San Diego Antifa man has useful girlfriend in public defender’s office

An Antifa member in San Diego who was charged with multiple felonies, allegedly has a close relationship with an investigator for the San Diego Public Defender Office. And together they may have obtained privileged information with which to intimidate victims and witnesses, according to a prosecutor in explosive court filings uncovered this week.

“I am also aware that Jesse Cannon is or was romantically involved with Leah Madbak who works as an investigator for the San Diego Public Defender Office,” wrote San Diego County deputy district attorney Will Hopkins. His three-page declaration requesting a protective order regulating the release of discovery was originally filed in December 2021.

Prosecutor Hopkins cites the “very real threat to the safety of the witnesses, investigating officers, and victims in this case should the Defendants be allowed to have carte blanche access to do whatever they wish with the discovery materials from this case.”

Judge Eugenia Eyherabide granted the request in whole.

The San Diego Public Defender’s office confirmed that Leah Rose Madbak, 29, is currently an investigator in their office but declined to comment further, saying it was an “H.R. matter” before hanging up the phone.

Madbak’s alleged boyfriend, Jesse Merel Cannon, was among 11 alleged Antifa members charged in December 2021 after supporters of Donald Trump and random beach revelers were assaulted on Pacific Beach in early 2021. The case is the first time alleged Antifa members belonging to different cells have been hit with conspiracy charges in the U.S.

According to the declaration from the deputy district attorney, his office’s investigation found “gigabytes of data that the Antifa cells or ‘affinity groups,’ to which the defendants belong,” collected on their targets, which include victims, witnesses, police officers, elected officials and “even their own members who have fallen out of favor.”

The evidence discovered through search warrants includes addresses, license plates and surveillance photos of targets and their families. Two days after the first batch of defendants were arraigned on Dec. 6, 2021, Antifa began trying to intimidate victims and witnesses, according to the district attorney’s office. “I know recently social media accounts associated with several of the defendants posted pictures of people they believed to be the victims in this case…in an apparent attempt to intimidate or dissuade them from testifying,” the prosecutor declared.

Hopkins states that in addition to the digital evidence that was seized, investigators also confiscated several firearms from the Antifa defendants. “Further, there is evidence that several of these defendants have access to other weapons which were not recovered.”

Hopkins wrote that one public official targeted by an Antifa defendant was the victim of violence outside his home, and there was another victim in this case who was intimidated in order to dissuade them from cooperating in the investigation.

Leah Madbak, the investigator in the San Diego Public Defender Office, is accused in the declaration of having “administrative privileges for several Antifa based social media accounts.” Hopkins alleges she and her boyfriend, defendant Cannon, “have posted police reports and intentionally disseminated potentially harmful information in an attempt to dox their targets.” Those Antifa social media accounts were listed as SDagainstFash, SDreportingcollective, SNAIL Cru and RABID.

The Twitter account for “@SDagainstFash” posted photographs and names of assault victims after the charges were announced. Another post from the account suggests it had a hand in planning the riot. “Y’all know what to do. We’d recommend arriving no later than 10 if you plan to go. Travel in groups,” they tweeted. “Photos of attendees and vehicles can be [direct messaged] to us for archive and research purposes.”

Madbak could not be reached for comment. She has scrubbed her employment information and most photographs from online sources, though some archives remain. A photograph posted by an organizer of a local nonprofit, San Diego Tenants Union, appears to show Madbak posing with Cannon in front of an Antifa flag.

Cannon, a 32-year-old rapper, pleaded not guilty to five felonies, including conspiracy to riot, multiple assault charges, and unlawful use of teargas.

District attorney Summer Stephan has stated there are “16 known victims” of Antifa violence stemming from the beach-side attack on Jan. 9, 2021.

"The Defendants are alleged to be affiliated with ANTIFA and are organized into two groups, one originating from Los Angeles and the other from San Diego," reads the charging document.

Although the Antifa group allegedly intended to assault attendees of the Trump rally, videos show masked assailants dressed in black and carrying symbols of Antifa attacking a man who was walking his dog and a photographer. Responding police were assaulted.

Prosecutors accuse Cannon of wearing black bloc clothing, pointing out four victims to be assaulted, and throwing projectiles at victims including a chair, a bottle, and a can.

In another attack, Cannon allegedly shoved a victim from a bicycle onto the ground, whereupon other Antifa members ganged up on that victim.

Cannon remains at liberty and is next due in the downtown San Diego Superior Courthouse on Aug. 8. His attorney did not respond to a request for comment.