BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
A man who allegedly tried to meet up with a 13-year-old girl is looking to discredit the former Mountain View police detective who arrested him, court records show.
An attorney for Jarit Bates, 40, of Pacifica, filed a motion seeking to review Officer Jacob Cesena’s personnel records for any complaints, discipline or misconduct.
“These issues may be relevant to Mr. Bates’ plausible claims about evidence, shoddy investigation, entrapment or problems with the integrity of this investigation,” attorney Matt Sullivan said in the motion filed on June 9.
Sullivan said Cesena was “apparently terminated” from the Mountain View Police Department in November 2023.
But Cesena said in an interview with the Daily Post that he resigned, and Sullivan won’t find anything interesting in his file.
“It’s not uncommon to see a defense attorney try and discredit the investigator,” Cesena said. “But that’s even more reason to be the best detective and the ideal police officer in the sense of right and wrong, and doing your job the way it’s expected to be done.”
Job was taking a toll on detective
Cesena said he left law enforcement because the job was taking a toll on his mental well-being, and he recently became a dad.
“If I want my daughter to have the best life that she can, I need to make sure that I’m the best person I can be. And I didn’t think I could do that while working in law enforcement,” Cesena said.
Cesena worked for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office for eight years before he was hired in Mountain View in December 2018 to investigate fraud and internet crimes against children, which spiked during the pandemic.
Cesena said he didn’t want to discuss his investigation of Bates while the prosecution is underway.
Bates allegedly posted an ad online looking for an underaged girl in early 2022. Cesena responded by pretending to be a 13-year-old girl, and they exchanged 235 messages over the course of nine days, Cesena said in his police report.
Explicit videos
Bates sent videos of himself having sex with women and made suggestive and explicit comments, Cesena said.
“I feel guilty because of your age but you’re just so sexy,” Bates allegedly said in a message on April 6, 2022.
Bates allegedly tried to meet up with the girl on April 19, 2022. He was arrested on suspicion of three felonies in San Jose.
Bates is out on supervised release with bail set at $40,000.
Defense attorneys can file a “Pitchess” motion to review personnel records of police officers who are suspected of misconduct.
The motion is named after a 1974 California Supreme Court Case involving former Los Angeles County Sheriff Peter Pitchess, who tried unsuccessfully to stop a subpoena for a deputy’s records.
Girl’s age called ‘ambiguous’
Sullivan alleged that Cesena used pictures of a girl of an “ambiguous age” and a “nonstandard” bait photo of a wet towel on the ground to catch Bates.
Sullivan also said that Cesena didn’t preserve the online ad that he responded to.
A hearing on the Pitchess motion is scheduled on July 16 with Judge Griffin Bonini.
Deputy District Attorney Monroe Tyler hasn’t filed a response to the motion.
Cesena said he is prepared to testify if the case goes to trial.
“I owe it to the community, I owe it to the DA’s Office to follow through with what I started,” Cesena said.