A registered sex offender\u2019s attempt to run for Fresno City Council may see sex offenders like him wholly banned from Fresno\u2019s City Hall after a vote on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The back story: Rene Campos, 41, who has been on California\u2019s sex offender registry since a 2018 arrest on child pornography charges, spoke at a City Council meeting, arguing that registered sex offenders should not be blocked from running for office or attending meetings. <\/p>\n
Campos pleaded no contest in 2021 and was sentenced to two years of formal probation, keeping him listed under Megan\u2019s Law.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy campaign is over, but I still see the bullying,\u201d Campos said Thursday at Fresno City Hall. \u201cThe only thing I have done in my life is help everyone and anyone that comes around me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Campos\u2019s campaign for City Council ended after he failed to collect enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. His recent press conference near a local school drew police and raised concerns among residents.<\/p>\n
Crackdown on sex offenders: The Fresno City Council responded to Campos\u2019 near-miss with the 2026 ballot with a unanimous 7-0 vote Thursday, approving a measure that prohibits registered sex offenders from attending council meetings in person. <\/p>\n
The measure also asks the city attorney to consider the use of facial recognition technology to enforce the new rules.<\/p>\n
City officials, including councilmembers Annalisa Perea and Nick Richardson, cited safety concerns, especially in venues where children may be present, as the primary reason for the new restrictions. <\/p>\n
They are also considering separate ordinances to prevent registered sex offenders from running for or holding public office\u2014something current state law does not prohibit.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere: At the state level, Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria (D-Fresno) is seeking to amend AB 2753 to bar registered sex offenders from holding public office statewide. The proposal was partly prompted by Campos\u2019s failed campaign.<\/p>\n
Despite the backlash, Campos returned to City Hall on Thursday to protest the new measures.<\/p>\n
What they\u2019re saying: \u201cI don\u2019t give a damn about sex offenders or their rights,\u201d Fresno City Councilman Mike Karbassi said during Thursday\u2019s meeting. \u201cI want to be real clear about that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A registered sex offender\u2019s attempt to run for Fresno City Council may see sex offenders like him wholly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-232124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232124","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=232124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}