SACRAMENTO – Tulare County Superior Court Judge Valeriano Saucedo was ousted from the bench Tuesday for pursuing an inappropriate relationship with his clerk by giving her $26,000 in gifts, including a BMW, the Commission on Judicial Performance announced.
Saucedo, a 14-year veteran of the Central Valley court, manufactured an “anonymous” letter to his courtroom clerk, Priscilla Tovar, offering salacious details of her past relationship with a courthouse bailiff, commissioners determined. The judge then sent the married woman hundreds of text messages and showered her with flowers, cash and a trip for her family to Disneyland over a two-month period in 2013 in an attempt to pressure her into an “emotional” relationship.
