Allegations of a Cover-Up After Son of a Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Faces Child Porn Charges—Sheriff Speaks Out
Trent James is a former Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office deputy and a former officer with the Willits Police Department who left the county and has gone on to create the YouTube channel Confessions of an Ex-Cop. James has released numerous videos that purportedly reveal corruption within the command staff of his former employers.
In December, James claimed that MCSO’s Lieutenant JD Comer was under investigation for possession of child pornography and MCSO was actively covering it up. Two days ago, he refined his accusations in his latest video after Comer’s son Bailey was booked in the Mendocino County Jail for alleged possession of child pornography.
James claimed MCSO went to great lengths to protect Comer, tamp down the investigation, and minimize public information about the case. As of this writing, the video has almost 11,000 views.
Yesterday, Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall sat down with us to address James’s accusations and discuss the realities he faces of “doing what is right” when investigating one of his own.
Sheriff Kendall said on September 25, 2019, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), a national team of cybercrime investigators, determined that a folder on the cloud-sharing service DropBox contained child pornography and was being accessed via an internet connection somewhere in Mendocino County.
ICAC informed the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office of these claims on October 31, 2019–over one month later.
On the same day that the information was received, Sheriff Kendall explained, a deputy was assigned to investigate the case. The deputy filed a search warrant to obtain information about the internet traffic associated with the IP address that ICAC had identified.
On November 4, 2019, MCSO learned from information gained with the search warrant that the IP address was associated with a home in Fort Bragg owned by MCSO Lieutenant JD Comer where multiple people reside. These findings resulted in the beginnings of both a criminal investigation and an internal affairs investigation.
Regarding the criminal investigation, Kendall said that he reached out to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office to “find an agency that would work with this” knowing that criminally investigating one of his employees would be a conflict of interest.
MCSO and the DA’s Office requested assistance from the Sacramento Valley High Tech Crimes Task Force (SVHTCTF), a branch of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, staffed with the appropriate equipment and personnel to conduct the specialized investigations required of cyber crimes.
Screenshot of Sheriff Matt Kendall in a 2020 video call.
Sheriff Kendall said MCSO’s most immediate objective was to identify if there was any possibility his employee, Lieutenant Comer, was the one accessing the DropBox file.
Three days later, the SVHTCTF cleared Lieutenant Comer as a suspect. Sheriff Kendall said they were able to cross-reference Comer’s confirmed location against specific dates the Dropbox was accessed from outside of both Mendocino County and the State of California. “He could not have been two places at once,” Sheriff Kendall said.
From early November 2019 to January 2022, the task force conducted their investigation into who had accessed the DropBox folder containing child pornography. Sheriff Kendall said his agency “prodded the task force a number of times” during this period, but could not speak to why it took over two years for the investigation to be completed. “I am not in charge of the task force so I do not know why it took so long,” he told us
Trent James, however, speculated the extended duration of the investigation suggested MCSO was actively covering for their employee rather than investigating them.
Sheriff Kendall patently rejected this claim that the investigation’s duration was proof of his agency attempting to protect their employee. He suggested law enforcement staffing issues, the closure of police academies across the state due to COVID disruptions, and the complex nature of cyber crimes investigation could all be contributing factors to the drawn-out timeline.
On November 19, 2021, Trent James released a video on his YouTube channel claiming Lieutenant Comer was under investigation for the possession of child pornography.
When James made these claims, Sheriff Kendall said his agency’s “hands were tied” because the criminal investigation was still ongoing and at that point, he could not comment on the case. Now, since Comer’s son has been charged, he has the opportunity “to defend Lieutenant Comer and tell the truth.”
On January 17, 2022, MCSO was contacted by the SVHTCTF and informed their investigation had concluded and they would be submitting the case to the Mendocino County District Attorney to be charged. Based on this information, the internal affairs investigation against Lieutenant Comer was officially closed after investigators decided his son Bailey was accessing the child pornography, not the Lieutenant.
Bailey Comer
From the time the investigation was handed off to SVHTCTF until the charges were filed by the Mendocino County District Attorney, Sheriff Matt Kendall said, “I had no idea who the suspect was, as designed. I wanted to remove myself from the investigation from the conflict of interest. We took these steps to make sure nothing dirty or underhanded could occur.”
On April 26, 2022, District Attorney David Eyster filed a criminal complaint against Bailey Comer, Lieutenant JD Comer’s son, accusing him of PC 311.1, the unlawful and knowing possession of videos and images depicting persons under 18 years of age engaging or simulating sexual conduct.
On May 15, 2022, Bailey Comer was booked and released in the Mendocino County Jail, as per a directive written by Mendocino County’s District Attorney sent by mail to Comer. James claims the issuance of a book and release notice instead of a warrant indicates MCSO was making things easier for their Lieutenant’s son.
However, Sheriff Kendall responded by saying, “That’s not our call. That’s the District Attorney’s.”
Another detail around Comer’s arrest that James uses to implicate MCSO in a cover-up is the fact there was no press release issued.
To that, Sheriff Kendall replied, “We didn’t investigate the case. The Sacramento Valley High Tech Crimes Task Force investigated it. They’re the ones that possess the information about the investigation.”
If Comer’s case was to go to court, investigators from the High Tech Task Force would take the stand against Comer, not deputies from MCSO, Sheriff Kendall explained.
In his most recent video, James claimed MCSO purposefully “charged down” as reflected in the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Booking Logs where Bailey Comer is listed as being charged with a misdemeanor.
However, as per the criminal complaint filed by the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office, Comer is being charged with a felony, not a misdemeanor.
Sheriff Kendall simply chalked that inconsistency up to a clerical error made either at the hands of the deputy processing Comer or a computer glitch.
Besides the claims that the Sheriff’s Department attempted to cover up the child pornography allegations, James contends in his video that he has intel that MCSO is conducting a “witch hunt” looking for anyone that could be feeding him information that could defame the department.
Sheriff Kendall confirmed that MCSO has been conducting an internal affairs investigation on a deputy they believe was releasing information about an active investigation. Sheriff Kendall said, “I could not care less about who talks to Trent James.”
There is no “witch hunt”, Sheriff Kendall explained, “but divulging information about active investigations can prevent justice. When someone realizes they are a suspect in a case, it can cause the suspect to destroy evidence and form alibis.” With this in mind, Sheriff Kendall asserted, “we cannot have deputy sheriffs handing out this information on active cases because you jeopardize the investigation and justice for the victims.”
James claims in his video that he had contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation approximately two weeks ago. Sheriff Kendall has not heard from the FBI about the case and said that if the FBI were involved, the charges Bailey Comer faces would be appearing in a federal court.
In James’ most recent video, he speaks about a March 2020 incident in which a Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office off-duty deputy overdosed on opioids. This resulted in a press release, composed by Sheriff Matt Kendall, promising transparency and accountability while the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office investigated the incident helping mitigate any potential conflicts of interest. James questioned why MCSO was not equally transparent about the investigation into the DropBox folder of child pornography.
Addressing writing the press release about the deputy who overdosed, Sheriff Kendall said, “When a deputy breaks the law and steps out of line, we deal with them.”
He went on to highlight the difference between the overdosing deputy and the Lieutenant Comer situation: “When a deputy is accused of something that he is not guilty of, then we have to stand up and defend him and tell the truth.” He went on to explain, “People can say whatever they want to say. They don’t have to play by the rules. But, I do. They don’t have to tell the truth, but I do.”
One of the charges Trent James leveled against Kendall in his recent video was that the Sheriff was a “bad politician.”
Kendall responded to that by saying, “He’s correct. I’m not a politician. I’m the Sheriff. And, I’m quite proud of that.”
Sheriff Kendall spoke of the dilemma he faced knowing one of his employees was navigating his son being accused of a crime. “You just feel terrible when your friends are going through things. This a traumatic event for their family.”
It must be stated that the charges described against Bailey Comer have not been proven in a court of law. In accordance with the legal principle of the presumption of innocence, any individual described should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Please note that Matt LaFever is a member of the Mendocino County Search and Rescue team. The article was edited by Kym Kemp.
This article is written by Matt LaFever, the lead reporter and founder of MendoFever.com, our brother news site based in Mendocino County. If you’d like to contact him directly, email him at [email protected]
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Shame, shame, I know your naaaame
It’s always an interesting question, though. How do they know the age of the girls in the video? Most titles on pornhub are ‘teens’ this and that, when it’s obvious that they are in their 20’s, or especially famous porn stars that are easy to double check, make titles along the same lines all the time.. what if he was 19, accessing video that showed 17 year olds? I would say I’m interested to know the details, but also I definitely don’t want to know the details lol
Do you think watching “teens” on pornhub will catch you charges? I don’t and I really don’t wanna see whatever this dude was watching…geese, they don’t file those charges for no reason.
You seem to know an awful lot about pornhub and teens. I know how you spend at least part of your time and what you search for. 😂
There are two types of people: people who watch porn, and people who watch porn and lie about it. You are the latter
😂 thanks for having my back
Trent James is a badass. Thank God there are people out there like him and John Chiv who are fighting the good fight, doing investigative work, being a voice for the voiceless, calling out corruption and trying to hold people accountable. The fact there are people including cops hating on him for exposing this is inconceivable. Go good guys.
Trent James for Mendocino County Sheriff
Wèll well well
Looks like Isiah Bailey Comer was arrested for violating his probation. Once again caught accessing child pornography. This too was kept on the down low. Charged as a misdemeanor with a 1 hr. Turnaround. Not sentenced! No Bail! 2-15-2024
Wtf
Mendocino cops straight up hiding it i call bull crap they knew whole time but its ok cause its one of their own i blame the whole mcso for trying to hide it period good job trent james continue to do what youre doing its awesome
I have a few questions:
1. It’s shocking that LT Comer, who was recently promoted, is MCSO’s SWAT commander. Is LT Comer’s son a reflection of LT Comer?
2. What does LT Comer’s son being a child sex offender say about the father’s character?
3. What does that say about the leadership at the MCSO? Is there a leadership crisis at the MCSO?
4. Why was Bailey Comer released on his own recognizance for such a serious crime?
5. And why this crime covered up for 2.5 years?
All that keeps running through my head is the bigger the story the bigger the LIE. It’s easy and convenient to try to cover things up after the fact because you know the facts that are out there. Craft your excuses carefully after the cake has already been built add a little frosting on the top that will fix it!!! Daddy was paying the bill for the internet and phone certainly. He wasn’t paying close enough attention. 100% the woe of all of us. Too much social media and a lack of healthy social connections to our youth.
And yet Facebook (Meta) allows teens to post naked pictures of themselves. Although too many parents are lax with checking on their teenagers Facebook accounts. Maybe Facebook is where the violators get their ideas. Facebook should be mandated to take Facebook away from the teens who commit stupid acts.
100% agree with you. If your kids have to hide their phone use from you. Duck out. Shut the phone off every time you come in the room. Have a passcode on there there’s a little too much inappropriate things going on. Responsible monitoring of social media is a new parenting requirement that we have sadly been neglecting. Neglecting that is one of the worst neglects of all it’s a level of child abuse because we aren’t protecting our kids from predators, or becoming one themselves. TicTok is the worst 9 year olds shaking their butts and dancing provocatively to WAY WAY WAY inappropriate songs. The pedophiles gobble that stuff up! Parents oh TicTok is cute!!! Yeah okay. 😫
Icing on the cake then these parents that allow their children to be out of control on the cell phone 24/7. Never learn anything in school drooling on themselves staring at the tablet or the cell phone all day. Anytime you ask them to do work or look away from the phone it is a total meltdown crying crawling on the floor well beyond babyhood. And then if they really don’t like it they call the cops on their parents. Then the parents want to give the kids away because they’re sick and tired of parenting brats. Truth be told they never parented them in the first place they just handed them a cell phone or Media or video games. That is not parenting we need to protect our children from the social media influencer that is ruining them. It is just as dangerous as a physical Danger. And often times leads to physical Danger. Cell phone and media addiction is a huge problem. Leads to young adults like Bailey here.
Good article with clarifying information, here. Thank you.
To the Editor:
With regard to MSCO SWAT commander Lieutenant J.D. Comer’s son, Bailey Comer, being booked on May 15 on child pornography charges, several things bother me.
First, why did it take 2.5 years to bust Bailey Comer?
On September 25, 2019, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), a national team of cybercrime investigators, determined that a folder on the cloud-sharing service DropBox contained child pornography and was being accessed via an internet connection somewhere in Mendocino County. On October 31, 2019, MCSO began its investigation. On November 4, 2019, MCSO learned from information gained with the search warrant that the IP address was associated with a home in Fort Bragg owned by MCSO Lieutenant JD Comer.
So, I ask again, why did it take 2.5 years to bust Bailey Comer?
Second, why wasn’t Bailey Comer arrested child pornography charges?
Possession of Matter Depicting Minor Engaged in Sexual Conduct (Pen. Code, § 311.11(a)). This crime is a serious offense. Anyone convicted of such will also be a lifetime member of California’s sex offender registry. Prior to 2006, the possession of child pornography was a misdemeanor offense. However, after the passage of The Sexual Predator Punishment and Control Act (Proposition 83 in California), the crime was reclassified. Now, it is a “wobbler” and can be prosecuted as either a felony or a misdemeanor. If you are found guilty, you can receive up to 8 years in prison or $100,000 fine.
So, I ask again, why wasn’t Bailey Comer arrested? Why was he simply allowed to be booked and released?
Third, why was Bailey Comer released on his own recognizance? No bail. Nothing. Possession of Matter Depicting Minor Engaged in Sexual Conduct (Pen. Code, § 311.11(a)) is a serious crime.
So, I ask again, why was Bailey Comer released on his own recognizance?
Fourth, because prosecution by the Mendocino County District Attorney is a conflict of interest, given SWAT Commander’s J.D. Comer’s position, who will prosecute this case? What district attorney in what county?
Also, because a violation of Pen. Code, § 311.11(a) is a “wobbler”, will the district attorney give Bailey Comer a free pass and prosecute this case as a misdemeanor? Or will the case be more appropriately prosecuted as a felony?
The breadth demonstrated within these penal codes and the harshness of the penalties highlight the severity with which the people of California view these crimes. This is with good reason. The history of child abuse, exploitation, molestation, and rape is vast and dark. Often, as a society we like to assure ourselves that these are crimes that we are outgrowing as we advance as a society. However, the evidence is all around us that this is not the case. As technology quickens its advance at an ever-rapid pace, laws protecting the most vulnerable among us need to be able to keep pace as well. This explains the good intentions behind the painting of these criminal definitions with such a broad brush. It also allows for the heavy-monitoring and quick-responses of law enforcement to child pornography violations.
So, I ask again, who will prosecute Bailey Comer and will the case be prosecuted as a felony?
I ask the above questions because the U.S. Constitution demands equal treatment under the law. A SWAT commander’s son cannot receive favorable treatment.
Today, in America, in 2022, we need to assert not only that “Black Lives Matter”, but that “All Civilian Lives Matter”. We need to shout it from the courthouse steps.
We need to police the police. We need to be ever vigilant against the abuses of authority.
John Sakowicz
Ukiah
Is there a greater than average number of perverts around Fort Bragg? Less than 2 weeks ago it was some nasty old bastard who had a little tongue action going with his 10 year old grand daughter. Now it`s this guy with child porn. A few years ago a man got caught ‘doing’ a goat.
Seems kind of weird over there…..
The real story here is that Dropbox (and sadly they aren’t the only guilty cloud provider) is proactively pawing through your personal data looking for evidence of potential crimes, according to criteria asserted by a third-party (ICAC) that is not accountable to public scrutiny. All of this is done via algorithms of course, and if you pay attention at all to online advertising you’ll realize that’s a pretty sloppy science as well.
Okay, you might say, child porn is a good reason to snoop, but consider that if DropBox is willing to yield on this then they just as easily could for any other reason like indications of your state of mind related to politics or anything else. This is precisely the purpose of the Fourth Amendment:
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
Some cloud storage providers do a better job than others, so learn about it and shop around. Better yet, overlay your cloud storage with a tool like Boxcrypter or use services like Skiff. For really sensitive stuff you can store files and notes in a password wallet like 1Password or LastPass.
Good luck!
That is something we accept in the terms of services when we clicked on “I agree.” I would much rather have them sifting through our info than to have a market for child porn personally. Good issue to bring up and highly debatable. Big brother is here to stay for better or for worse. Not that I totally agree with it all but we must accept it and adapt accordingly. I miss the old days.
Agreed, on face value this is a civil issue and pretty much nobody gives much thought to thte details while clicking thru the Terms of Service. And as long as there is no law prohibiting more secure solutions, is there really a problem?
I guess it depends on the ubiquity of the cloud services, and to what extent they are doing the work of the government (as in the example in this article). Some argue that Facebook is more of a public utility by virtue of the fact that there is no other comparable platform. European law is starting to recognize this idea, but the US is far behind and likely never going catch up.
Finally, I’m not swayed by “the end justifies the means” type of arguments — follow that logic to its conclusion and you don’t have a Bill of Rights anymore. Test it against your favorite amendment and let me know which one(s) you are okay with giving up.
You should be interviewing the Mendocino County DA and asking him why he did nothing for two and a half years. Why wasn’t the DA pressing forward and making phone calls on the crime against children? Let’s not forget that these were real children that were sex trafficked by adults. If Sacramento requested the DA prosecute back in January then why did the DA not file charges? Why did he wait until last week, four months later and only AFTER he was called out publicly on a YouTube video?
You guys are missing the reason this wasn’t looked into for 2.5 years “Good ole boys club”
BINGO!
Wèll well well
Looks like Isiah Bailey Comer was arrested for violating his probation. Once again caught accessing child pornography. This too was kept on the down low. Charged as a misdemeanor with a 1 hr. Turnaround. Not sentenced! No Bail! 2-15-2024
Wtf