Ukiah High School Teacher and Journalist in Midst of Police Misconduct Investigation in Fort Bragg is Arrested on Charges of Annoying a Minor
Inappropriate social media reactions cited by police
Journalist and high school teacher Matt LaFever was arrested Monday morning by the Ukiah Police Department on charges of knowingly annoying a minor. He was booked into the Mendocino County Jail on $10,000 bail.
Mendo Local emailed LaFever for comment but has not received a response.
A Complaint, an Investigation, and an Arrest
According to a Ukiah Police Department press release, a parent reported on October 16 that LaFever made an inappropriate sexual comment toward her daughter. That same day, Ukiah High School placed him on administrative leave and referred the matter to police.
The parental complaint and police investigation coincided with LaFever’s energetic efforts to track down a document mentioned during the public comment session of the Fort Bragg City Council on October 13.
As detectives investigated, another student came forward describing inappropriate social-media exchanges with LaFever. Investigators then obtained a search warrant for LaFever’s cell phone, computers, and home.
Police allege that LaFever sent a student “scantily clad” photos of himself and asked the teen to send explicit pictures in return. The press release included a picture of LaFever in white tee shirt and black shorts. There is weight-lifting equipment in the background of the photo.
The next day, detectives located LaFever on the Ukiah High School campus, seizing his phone and multiple laptops. They said they confirmed the interaction described by the student and found evidence that LaFever had reached out to other minors in Mendocino and Sonoma counties.
LaFever was arrested at his Hopland home around 7 a.m. Monday.
“Everything we do is about keeping the safety of the students our first priority,”
— Dan Dougherty, Communications and Community Engagement Officer, Ukiah Unified School District to Mendocino Coast News.
LaFever taught English and journalism at Ukiah High School.
A Journalist with Deep Local Roots
In addition to running the independent news site MendoFever, LaFever serves as North Coast editor for SFGATE the San Francisco Chronicle and recently worked part-time for the Independent Coast Observer.
Karen Elowitt, publisher and editor in chief of the Independent Coast Observer said, “The news of Matt’s arrest was very shocking, and the nature of his alleged crime is upsetting. But he is innocent until proven guilty.”
Known for offbeat stories highlighting the quirks of Mendocino and neighboring counties and for chronicling police misconduct, LaFever was, at the time of his arrest, reportedly pursuing a story about confirmed allegations of sexual battery involving a Fort Bragg Police Department sergeant in 2022. The sergeant no longer works for the department.
The Fort Bragg Police Misconduct File
Two days before being placed on leave, LaFever had been actively seeking a copy of a confidential personnel memorandum dated May 30, 2023, written by former Police Chief Neil Cervenka to the sergeant.
That document reportedly sustained allegations under:
California Penal Code § 243.4(e)(1) — sexual battery
California Penal Code § 289(a)(1) — unlawful sexual penetration with a foreign object
The memo detailed an assault on a fellow officer, unwelcome physical contact with the officer’s wife, and a suggest to a civilian employee that she enter into a “sister —wife relationship” with him.
Mendo Local has requested a redacted version of the memorandum under the California Public Records Act and asked current Fort Bragg Police Chief Eric Swift whether the case was referred to the District Attorney or to the Commission on Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) as required by law. The city has declined to release the document and Swift has not responded to repeated requests about whether the department and the city followed the law except to tell Mendo Local that we seem to have all the information we need.
While California law allows agencies to shield misconduct files involving a supervisor’s attack on a rank-and-file officer (or an officer’s attacks on another officer), however it requires disclosure when there is a confirmed finding of excessive force, sexual assault, or dishonesty involving a civilian who is not a police department employee.
According to Chief Cervenka’s summary, the sergeant’s actions included lewd comments about a woman’s body, slapping her buttocks twice—leaving his hand there the second time—and later pulling her hair while making a remark about “the kind of hair one has if they like rough sex.”
Cervenka found that the sergeant engaged in “criminal, dishonest, or disgraceful conduct, whether on or off duty, that adversely affects the member’s relationship with this department,” citing multiple violations of the Fort Bragg Police Department Policy Manual and Personnel Rules and Regulations.
Cervenka specifically criticized the sergeant for dishonesty. “You were interviewed twice as part of the investigation of all these events,” he wrote. “During each of those interviews, you were under the duty obligation to completely and truthfully respond to all questions put to you. You were dishonest in many respects with the interviewer as explained below.”
Broader Context: A Pattern of Police Settlements
It’s not clear whether LaFever ever obtained the Fort Bragg memorandum, but his reporting has frequently examined misconduct within Mendocino County law enforcement, including:
A $450,000 settlement involving sexual-assault allegations against a former Ukiah police chief link
A $1 million default judgement to a woman who said a former Ukiah sergeant raped her twice link
A $2.25 million settlement to a former Willits police officer in a sexual-harassment lawsuit link
The MendoFever website is not operating, and Mendo Local is unable to provide links to LaFever’s coverage of these cases. Summary information based on his reporting is available from Large Language Models such as ChatGPT.
Editor’s Note: links to LaFever’s articles hosted on Red Headed Blackbelt have been added. 20251103 8:32 p.m.
Continuing Coverage
Mendo Local will continue to pursue public-records requests related to the Fort Bragg case and report developments in LaFever’s criminal case as court filings become available.
The $450,000 settlement did not involve a former Ukiah Police Chief.
Also the P in POST stands for Peace, not Police.