Salinas Councilman Jose Castaneda released from jail

UPDATE 9/11/15 3:28 p.m.: Salinas Councilman Jose Castaeda has been released from jail 24 hours after his arrest, according to his attorney Anthony Prince.

Prince said he will be releasing a statement shortly.

News Channel 5 will update this article as more information becomes available.

UPDATE 9/10/15 6:37 p.m.: Salinas Councilman Jose Castaneda is behind bars for alleged domestic violence and kidnapping charges. Police said the incident took place Friday night between Castaneda and his former girlfriend. It was reported to police on Tuesday.

Castaneda is facing three felony charges including domestic violence, kidnapping and false imprisonment. Police said they tried to contact him multiple times, even went to his house to interview him but he never responded. Finally his attorney responded and Castaneda agreed to peacefully surrender.

“Mr. Castaneda is being singled out because the Salinas Police Department developed probable cause to believe he kidnapped, falsely imprisoned and beat a woman. That’s all we’re concerned with. Not his race, not his position with the community felony conduct, reprehensible conduct toward an innocent young woman. That’s what we’re concerned about,” Chief Kelly McMillin said.

McMillin added he wasn’t prepared to discuss the other evidence in the case besides the victim’s testimony. Earlier Thursday, Castaneda held a press conference on a completely separate issue, over his complaint he filed against Salinas alleging it violated the Voting Rights Act. He said he’s not been able to get items on the City Council agenda because of an unfair system setup shortly after he was elected.

“My voice and the issues that I keep bringing up remain, non-issues. And these are all city issues,” Castaneda said.

“You cannot criticize Councilman Castaneda for not being effective when you as a city councilman have supported rules that have prevented him from putting a matter on the agenda,” Castaneda’s attorney Anthony Prince said.

The city attorney that that complaint will be brought up at next week’s City Council meeting on Tuesday for a vote in a closed door session. If Castaneda makes bail, Mayor Joe Gunter said the City Council meeting will proceed as scheduled.

“Well if Mr. Castaneda is not in jail there will be nothing to keep him from participating from the upcoming meeting because that will be an issue that will take some time to get through the courts and then it will be up to the citizens what occurs from there as far as if he gets convicted with the courts and then we’ll look at the rules, I still don’t believe that the citizens out there will tolerate anyone beating a woman or anybody committing this kind of an act,” Gunter said.

Late Thursday, we got a response from Prince stating in part:

“Mr. Castaneda is fasting to protest this outrageous frame-up, a course of action taken by other human rights fighters such as Cesar Chavez when he was repeatedly arrested on trumped up, politically motivated charges.”

The Monterey County District Attorney’s Office is waiting for police documents to formally charge Castaneda.

PREVIOUS STORY: The City of Salinas is planning to discuss the circumstances surrounding the arrest of Councilman Jose Castaneda on Thursday.

More information will be revealed later Thursday afternoon.

Last week, Castaneda filed a complaint against the City of Salinas after the council’s decision to censure him, calling the censure illegal.

Castaneda and his attorney claim the city violated the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, leaving residents in District 1 without a voice to represent them.

City attorney Chris Callahan said the issue will be brought to the council on September 15 th in closed session.