By Eric Longabardi
The Enterprise Report has exclusively obtained a mug shot of Steven Charles White of Costa Mesa, CA. The photo was taken earlier this year by the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
White is a city of Costa Mesa Maintenance Supervisor at the center of an on-going Costa Mesa Police Department investigation into campaign sign vandalism in a contentious political battle in the 2012 election in the city of Costa Mesa.
This picture of White (above) was taken in relation to a domestic violence case that White was involved in earlier this year, according to court records.
White ultimately pleaded guilty to one count of "resisting arrest" according to Orange County Superior Court records reviewed for this story. White was also sentenced to 3 years probation, 4 days in Jail, 8 hours of community service and required to enroll in a "batterers treatment program" according to court records.
In the current campaign sign vandalism case, White, according to Costa Mesa Police Department spokesman Lt. Tim Schennum has had a case against him presented to the Orange County District Attorney for possible prosecution. No charges have yet been filed as of publication of this story.
... "Mr. White is suspected in the case involving vandalism of campaign signs. That case has been presented to the Orange County District Attorney's Office for review and consideration of charges being filed."
The Enterprise Report sought the release of Mr. White's Orange County Sheriff's Department jail booking shot, but the photo, a public record of the County of Orange under the law, was denied release by the Orange County Sherrif's Department based soley on a request by the Costa Mesa Police Department to keep it from becoming public.
Lt. Schennum told the Enterprise Report that .. "A release of a photo of Mr. White, albeit from a prior arrest, could unfairly prejudice any future witness identification and potentially jeopardize a criminal prosecution. Until such time as the Orange County District Attorney's Office makes a determination in this case, it is considered an active investigation and a photo of Mr. White will not be released by the Costa Mesa Police Department" ...
The mug shot photo was independently, properly and legally released to The Enterprise Report elsewhere.
It should be noted for readers of this story that at no time did this news outlet seek the release of the photo directly from the Costa Mesa Police Department. It only sought the photo's release via the Orange County Sheriff's Department. The photo is a public record of Orange County, not the city of Costa Mesa or it's Police Department. The photo we believe is a public record and it was released based on that fact.
Mug shot booking photos are routinely released by the Orange County Sheriff's Department, especially in cases like this, where the photo is historical and the case has been adjudicated. (as in this case)
Despite the Costa Mesa Police Department's attempts to thwart the release of this booking photo of White, White can be seen above in a 2011 video hosted and still available on the city of Costa Mesa's publicly available web site. At the time he was expressing his disagreement with plans to outsource city jobs to private contractors.
The Enterprise Report attempted to reach Steven White prior to publication of this story for comment. We were unsuccessful. Two telephone numbers associated with him, one listed on his California State contractor's license, were either not working, or gave out a mesage stating "the number you are calling is not taking calls at this time".
