Brouhard said Oakland police arrested 29-year-old William Lovan at his home in Antioch on Wednesday afternoon on suspicion of possession of cocaine and marijuana for sale and possession of ammunition by a felon.
He has worked as a parking meter repairman for the city of Oakland for seven years and could have faced up to one year in the Alameda County jail for his no-contest plea on Oct. 13, 2009, to a felony charge of carrying a concealed and unregistered firearm in a car.
But when Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson sentenced Lovan on Jan. 5, he gave him a break by electing not to give him any jail time and allowing him to undergo electronic monitoring for a year so that he could keep working for the city.
Jacobson also placed Lovan, who allegedly is a member of the Acorn gang in West Oakland, on five years' probation and ordered him not to associate with gang members, wear gang clothing or flash gang signs.
Lovan, who is being held at the county jail without bail, will have to explain himself to Jacobson on Tuesday when he returns to the judge's courtroom for a hearing on prosecutors' petition to have his probation revoked.
Lovan's attorney, Adante Pointer, couldn't be reached for comment today.
When Jacobson sentenced Lovan in January, he told him, "Keep your job."
The judge ordered Lovan to wear a monitoring device on his ankle and said the only time he could leave home would be to go to work, aside from three hours of personal time allotted to him each week.
Lovan was contacted by Oakland police in June 2008 as part of their investigation into the activities of the Acorn gang, which operates out of the Acorn housing project in West Oakland. Police describe it as the city's worst gang and claimed at the time that Lovan was a member.
Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums fired Edgerly on July 2, 2008, partly based on allegations that she had tipped off Lovan about the extensive investigation into the Acorn gang, which included wiretapping.
But Edgerly denied the allegations and was never charged. She filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Dellums and the city, which is still pending.
In return for Lovan's no-contest plea last year to the felony gun charge, prosecutors dropped a second felony gun charge. Prosecutors also dropped two gang enhancement clauses against Lovan.
In a previous case, Lovan pleaded no contest on Nov. 3, 2000, to felony possession of assault weapons.
He could have faced up to three years in state prison in that case, but he was instead placed on three years' probation in a plea bargain with prosecutors that was approved by Judge Gail Brewster-Bereola. He didn't have to serve any jail time except for three days after his arrest on Aug. 20, 2000.
Three years later, on Sept. 19, 2003, Judge Larry Goodman agreed to reduce Lovan's conviction from a felony to a misdemeanor, and the charge was later dismissed.
Pointer told Jacobson at Lovan's January sentencing hearing that the allegations that Lovan is connected to the Acorn gang are exaggerated.
But Brouhard said after the sentencing hearing that one reason he thought Lovan should have been sentenced to a year in jail was that authorities believe Lovan tipped off the Acorn gang to the fact that they were being wiretapped.
Oakland officials said in January that they couldn't fire Lovan despite his two felony gun convictions because his 2008 arrest occurred during his off hours and wasn't work-related.
Oakland police were unavailable for comment today on Lovan's arrest.
