose Loera, a police sergeant. She pleaded not guilty in February.
The recordings show police had searched a law enforcement database for information about her, which Ortiz claims was meant to discredit her ahead of her City Council campaign. Prosecutors contend that she broke California’s two-party consent law by recording these confidential conversations.
Ortiz said on the phone Tuesday evening that she began working with the FBI before her time as a sitting councilmember in February 2022.
“I’ve always carried the philosophy that you can talk about it, which is good to bring it up, or you can do something about it. And I found an avenue where I could be a part of the solution of rooting out corruption,” Ortiz said.
Ortiz worked with FBI Special Agent CJ Sanders, who testified during the Tuesday hearing that Ortiz was a “confidential human source” on a federal corruption matter.
The corruption investigation involved a bribery allegation, Sanders and Ortiz confirmed. Otherwise, who or what it targeted was not revealed in court Tuesday. Sanders said Loera and Goodman were not part of the bribery investigation.
Sanders also confirmed that Ortiz was given an FBI recording device with instructions not to take independent actions or use her own device, and that she was not authorized to record Loera or Goodman. He said she did not act under FBI direction for those recordings.
Ortiz also testified about working with Sanders as an informant.
Both Ortiz and Sanders confirmed during their testimonies that they met regularly in public spaces, such as a Starbucks, for discussions. The two differed in their testimonies: Ortiz said the FBI gave her a USB to supply materials as an informant. Sanders said he did not.
Ortiz said under oath that she used her own device to record Loera and Goodman in August 2024 and acknowledged there was no express FBI authorization for those recordings, framing her role as broadly “collecting information” to root out malpractice or political corruption.
Under cross-examination, after a lengthy back-and-forth with the San Bernardino County Deputy District Attorney Carlo DiCesare, Ortiz ultimately agreed there was no specific conversation in which Sanders told her to secretly record targets of her choosing.
During Sanders’ testimony, he said that he terminated his working partnership with Ortiz in January 2025, but he did not notify her of the termination.
Rodriguez ruled that the jury would not hear evidence that Ortiz was acting as, or believed she was acting as, an FBI informant when she recorded Sgt. Loera and Chief Goodman. The ruling was based on Sanders’ testimony that he never authorized or received those recordings, that those officers were never FBI corruption targets, and that Ortiz herself admitted she lacked express authorization to record them.
The councilmember said she does not view Rodriguez’s decision as a setback.
“I believe in our judicial system. It’s the only remedy for regular people like you and me and our residents,” Ortiz said.
Proceedings were scheduled to continue Wednesday in Ortiz’s trial.