[Update: Charges Suspended Pending Investigation] School Counselor Arrested for Child Molestation Linked to Mendocino Bikers Against Child Abuse
John T Conant image from a photo provided by former Mendocino County Bikers Against Child Abuse (B.A.C.A.) member Daniel Enriquez
A Sebastopol man accused in Sonoma County of committing sexual crimes in his role as a school counselor is also reportedly associated with a Mendocino County motorcycle club that advocates against child abuse.
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) announced that 66-year-old John Conant was arrested on September 29, 2025, after deputies received a report of child molestation at Cinnabar Elementary School in Petaluma. Detectives with the Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Unit obtained a warrant following an interview with a victim, and Conant was booked into the county’s Main Adult Detention Facility on suspicion of committing lewd or lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14. His bail was set at $250,000.
John T Conant booking photo released by SCSO.
SCSO released this image of Conant and stated,
Former Mendocino County Bikers Against Child Abuse (B.A.C.A.) member Daniel Enriquez told MendoFever that Conant, who was known within the group by the biker moniker “Crow,” served on the organization’s executive board.
Bikers Against Child Abuse Mendocino Club with John Conant on the right. [Image from former Mendocino County Bikers Against Child Abuse (B.A.C.A.) member Daniel Enriquez]
Enriquez said he acted as Conant’s sponsor when Conant first became involved in the group years ago. Photographs provided to MendoFever appear to show Conant wearing a vest with the “Crow” insignia. The B.A.C.A. website currently lists “Crow” as its secretary, though it is unclear whether that listing has been updated since the arrest.
Bikers Against Child Abuse is a nonprofit motorcycle organization that describes its mission as empowering children who have experienced abuse by providing them with support, visibility, and a sense of safety through the presence of its members.
Sergeant Juan Valencia of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office told MendoFever by phone that investigators “got information that was indicating that Conant was part of B.A.C.A.” and that he was “secretary of the board.” Valencia added that detectives were able to confirm that information.
In response to Conant’s arrest, Sonny, President of the Los Angeles Chapter of B.A.C.A., emphasized that the organization does not condone the alleged conduct. “B.A.C.A. has zero tolerance for abuse or for anyone who would harm a child,” Sonny said. He explained that chapters operate independently but are expected to follow the group’s strict code of conduct. “The minute we are made aware of credible allegations, that individual is removed from all activities. They do not represent who we are or what we stand for,” he said.
Daniel Enriquez alleged that members of the group retaliated against him after he raised concerns about what he perceived to be child abusers within the club. “They put a dead rat in my mailbox for telling the truth about chomos in their ranks,” he said.
While Conant has been arrested, he remains innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
Update: Following comments claiming that the allegations had been proven false, Redheaded Blackbelt contacted the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office for clarification.
According to Public Information Officer Sergeant Juan Valencia, any claims that Conant was found innocent or that the allegations were proven false, are incorrect. Sergeant Valencia told Redheaded Blackbelt that the District Attorney’s Office has placed the case in a suspended status while investigators continue to investigate the case against Conant. Sergeant Valencia said it is standard practice for prosecutors to defer filing or pursuing charges until the investigation provides sufficient evidence to determine how to proceed.
Conant will be released from custody while the case is investigated further.
Conant remains innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
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Disgusting. If convicted, judge Farce should be in charge of sentencing.
Priestly 😂
I wonder how LEO released a booking photo ?
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The reason for the change is a new law stemming from Assemblymember Corey Jackson’s bill — AB 994. “If you are arrested for a nonviolent crime, then it is prohibited for law enforcement to put a booking photo on social media,” said Jackson
California law restricts release of booking photos but makes exceptions — including for “violent crimes as defined” — committing lewd or lascivious acts with a child under age 14 while using force, violence, duress or fear is defined as a violent crime.
That law has a specific carve out for felony charges and specific utility. If you are charged with a felony and the publication of the photo will serve a purpose of furthering the investigation of the charges or with locating a subject still at large.
In this case releasing a photo can protect others from future harm to made aware of the molester’s identity. Also-they suspect there may be more victims.
Oh I agree… I’d post ALL of them.
Who would downvote posting the photo of a person who was arrested while working at a school for molestation?
“While Conant has been arrested, he remains innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.”
This story and his face was posted on the yahoo.com news feed today. I wonder if they will post a correction, or let the whole country continue to think he’s still being charged?
Time for him to sell his bike.
Or ride it off into the sunset
ANOTHER. Twisted manipulation of a student by an educator The sickness among us lurking behind “kindness”.
I don’t know what happened? I was just here a stand in’ in the room and they came after me. Right.
Please, if offered, recuse yourself from jury duty. Thank you
You can not do that. It is up to the attorney’s selection process to eliminate jurors as they filter them out. Very rarely, if ever does one become self excused from jury duty.
No, one of the problems with criminal justice is that juries are made up of people who are too dumb to know how to get out of jury duty.
Says the person who wriggled out of it? Most government employees have their pay continued so get called up regularly. Many private employers do the same.
Dumb is not the right word. Willing to act dishonestly might be better. Some really dumb people do get caught out though. One man wore a tee-shirt with “The Courts are joke” printed on it in large letters. He got picked.
100% False.
Anyone who has even answered a jury summons knows that they ask if you need to be excused for a variety of reasons.
Inability to remain objective is one of those reasons.
New law the excuses tightened immensely. Watched the support staff lay in to a smarmy entitled soul…”I own a business I am too busy to be here!!!” “I need to be excused!!!” Sir, everyone here has other things too. Then she slowly delivers a concise… “if you need a jury someday your service will be re paid. Kindly take a seat.”
What new law?
The remarks you listed I heard decades ago and it didn’t work then. I did get released one time when I had two animals ready to birth and told the court staff that if they went into labor, I would not be coming.
BACA has really helped me in Humboldt county they help many Children and all Children and this shocks me. I don’t have no ill feelings toward BACA they are needed with all they do including Getting Christmas Presents to our Children, showing up in Court in Support for Children. One bad apple 🍎 doesn’t change who they are and what they stand for. We need BACA and I hope that focussing on him being a Member dosnt vanish all of the good that they do for Community. Bear Marler BACA Member in Humboldt helped me so much and my family. I am positive he will be dealt with properly by them as well as the Law.
Is this fellas name in the Epstein files? I’ll bet he wishes he was invited to the island.
Who did this fella vote for in the last election? Let’s not forget he is innocent until proven guilty
Oh the irony of it all . . .
Just following the example of many elected to high office
Would be great if Enriquez would be specific about what he felt was “Off” ; share with others what potential signs might be. Any group who puts a dead rat in a mailbox really isn’t suited to be working with children anyway.
BACA is a free valuable service for local families. Made up of local bike riders who are making a difference.
I have mixed feelings on the BACA group. On one hand I applaud what they do and their intent but………. their system of patching in etc is based on outlaw motorcycle groups. Now if the hills angles went to “visit” child molesters I would not be upset.
BTW child molested try to get themselves in positions of access and trusted positions with children ie priest, school counselors etc etc. I am sure the feeling of being off was how he interacted with kids etc. To bad sounds like some others in that specific group might be in on the molestation if they are calling him a rat. Seems to me if they were really about the kids and not posing as wanna be tough guys they would have at least listened to the “rat”. God forbid he tell on a child molester…..
There is a reason that Daniel was kicked out of BACA and it wasn’t what he claims. Don’t be so quick to believe what a guy that likes to stir sh*t in his own house has to say. If he was certain this guy was a child molester, let’s see the police report he should have filed.
Their system of patching isn’t based on the MCs… it is based upon over a years worth of structured, vetted education in how to best assist children going through the trauma of child abuse.
I have no idea if the accused is guilty or not, but don’t take anything Daniel has to say to heart.
Get your facts straight people. These charges were found in court this morning Sept 30 to be FALSE. All charges were dropped. You are all so quick to assume guilty until proven innocent. You should be ashamed of yourselves. What if it was YOU that was falsely accused?
“According to Public Information Officer Sergeant Juan Valencia, any claims that Conant was found innocent or that the allegations were proven false, are incorrect”. On untimed update to this article.
I spoke to Sergeant Juan Valencia moments ago, he said “he has no information, he thought the bail was still $250K and John would stay in jail until bailed out.” But if you check with the courts ‘directly’, as I did, you would find the bail was dropped and he is free to leave the jail. Sergeant Juan Valencia said “It is possible that charges could be re-instated at a later time” so I can’t claim a finding of innocence or guilt at this stage.” But what I can do is give the FACTS that the bail was dropped by the judge this morning, and John is being released from jail.
-if you refute this, explain clearly why the Judge would have done this if there was credible evidence of guilt, if there was credible evidence of guilt, they would have still required the $250K bail to ensure John shows up for court dates, but he did not require this, so answer me that if you can.
He said they do not correct public disclosures. He basically said he could care less that they posted “arrested for *crime*” vs “arrested for suspicion of crime.” He was very carefree about the difference. I’m posting facts, not speculation.
Nice try
It is my understanding that the police can only hold you for 48 hours without pressing charges. If they don’t have enough information initially, they will release the accused with the intention of arresting them again in the future when they have a solid case built.
Just called the Sherrifs office. Charges were found to be false, John Conant is innocent. He will be released today.
Nope
Called the sheriffs office myself. Maybe you should do the same.
As of 8:00 a.m. John Conant is to be released, no bail required. They don’t release people with zero bail if they are still being investigated. I’ve known John for 54 years. Just because you would rather dog pile on this story doesn’t make him guilty. The Judge released him without bail after reviewing the information. Facts, not speculation.
When a DA suspends charges, bail would be unconstitutional as there are no current charges. My understanding is that isn’t a judge looking at the evidence and making bail determination based on evidence or the lack thereof, but a result of the DA suspending the charges. Suspension of charges isn’t a dismissal of charges either, it’s waiting for additional evidence to determine how to proceed. These actions don’t determine guilt or innocence, however, as Conant has not been proven guilty of these, now suspended charges, he should be considered innocent.
OK, I will consider him innocent, but I am not going to let him babysit my grandkids.
According to Public Information Officer Sergeant Juan Valencia, any claims that Conant was found innocent or that the allegations were proven false, are incorrect. Sergeant Valencia told Redheaded Blackbelt that the District Attorney’s Office has placed the case in a suspended status while investigators continue to investigate the case against Conant. Sergeant Valencia said it is standard practice for prosecutors to defer filing or pursuing charges until the investigation provides sufficient evidence to determine how to proceed.
Conant will be released from custody while the case is investigated further.
There have been false accusations and conviction in this type of case.
IMHO: Well… that is true. See what comes up out of this case.
False accusations are extremely extremely rare – but misplaced accusations are somewhat more common, those being cases where a child IS being abused by someone at home, but is afraid to tell anyone, so they accuse someone else in the hopes that doing so will rescue them from the original abuser in one way or another.
This is true. Troubled kids say stuff you don’t expect. Maybe this guy did it- I don’t know. But I have seen a situation where what you are saying did happen. And I have also seen where deeply traumatized adults misplace the accusations. Childhood sexual abuse messes people up pretty bad. That’s why we need to be careful but also remove child abusers from our community….
Actually false accusations are getting very, very common.
Wow oh wow!!!!!! NOBODY can be trusted and I mean NOBODY!!! This is incredibly sad and devastating to hear…there’s good and bad 😔 n ever organization and group of people..I do not blame the organization..these people need to spend life in prison or killed because they DO NOT change and CANNOT have access to any children in their future…unbelievable!!!!!! So sad for the children very very heartbreaking ..he lol as supposed to be a trusted person to help the children
Do not advocate for non legal solutions. We’re going to assume that you mean that killing is the death penalty but currently there is no death penalty for the crime this man has been accused of but not convicted.
Good to see that the story has been updated. Sergeant Juan Valencia said that the charges “Could be re-instated” “IF” the investigation uncovers credible/sufficient evidence.
There has been no finding of innocence or guilt at this time.
So that means, as of right now, there is no credible evidece, does it not?
The Judge has seen all the available evidence, and released John without requiring bail.
Had the Judge felt there was a serious risk releasing John, he would have required the $250K bail, not zero bail.
John has spent his life helping and defending children of abuse. Seems lots of people here are rushing to judgement on pure speculation.
Charges were dropped so either a false accusation or not enough evidence.Im hoping it is a false accusation versus a real molestation.If false his life just got ruined unjustly.
What a guy.
B.A.C.A. may be well intentioned, but they have 6 members nationwide with either pending charges or convictions for these same type of charges.
So do schools across the country and even the Oval Office so…
SA of children, who in the Oval Office is facing or has faced those charges?
BACA also has long standing protocols in place to keep this type of thing from happening. Does the school this guy works at have a rule that there must never be an adult alone with a child? How about the sports league that your kid plays in? Your church? BACA does… because they know you can’t know what lurks behind every person’s eyes.
This is horrible. And not unexpected. Look closer at those who ride motorcycles- they are child molesters!
Well thst is a ridiculous thing to say.
Most child molesters are family members
His big smiley face at the top is REALLY offensive
What is interesting is that if he is a Counselor to children/youth he is a mandated reporter. His track record on that will be a detail to understand his possible motivations. Also, whether the alleged victim was receiving counseling from him. This story may be more complicated than it seems. If he is found guilty, may the system do it’s best to penalize him after fairly assessing whether he can be in some ways be rehabilitated. If he is not guilty, he’s already screwed.
May this child find support in this process, no matter what!
Amen…
>”Sergeant Valencia said it is standard practice for prosecutors to defer filing or pursuing charges until the investigation provides sufficient evidence to determine how to proceed.”
IMHO: Translation: They have no evidence to file charges.
— Web stuff.
A district attorney’s (DA) case in a “suspended status” means the investigation is not being actively pursued but is not officially closed. The case can be reopened if new evidence or investigative leads emerge.
I do trust Kym to be more responsible than most of the news media on this. If indeed, the man was incorrectly accused and he was really uninvolved or if he was involved but not criminally, I think Kym will let us know as she has never been egotistical about fixing publicly errors that have been reported as news- if of course the officials in charge provide such clarification to the public. Privacy issues complicate it and legal liability always makes people reluctant to publicly address mistakes.
Dragged through the mud then charges dropped . WTF More info needed.
What is needed? There needs to be information provided as to the disposition of the “further” investigation. If the charges are not confirmed, it needs to be formally and publicly acknowledged.
I would wait until the investigation is over, there has been a huge slew of false reporting from minors lately. It’s the new thing to turn your parents and other family members adults in your life Etc into CPS and police. However If found guilty the law should be changed so that people that hurt kids cannot hurt anybody ever again..
Thing is most ” investigating” has a lot of holes and pits where the “investigating ” does not function. Criminals in a general sense are for the most part secrative about ther crimes especially, if sexual or involving children. This subset of criminals will build a large positive environment to sheild their hidden agendas and actions. $ can grease a lot too. Bribes, favors, gifts. If there is hidden media deep within the hard drives or cloud storage it can be difficult to access. Difficult on all levels both defensive and prosecutional sides. Mr Conant’s reactions and actions post release are to considered moving ahead. May truth and justice prevail.
To those who rushed to judgement, now face the facts of this case. I challenge you to refute the facts of the case.
John’s life has and will forever be stained by this incident, even though the physical evidence supports it was not him who commited the assault. All of the people who immediately ass-u-me-d the arrest = guilt owe him a huge apology.
This investigation is not over yet, so there is no official finding yet of “innocence” so I admit that I technically misspoke using the word “innocent” which apparently can only correctly be used by a jusdge or jury at the end of a trial, but the physical evidence and results of the investigation all are in John’s favor at this time.
I have known John for 54 years. He is a Good Man. He has spent decades of tireless efforts to help and protect children from abuse. In time, hopefully, the full truth of what happened will be revealed, but for now, there is enough physical evidence to support by evidence, not speculation, that John is “innocent.” So point your pitchforks in a more appropriate direction!
Good to hear!
Good for John, but the fact remains there is a child who is still in danger who desperately needs help.
One of the issues is that if John is not tried for the crime he will never be found to be ‘innocent’. What will endure, as you inferred, is that his reputation is forever stained with this! His only course of action is to sue the county / police for false arrest, etc. Ugh!
You can sue anyone for anything if you have the inclination, but there is no way a jury would find for him if he sues for false arrest. The police acted urgently to protect a child based upon that child’s direct or indirect claim (I make an assumption here). They would have no choice but to apprehend him until they sort things out.
What if he is truly innocent and everyone is already saying these horrible things , no one has herd the facts and what if the child in question just doesn’t like him. I have met twisted manipulating pre adults in my life
. HE DESERVES TO SPEAK HIS SIDE OF THE STORY IF THERE IS ANY TO REALLY BE TOLD .. ALL IM SAYING
That was my first thought… seemed pretty ridiculous at face value for the school councilor, b.a.c.a. guy who’d surely be killed in prison by his MC members if he were guilty to have committed these acts. I have seen enough of this type of lie from youth to hold judgement until there’s proof, it’s just WAY to easy for a kid to say this in attempt to ruin someone’s life for whatever reason they have, and even with no evidence it still must be taken very seriously.. which is good in one respect of course, but gives an incredible amount of power to the adolescent to destroy someone’s life and career with just a couple words
That is messed up if he didn’t do it they smeared him and BACA all over the media just saying that puts a stigma on you people won’t forget. BACA is a good thing and helps alot of people.
No disrespect intended but this has been posted every day . I feel like BACA is getting a bad rap because of it . It goes against I not what they stand for. These bikers do alot for the kids and families and I hate negative shit put on them. This is getting more attention then all the missing and Murdered people up here . Just dont get it.
I want to clarify. While people may be sharing this post every day, it has only been posted by us one time, the day it was published on September 30.
I don’t know what you mean by posted every day. I just posted it once several days ago.