By Nate Gartrell
Bay Area News Group
OAKLAND, Calif. — Charles Johnathen Harris’ legal and personal problems had been stacking up last March. But a week after he was indicted of federal charges of possessing child pornography, and in danger of losing his Alameda County firefighter job, he got one small amount of relief.
A magistrate judge on March 14, 2023 lifted requirements that Harris remain on home detention and submit to location monitoring by a pretrial services officer, court records show. Just three weeks later, Harris was gone.
To Harris’ family and lawyer, he died a tragic death before he had a real chance to demonstrate his innocence in a court of law.
The U.S. Department of Justice isn’t so sure. Citing her many unanswered questions, a federal prosecutor convinced a judge in April to issue an arrest warrant for Harris, should he turn up alive. Now, five months later, the case and the warrant remain active, newly obtained court records reveal.
The mystery centers on Dutton Island, a remote marshland in unincorporated Solano County where Suisun Bay meets Honker Bay and Grizzly Bay. It was there that at 7:30 a.m. April 4, a man swam to a dock at one of the few homes for miles around and said he was in desperate need of help, the U.S. Coast Guard reported.
The man was Harris’ brother. He explained to the homeowner that the two had been fishing in a 15-foot vessel the night before, when they capsized around 11 p.m. He’d spent the last eight hours in the water, and he hadn’t seen Harris for seven of them, he told the homeowner.
The U.S. Coast Guard searched the area for two days. Harris’ body was never recovered, but that’s hardly unusual in cases where people go missing in open water. Authorities were able to locate the boat, but with that discovery came another mystery.
“It’s missing a boat plug,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Volkar told a judge at an April 19 court hearing. “I say all that, Your Honor, just to say that there are a lot of questions, and I do believe that the local authorities have been working very hard to get answers to those questions to find Mr. Harris or his body.”
Harris’ attorney, Stephen Prekowski, said in court that Harris’ brother reported that Harris had “succumbed” after about an hour in the water, and urged U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam not to issue a warrant. In a phone interview, Prekowski reaffirmed his belief that Harris would never be found and stood by his client’s not guilty plea issued just days before he vanished.
“As far as I’m concerned, he died innocent,” Prekowski said.
Harris, a resident of Coulterville in Mariposa County, worked for the Alameda County Fire Department at a fire station in San Leandro. On March 2, a federal grand jury issued an indictment charging him with a felony count of possession of child pornography. A news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges Harris was caught with “images of child pornography on his iPhone, including images of prepubescent children.”
“The case allegedly was initiated after federal authorities received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and an investigation uncovered that Harris allegedly uploaded child pornography over social media platform Kik—even while present at fire stations in Alameda County,” the news release says.
No further details about the allegations have been released by authorities, or in court records. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, though it’s unusual for people to actually receive the maximum sentence for their first federal criminal offense.
Harris self-surrendered to authorities on March 7, and was released from jail later that day on a $100,000 unsecured bond. He was given pretrial release conditions, including an order that he stay off the internet.
A week later, U.S. Magistrate Judge Kandis Westmore signed an order removing conditions that required him to stay at home and submit to location monitoring, court records show. But because Harris’ original bond conditions were filed under seal, it’s unclear whether Westmore’s order was correcting an error or if the defense convinced her to alter the original order.
Harris’ next court date was set for April 19.
Three weeks later, on April 3, Harris and his brother ventured into the Suisun Bay for a nighttime fishing trip. According to National Weather Service data, it had been a windy day; by nighttime, the maximum wind speeds were about 20 miles per hour, with clear skies. The water temperature, according to Prekowski, was 53 degrees Fahrenheit.
The brother later reported that the vessel capsized around 11 p.m., according to the U.S. Coast Guard. A search was initiated, using helicopters and boats. Harris’ body never turned up. Authorities asked local residents to call them if they saw a man with short blond hair wearing brown coveralls.
The April 19 court date happened without Harris. After Prekowski told Judge Gilliam that Harris had died, Volkar asked for an arrest warrant to be issued anyway. She said Harris’ brother had been interviewed and “there are certain aspects of his story that don’t quite match up.”
“That could be because he himself underwent a traumatic event,” Volkar continued, “but it could also be that Mr. Harris, at a time period in the case when he was being investigated by his job — he was a firefighter at Alameda County, and I understand his job was trying to take certain action against him, and he was also facing a big decision in this case as well –”
“I fully get the incentive,” Gilliam interrupted.
“I wouldn’t think that this would be considered a willful failure on Mr. Harris’ part to appear,” Prekowski said.
“Who knows? That’s the point. He certainly had every incentive — look, I’m not making any conclusion,” Gilliam said.
Then Gilliam issued the warrant, to remain active until the issuance of a death certificate or in the event that Harris turns up somewhere alive.
“I can’t even begin to predict, but let’s see where things go,” he said. “I have a feeling we will probably have an answer of some sort.”
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