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Oakland crime falls as recalled Mayor Sheng Thao heads to federal bribery trial

Photo: United States Congress / Public domain (source)

Oakland Crime Falls as Recalled Mayor Sheng Thao Heads to Federal Bribery Trial

by
M.A. Rothman

By M.A. RothmanOctober 7, 2026 · 4 min read
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Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee used her State of the City address on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, to announce that crime in the city is falling. “Burglaries fell 26 percent, violent crime fell 17 percent,” Lee told the audience at City Hall, according to the Daily Mail, which reported the speech the next day.

The good news comes as the mayor Oakland voters threw out two years ago is about to stand trial. Former Mayor Sheng Thao, recalled in November 2024 and indicted by a federal grand jury two months later, is scheduled to go before a jury this month on bribery, conspiracy and fraud charges. She has pleaded not guilty.

What the numbers say

Lee’s speech did not come out of nowhere. In April, the Oakland Police Department reported that serious crime fell 29 percent in the first three months of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, according to Bay City News. The department’s figures for January 1 through March 31 showed:

  • Homicides down 39 percent, from 23 to 14
  • Robberies down 30 percent, from 537 to 374
  • Aggravated assaults down 13 percent, from 678 to 588
  • Rapes down 50 percent, from 46 to 23
  • Burglaries down 54 percent, from 2,424 to 1,124

Police Chief James Beere added a note of caution: “We recognize these statistics may not reflect the experiences of those impacted by crime.” These are police-reported numbers, not an independent audit. But the direction is hard to argue with.

In her October speech, Lee also pointed to a milestone more than two decades in the making: the end of federal oversight of the Oakland Police Department. “When I first appeared before the federal court as mayor, I said I wanted Oakland to complete the 51 tasks required by federal oversight under my watch, and we did,” she said. She told residents the city must keep going: “We must do more to make sure that everyone is safe, and yes, feels safe.”

Lee also faces serious headwinds. NBC Bay Area reported that the city is confronting a structural budget deficit of more than $100 million, with city workers protesting outside City Hall before the address.

The city Oakland voted to leave behind

The contrast with the Thao era is the story. In November 2024, Oakland voters recalled Thao, along with Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, by roughly 65 percent, according to the Daily Mail. Thao became the first Oakland mayor recalled in more than a century, and Price the first district attorney recalled in county history.

Voters had reasons. The Daily Mail noted that the city of about 441,000 people recorded some 15,000 stolen cars in 2023. Thao was criticized for firing popular Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong, who was later cleared by an arbitrator, and for a missed deadline that cost the city a shot at millions in state retail-theft grant money. Price faced resignations from career prosecutors who accused her office of refusing to prosecute violent and repeat offenders.

Lee, a former congresswoman, won a special election and was sworn in on May 20, 2025, to finish Thao’s term.

The case against Sheng Thao

On January 17, 2025, federal prosecutors announced that a grand jury had indicted Thao, her longtime partner Andre Jones, and businessmen David and Andy Duong. Prosecutors allege a pay-to-play scheme that began in October 2022, just before the election that made Thao mayor.

According to the government, Thao promised that Oakland would buy housing units from a Duong-owned company, extend the city’s recycling contract with another Duong company, and help appoint officials who would benefit their business. In return, prosecutors say, the Duongs funded a $75,000 negative mailer campaign against Thao’s rivals and paid Jones $95,000 through a no-show job at their housing company, disguised as wages. Officials said Thao directed that payments go to Jones to avoid a paper trail.

Thao faces six counts, including conspiracy, bribery and honest services mail and wire fraud. All four defendants have pleaded not guilty. Thao’s attorney, Jeff Tsai, has said the case “is built on allegations from an unknown co-conspirator.” That co-conspirator has since come into view: KALW reported in July that Fruitvale businessman Mario Juarez pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit bribery and agreed to testify for the prosecution.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers set the trial for October 19, 2026, with jury selection the week before, according to KQED.

Why it matters

Oakland’s turnaround is a reminder that city decline is not a force of nature. It is a set of choices. When Oakland voters decided they had seen enough, they removed both the mayor and the county’s top prosecutor in the same election. What followed was the end of federal oversight of the police and crime numbers moving sharply in the right direction.

Thao is entitled to her day in court, and a jury will decide whether the government can prove its case. But Oakland residents do not need to wait for a verdict to judge the results of the change they demanded at the ballot box.

Oakland didn’t need a new slogan; it needed voters willing to fire the people in charge, and the numbers show what happens when they do.

Sources

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