By Joe Nelson
The Press-Enterprise
RIVERSIDE COUNTY, Calif. — A former Riverside County inmate alleges a sheriff’s correctional deputy gleaned her personal information from jail records to contact her and pursue a romantic relationship after she was released from custody, according to a claim against the county.
The claim, filed Wednesday, April 29, alleges corrections deputy Yash Patel, a 30-year-old civilian employee of the Sheriff’s Department, accessed Summer Johnson’s personal information from a database at the Robert Presley Detention Center on March 5.
“Deputy Patel misused and exploited that confidential information for personal purposes wholly unrelated to any legitimate law-enforcement function,” the claim alleges.
Johnson’s attorney, Jamal Tooson, said his client received three calls from a blocked number between 1:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. on March 6. When she finally answered a call, Patel told her he worked at the jail and saw her as she was being released from custody. He told her he had to “shoot his shot,” Tooson said.
Johnson, who had been in custody in connection with a disturbance and altercation involving her boyfriend, was wearing leggings and a sports bra at the time of her release, Tooson said. He added that Patel had commented on her outfit during their telephone conversation.
“He said he wanted to see her with that outfit off,” Tooson said.
Johnson asked Patel if “this was something he did often, and he said he had done it one other time before,” Tooson said.
Johnson was alarmed, Tooson said, when Patel asked her if she still lived at the same address and made a reference to the car she drove and its color.
The claim alleges Johnson has suffered from severe emotional distress due to her contact with Patel, including fear, anxiety and emotional trauma associated with the power imbalance created by Patel’s position of authority. She continues to worry about Patel and possibly other Sheriff’s Department employees retaliating against her, Tooson said.
Patel, who has been placed on paid administrative leave while the department investigates the allegations, could not be reached for comment. The Sheriff’s Department declined to comment on Johnson’s claim, citing the ongoing investigation and pending litigation, since a legal claim typically is followed by a lawsuit.
Arrested in another case
Patel was arrested in Jurupa Valley a day after his contact with Johnson, but not in connection with their phone encounter.
At the time, the Sheriff’s Department released few details beyond the fact that Patel was booked on suspicion of sexual battery and false imprisonment while off duty. He posted $500,000 bail and was released from custody the following day, March 8, according to the department.
Sheriff Chad Bianco has since confirmed Patel was arrested for allegedly making contact with a different inmate after her release, and said the department is investigating other similar contacts as well.
“We arrested Patel for contacting a female after she was released. We are still investigating that. That’s all we have at this point,” Bianco said in an email. “We are speaking with several who he contacted after their release. So far there is nothing else criminal but we are not close to being done.”
Bianco said there is no merit to allegations lobbed earlier this month by an online vlogger that Patel and at least five other corrections deputies at Robert Presley were engaged in a coordinated competition to solicit sex from women inmates after their release.
Bianco called those allegations part of a “political smear campaign” to try to hurt his campaign for governor of California.
“We are actively investigating the conduct of (correctional deputy) Patel. At this point there is no information to indicate additional employees were involved,” Bianco said in his email.
Johnson has cooperated with the criminal investigation.
Tooson believes investigators reached out to Johnson as part of their probe into Patel’s March 7 arrest involving the other woman. He said they had found Johnson’s number on his phone and asked whether she had been in contact with Patel.
Tooson said Johnson sent Patel a candid photo of herself, and requested photos of Patel so she could establish who he was. Patel obliged, the attorney said.
“She said she just wanted a picture as proof of who he was,” Tooson said. The lawyer said he could not confirm if the photos Patel allegedly sent Johnson were, in fact, of him.
At some point, Tooson said, Johnson’s conversations with Patel shifted from the telephone to the social media platform Snapchat, where messages are automatically deleted after they are viewed unless users change their settings. Johnson recorded her Snapchat conversations with Patel using another cellphone so she could preserve them, Tooson said.
Johnson later contacted Tooson for representation after learning Patel may have engaged in similar conduct with other former inmates.
Previous lawsuit
Tooson also represented La Quinta resident Briana Ortega in a lawsuit filed against the county in August 2025 alleging former sheriff’s Deputy Eric Piscatella used law enforcement databases to pursue her romantically under the color of authority. She alleges he sent her unsolicited and increasingly romantic texts and showed up at her home unannounced, under false pretenses, while attempting to pursue a relationship.
The county settled Ortega’s lawsuit for $375,000.
Tooson said Johnson’s case parallels Ortega’s, and illustrates what he believes is “a huge disconnect on how deputies conduct themselves both on and off the clock.”
“There’s a pattern and practice of officers within the scope of their job duties pursing relationships with women who they deem to be attractive, and crossing the line and ultimately abusing their authority,” he said. “There’s an ongoing problem within the department of male officers preying on women.”
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