Jeffrey Scott, the husband of Los Gatos’ former mayor and current Councilmember Marico Sayoc, made an appearance in Santa Clara County Superior Court Jan. 4, as he tries to quash a restraining order filed against him by a woman he yelled at outside Council Chambers Oct. 5.
Cyndi Sheehan opposes recent socially-progressive Council policies, such as banners promoting inclusivity and support for the Black Lives Matter movement, which she believes is too influenced by Marxist ideals. Scott’s outburst took place during a pause in proceedings, after multiple people, including Sheehan, brought up their son during public comment period.
In the encounter, Scott called Sheehan a “worthless piece of s***!” and shouted, “Don’t ever talk about my son again! Ever!”
Sheehan claims he made a threat on her life, something repeated on multiple occasions by her supporters.
In a Dec. 30 court filing, Scott said Sheehan only succeeded in getting the temporary order against him because she lied. He wants her to pay thousands of dollars to cover his legal bills.
“Not only did Ms. Sheehan base her request for a restraining order on perjured testimony, but she also doubled down on her lie and fabricated a threatening quote she attributed to me,” he said. “The fake quote was also submitted to this court under oath.”
In his declaration, Scott asserts he’s no threat to Sheehan.
“I have a 53-year track record,” he said. “I have never in my life been charged with a crime, let alone convicted of one.”
He hasn’t even gotten a traffic ticket in nearly three decades, he added.
The reason he confronted Sheehan was to have his son’s back, the court document states.
“My son is a minor. He has never met Ms. Sheehan. Nonetheless, she made reckless, ignorant comments about him during the meeting,” Scott said in the declaration. “Her despicable behavior included discussing my son’s sexuality during the Town Council meeting, and she posted about his sexuality on social media.”
Scott described the police response to their clash as “subdued,” and claims this is because he wasn’t acting in a dangerous fashion.
Sheehan used social media to imply he’s a domestic abuser and a gun owner, both of which are untrue, he stated.
In his declaration, Scott refers to an incident captured in a video posted by Sheehan that she says documents her attempt to have someone serve him with papers to kick off her civil harassment suit.
“Ms. Sheehan was on a FaceTime call with one of her friends while that individual stood outside my home yelling epithets and berating my wife and family,” Scott said. “It was so disconcerting that a neighbor called 911 out of fear for my family’s safety.”
Afterwards, the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department placed officers outside their house around the clock for “several consecutive days,” he stated.
Scott says Sheehan’s civil action is ironic.
“She seems to have an obsession with my teenage son that took a dark turn after he rebuffed her predatory behavior on Instagram,” Scott said in the declaration. “Ms. Sheehan initiated contact with my son on Instagram without my or my wife’s knowledge.”
She actually brought up his son’s sexuality in her very first private message to him, Scott wrote, adding that his son responded once and tried to shift the focus away from the topic.
“Ms. Sheehan continued to pursue my son on Instagram through multiple additional private messages,” he wrote. “My son did not respond, and he blocked her so she could no longer continue to stalk him.”
That’s when Sheehan escalated her civic agitation to make claims about his son’s sexuality at the Oct. 5, 2021 meeting, according to Scott.
“She seems to have become vengeful,” he said. “I do not know any adult with an ounce of humanity who would discuss the sexuality of another family’s minor child in public.”
In October, a YouTube representative told the Los Gatan it had removed one of Sheehan’s videos for violating its hate speech policy, which prohibits content promoting hatred against individuals based on their sexual orientation.
Another video on her channel was age-restricted, after YouTube decided it didn’t violate its policies but was too graphic for minors, according to the company.
Scott included screenshots of some of Sheehan’s social media posts with his court submissions.
As Commissioner Erik S. Johnson reviewed the case, during Tuesday’s hearing, he said the filings had caused him “some confusion.”
The issue of the temporary restraining order was put over to March 14, when an argument submitted by Scott’s lawyers is also set to be evaluated. He also reissued the temporary restraining order.
Scott was represented by attorneys Nicole Ford and BJ Fadem, of San Jose-based BJ Fadem and Associates.
A couple of Sheehan’s supporters had given the bailiffs at the metal detectors a hard time about mask-wearing, on their way into the building.
Two of Sheehan’s supporters pulled their masks down to apparently take a selfie in the hallway outside the second-floor courtroom.
At the conclusion of the hearing, a female court official reminded Sheehan not to let her mask droop below her nose.
“It’s unfair—everything’s unfair,” she said outside, flanked by seven others, when asked about her reaction to the hearing. “We didn’t even move forward yet.”
Her activism, although uncouth, is meant to uphold the U.S. Constitution, she said.
“The Constitution protects the rights of every human being,” she said, adding she isn’t against LGBTQ people, but that she doesn’t believe these are issues Council should focus on. “Get out of our personal lives.”
She says people from the BLM and LGBTQ rights movement who oppose her pro-Donald Trump stance have attacked her in the past.
“They keep putting the narrative that I harassed the son,” she said. “I came to make it clear that my family’s been harassed.”
