Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Friday, April 19, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Sheriff’s Domestic Abuse Scandal Deepens

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - A San Francisco sheriff and his wife defamed their neighbors and lied to officers investigating domestic violence reports, a couple claims in court.

Ivory Madison had called the police on Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi in early 2012 out of concern for her neighbor, Eliana Lopez, who is married to Mirkarimi.

Lopez allegedly told Madison that Mirkarimi had grabbed her arm during an argument over whether she could take their son on a trip to her native Venezuela.

Madison recorded a video of Lopez in tears, pointing to the bruise Mirkarimi had allegedly caused.

The investigation led Mirkarimi to plead guilty to the false imprisonment and receive a temporary unpaid suspension.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee tried to permanently unseat Mirkarimi, but the city board of supervisors voted to reinstate Mirkarimi in October 2012.

Madison and her husband, Abraham Mertens, sued Mirkarimi and Lopez in Superior Court on Thursday.

Mirkarimi and Lopez allegedly accused the couple of trying to profit from the investigation and said that they were part of a political conspiracy. They also said Mertens was practicing law without a license.

Madison and Mertens seek an injunction and punitive damages.

Follow @MariaDinzeo
Categories / Uncategorized

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...