The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office said it won’t file charges against a man whom the Clovis Police Department alleged helped organize Clovis Unified students’ anti-ICE walkout.
In a statement to The Bee, a spokesperson for District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp said her office will not pursue any charges against Alfred Aldrete, 41, of Fresno, as recommended earlier Tuesday by the Clovis Police Department.
“After a thorough review of the evidence, our office has declined to file charges due to insufficient evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt,” Taylor Long, a spokesperson for the DA’s Office, said in the statement.
After nearly two months of investigation, the Clovis Police Department announced Tuesday morning that they had submitted a misdemeanor charge against Aldrete, for allegedly “contributing to the delinquency of a minor.”
The police department said on Feb. 11 that it would review surveillance footage and pursue charges against adults who attended the Feb. 10 walkout, in which 200 Clovis Unified students skipped classes to protest President Trump’s deportation crackdown.
The department identified Aldrete as an attendee at the student walkout and alleged he directed student activity and entered the roadway, which disrupted traffic flow, according to police. Aldrete denied the police department’s claims Tuesday.
In an interview with The Bee on Tuesday, Aldrete said he did not organize the protests or encourage students to walk out. As a co-founder of a local activist group Fresno Resistance, Aldrete received requests from the Clovis students asking if he could volunteer at the protests to ensure students’ safety.
“The only thing that I was doing was making sure that the cars did not drive through them while they were crossing the street,” Aldrete said.
In a statement to The Bee on Tuesday afternoon, Fresno County District Attorney’s Office said prosecutors had completed their review of the case submitted by Clovis Police. Prosecutors did not find the available evidence met the elements of the alleged offense.
The charge submitted against Aldrete was under California’s Penal Code section 272. Typical examples of parental liability usually include providing alcohol or drugs to minors or assisting minors in committing crimes.
This charge requires proof that an adult encouraged or caused a minor to become delinquent, the district attorney’s office said. The submitted evidence could not prove Aldrete’s violation beyond a reasonable doubt.
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Leqi Zhong is the Clovis accountability/enterprise reporter for The Bee. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley with a Master’s degree in journalism. She joined The Bee in 2023 as an education reporter. Leqi grew up in China and is native in Cantonese and Mandarin.