{"id":205867,"date":"2026-03-05T17:15:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T17:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/205867\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T17:15:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T17:15:25","slug":"fresno-school-files-report-after-sex-offenders-press-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/205867\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno school files report after sex offender\u2019s press event"},"content":{"rendered":"

Officials at a Fresno elementary school filed a police report against City Council candidate Rene Campos<\/a>, a registered sex offender, for holding a news conference across the street from the school.<\/p>\n

Campos held a press conference with reporters outside Saint John\u2019s Cathedral in downtown Fresno on Friday afternoon, which is across the street from the campus of Big Picture Educational Academy, a public charter school serving students in grades K-8.<\/p>\n

Stephanie Hilton, the school\u2019s executive director, and Diana Gonzalez, its superintendent, criticized Campos in a statement<\/a> and said his decision to hold a news conference near the school showed a \u201cdeeply troubling\u201d display of contempt for the law and the safety of children.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was not only a potential violation of the legal restrictions placed upon him as a registered sex offender, but a profound breach of the trust and safety our school community depends on every single day,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Campos, 41, pleaded no contest to a 2018 misdemeanor charge of possession of child pornography and served two years of formal probation.<\/p>\n

\"Fresno Fresno City Council candidate and registered sex offender, Rene Campos, called for a media appearance one day after local leaders said they plan to work on future legislation that would limit a registered sex offender\u2019s ability to be a councilmember. Liliana Fannin <\/p>\n

Reporters asked Campos at his Friday news conference if his proximity to the school violated the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say, during operational hours, absolutely,\u201d Campos said. \u201cI believe they are closed right now. I don\u2019t see anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campos asked reporters to meet him at the church at 3:30 p.m., and arrived around 3:45 p.m.<\/p>\n

Big Picture Educational Academy is open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, according to the school\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

Hinton told The Bee in an email that the school provides an \u201cexpanded learning program\u201d after school until 6 p.m. on weekdays. She said it\u2019s an after-school program that typically includes homework help, academic support and enrichment activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur students were on campus actively participating in these activities and were seen entering\/leaving the campus at the time of the press event,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Campos called the press conference on Friday in response to Fresno council members\u2019 plan to block him from serving on the council.<\/p>\n

Councilmembers Annalisa Perea, Miguel Arias, Nelson Esparza and Nick Richardson said they would pass legislation tolimit a registered sex offender\u2019s ability to serve as a city councilmember, which is currently allowed under state law.<\/p>\n

Campos told reporters he felt personally attacked by the council members and described their proposal as \u201cinstitutional overreach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perea said she is \u201cdeeply troubled\u201d by Campos\u2019s decision to host a press event near an active elementary school campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeadership requires sound judgment, respect for the law, and an unwavering commitment to protecting our community. When someone seeking office demonstrates the opposite, we have a duty to speak out with a clear message: those who have committed serious offenses against our children and continue to disregard legal boundaries should not be placed in positions of public authority,\u201d she said in the statement.<\/p>\n

Campos said Friday he chose the church as the location for the press conference because it has been around for hundreds of years and represents rehabilitation and forgiveness.<\/p>\n

Neither the Diocese of Fresno nor St. John\u2019s Cathedral received prior notice of the press conference. They were critical of Campos\u2019s location choice in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Campos independently and irresponsibly chose the location for the press conference and used the Catholic Church and the School as props in his theater of politics,\u201d their statement said.<\/p>\n

Hinton said that as soon as the school learned of Campos\u2019s news conference near the school, they filed a police report, shared their concerns with local officials and directed its legal counsel to issue a cease and desist notice to Campos.<\/p>\n

Campos did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the school\u2019s legal actions and response to his news conference. He is running in the crowded District 7 race<\/a> in the June primary election.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published March 3, 2026 at 1:19 PM.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Officials at a Fresno elementary school filed a police report against City Council candidate Rene Campos, a registered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[95108,112,114,113,95105,95106,95107],"class_list":["post-205867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-big-picture-educational-academy","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-fresno-school-police-report","tag-rene-campos-news-conference","tag-sex-offender-near-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}