Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer urged a prosecutor to drop a pending auto theft case against the father of a 9-year-old boy killed in a mass shooting in Orange after top executives at the DA’s office worried that Spitzer’s contact with the father could impact the capitol murder case, according to a report outlining an internal DA  investigation.

Two weeks after former Senior Assistant District Attorney Tracy Miller in a claim filed with the county first raised concerns about Spitzer’s conversations with Rafael Farias – whose 9-year-old son Matthew Farias was one of four people killed in a mass shooting allegedly carried out by Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez – an internal investigative report obtained by the Register indicates that Spitzer directly told a prosecutor that a separate criminal case against Farias “should be dismissed.”

Spitzer has denied acting inappropriately in his conversations with Farias and prosecutors, and the criminal case against Farias did not end up being dismissed, according to court records. But it isn’t clear what impact the allegations surrounding Spitzer’s conversation with Farias could have on either the Farias or Gonzalez criminal cases, since accusations of potential prosecutorial misconduct can potentially lead to defense attorneys seeking to have charges dismissed.

“This was an innocent and completely understandable interaction with a grieving father who unbeknownst to me also happened to be a charged defendant in a separate case,” Spitzer said in a statement. “As soon I was made aware of his pending criminal charges, I terminated the conversation and said I could only talk to his attorney going forward. I have had no further communications with Mr. Farias.”

On March 31, 2021, authorities say, Gonzalez shot and killed four people at the offices of Unified Homes in Orange, including Matthew, and shot and injured Blanca Tamayo, Matthew’s mother. Months later, Farias, Matthew’s father, was charged with forging documents to sign over a car to his name that belonged to Tamayo, allegations which Farias has denied.

During a Nov. 15 meeting of his executive team, Spitzer informed top DA officials that he had spoken by phone with Farias in a conversation that began with a discussion about the Gonzalez case before Farias brought up his own legal troubles, according to the report. Spitzer said Farias was emotional and he felt sorry for him, according to the report, adding that they needed to “look into Farias’ open case, since based on the information he received from Farias, this did not sound like a good case for our office.”

Others at the meeting told Spitzer that “he spoke with a witness of a special circumstances homicide without an investigator present, who is also a defendant in one of our open criminal cases and represented by counsel without counsel present,” according to the report. Spitzer agreed to talk to a DA investigator in order to document his conversation with Farias, according to the report, since the details of the conversation would potentially need to be turned over to defense attorneys in both the Gonzalez and Farias cases.

Miller has alleged in her claim that when Spitzer was interviewed by a DA’s office investigator about the Farias conversation he made “a materially false and misleading account.” She didn’t specify, but said that if an incorrect statement was given to defense attorneys it “could be viewed as obstruction of justice.”

On Dec. 4, according to the report, Spitzer called the prosecutor assigned to the Farias case and said he thought it should be dismissed. The prosecutor believed Spitzer did not have all the facts of the case, and suspected the information Spitzer had gathered came from Farias or his attorney, the report added.

Spitzer in his own memo described the internal investigative report as “misleading” and claimed it “lacks necessary context.” Spitzer wrote that he wanted the prosecutor involved in the Farias case to look at “the totality of the circumstances of a father who had just experienced the horrific death of his child and look at his behavior from at least that perspective.”

“There is nothing unusual or inappropriate in having a conversation with one of my prosecutors regarding the facts of a case to ensure the case was properly charged,” Spitzer said in his statement. “I never provided direction to dismiss the charges and I ensure defense attorneys in both criminal cases were informed of my inadvertent interaction with Mr. Farias. Neither defense team has complained that this unintentional communication with a charged defendant has any negative impact on any criminal proceeding.”

The criminal case against Gonzalez is currently on hold after Gonzalez – who was struck in the head during a shootout with police – was sent to a state hospital for treatment after being found not competent to stand trial.

Miller, the former high-level prosecutor who first publicly raised concerns about Spitzer’s handling of the Gonzalez and Farias cases, has alleged that Spitzer forced her out of the DA’s office after creating a hostile and abusive work environment. Spitzer has alleged that Miller’s accusations are politically motivated, coming on the eve of the filing deadline for the district attorney’s race.

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