OAKLAND — The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office recently filed charges in a 2024 shooting outside the house of a likely FBI informant in the sprawling public corruption scandal that led to the indictment earlier this year of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao.
County prosecutors charged Hermelindo Olber Ramosramos, 25, in the June 9 shooting at the East Oakland house of longtime political operative Mario Juarez. A two-time council candidate, Juarez is the likely unindicted “Co-Conspirator 1″ in the alleged bribery and pay-to-play scandal that federal authorities unmasked in January when they charged Thao, her partner, Andre Jones, and David and Andy Duong, the father-and-son owners of California Waste Solutions with conspiracy and other federal offenses.
Ramosramos faces felony charges of shooting at an inhabited dwelling and shooting at an unoccupied vehicle. He was arrested last December, but not charged until last Friday, after several media outlets published articles and videos about the months-old arrest.
Ramosramos has a pending misdemeanor theft and battery case in Santa Clara County, but failed to show up at an early court appearance, according to prosecutors there. In that case, the criminal complaint lists his home address as being three blocks away from Juarez’s Fruitvale Avenue home.
Details of Ramosramos’ alleged involvement in the June shooting remain shrouded in secrecy. A probable cause declaration — essentially, authorities’ written justification for making an arrest or filing charges — was not made public in his court file, and other records in his case were sealed. No one by his name appeared in the Santa Rita Jail’s logs by midday Monday, three days after the charges were filed.
Police have not revealed the suspected motive behind the shooting.
Authorities say Ramosramos confessed and that a second man — believed to be a driver — was also arrested, but not charged. He was identified as a suspect through electronic surveillance, witness statements and video.
No one was injured in the June 9 shooting, but it created panic throughout law enforcement, given Juarez’s value as a potential witness in the federal corruption probe. Eleven days after the shootout at Juarez’s home, the FBI raided the homes belonging to Thao and Jones as well as David and Andy Duong.
In June, authorities said multiple people were suspected of pulling behind Juarez’s Chevrolet Suburban, vandalizing the vehicle and then opening fire at Juarez as he stepped outside to investigate at his Fruitvale District house. They allegedly arrived in cars with obstructed or stolen plates, authorities said.
Juarez says he used his own registered Glock pistol to fire four shots back at the assailants, then phoned 911. When police arrived, he told them he believed the attempt on his life was “retaliation” for his involvement in a criminal investigation.
Since then, he’s released public statements questioning why no charges were filed after Ramosramos — who is not named in the statements — was arrested last December. In the statements, Juarez implies or outright states that the violence against him were attempts to silence him from speaking out against corruption.
Juarez is widely believed to have been a key cog in the FBI’s investigation into Thao and her political allies. In 2022, he arranged unflattering mailers targeting Loren Taylor — then Thao’s biggest political opponent — and fellow mayoral candidate Ignacio De La Fuente that were a key facet of the alleged pay-to-play scheme.
Authorities claim the Duongs paid for the mailers — along with a lucrative “no-show” job for Thao’s partner — in exchange for say on political appointments and promises of continued access to contracts with the city, according to the feds indictment.
Juarez was beaten in May 2024 during a confrontation with the Duongs outside an office building in Oakland where they both shared offices, authorities said. At the time, Juarez was partnering with the Duongs on a business seeking to build portable homeless shelters, and the Duongs allegedly pledged political support to Thao in exchange for city contracts when she was elected mayor, according to federal prosecutors.
