Chula Vista Mayor Helped Free a Felon Who’s Going Back to Prison with Her Brother – A Lot Happened in Between

On the morning of Jan. 20, 2021, Adriana Camberos, a businesswoman from El Cajon, was one of more than 151,000 inmates in the federal prison system. 

Convicted in 2016 of fraud for selling millions of bottles of counterfeit energy drinks, Camberos was a little more than halfway through a two-year prison sentence. 

On his last day in office, Jan. 20, 2021, then-President Donald Trump commuted her sentence. 

A White House statement said Camberos was a mother and a deeply religious woman who had mentored fellow inmates while incarcerated and “demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to rehabilitation.” 

Also in her favor, the statement said: The support of the then-deputy mayor of Chula Vista, John McCann, who had written a letter asking Trump for clemency. 

At the time, McCann was a longtime Chula Vista politician less than a year away from launching a campaign to become the city’s mayor. Adriana Camberos would go on to support McCann’s campaign – even as she and her brother, Andres Camberos, embarked on a fraud scheme even more elaborate and lucrative than the one that sent Adriana Camberos to prison, according to federal prosecutors. 

While both Camberos siblings were engaged in selling what an 11-count federal indictment unsealed in 2023 described as tens of millions of dollars’ worth of fraudulent merchandise, they were also immersed in Chula Vista public affairs.   

Andres Camberos opened Chula Vista’s first cannabis retail business and became a sponsor of high-profile city events, including the city’s beloved annual holiday Starlight Parade. 

In 2021, less than six months after exiting prison, Adriana Camberos bought a $1.6 million luxury condominium in Coronado. A real estate company owned by McCann had listed the condominium for sale previously but removed it from the market four months before Camberos bought it. (McCann’s company was not involved in Camberos’ purchase of the condominium, according to real estate documents.) 

A federal judge will sentence both Camberos siblings this week to up to 20 years in prison for what prosecutors described as “a years-long fraud scheme [that] made millions off of lies to other companies.” 

The Letter to the President 

The clemency for Adriana Camberos followed so soon by her involvement in another fraudulent scheme has provoked questions for McCann.  

He said he offered to help Adriana Camberos after meeting her brother during a late 2020 tour of Andres Camberos’ brand-new Chula Vista cannabis delivery business. Chula Vista city staff had just awarded Andres Camberos and two business partners the city’s first ever cannabis retail license. 

Andres Camberos, it turned out, had attended Chula Vista’s Bonita Vista High School, where McCann graduated in 1986, though the two men had attended the school at different times. After sharing reminiscences about Bonita Vista during the tour, Andres Camberos walked McCann to the parking lot “and said, hey, he had something he wanted to talk to me about,” McCann recalled. 

Andres Camberos told McCann about his sister’s situation and asked McCann if he could help, McCann said. 

McCann said he discussed the case with Adriana Camberos’ lawyer, did his own research, talked with the Camberos family and decided to write a letter on Adriana Camberos’ behalf. 

“I believe in giving people second chances,” McCann said. Adriana Camberos “had been described as victimized [by her then-husband, Joseph Shayota, Adriana’s co-conspirator in the fraud scheme.] She had been a model prisoner [and] had conducted Bible studies” while in prison. 

Court documents filed by Adriana Camberos’ lawyers said Joseph Shayota had subjected his wife to years of emotional, verbal and physical abuse and masterminded the fraud scheme for which she was imprisoned. 

“Understanding she was a mother with no prior convictions and had completed more than half of her sentence, I, along with other community leaders, provided a letter supporting her commutation to her family,” McCann said. 

The Camberos siblings, however, did not stay out of trouble.  

According to prosecutors, less than six weeks after Trump commuted her sentence, Adriana Camberos and her brother began sending wire transfers between a group of companies and bank accounts that were at the heart of an elaborate new fraud scheme. 

The scheme, for which both siblings were tried and convicted last year, involved buying discounted goods earmarked for sale in Mexico, relabeling the goods and illegally re-selling them at a markup in the United States. 

Following an 11-day trial in October, jurors found the siblings guilty of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud along with seven counts of wire fraud. They were acquitted on three mail fraud counts. 

Earnings from the siblings’ fraud scheme – $58 million in gross profits from companies involved in the scheme, according to prosecutors – fueled a spending spree on what prosecutors described as multiple houses in the San Diego area, a stable of luxury cars and multiple investment accounts, life insurance policies, a cryptocurrency account and other assets. 

The money also enabled the siblings to make more than $150,000 in local and national campaign donations, some of which went to an independent expenditure committee that supported McCann’s 2022 mayoral bid along with other San Diego-area candidates’ campaigns. 

Both Camberoses are scheduled to be sentenced on Friday. Prosectors have asked federal judge Cynthia A. Bashant to send Adriana Camberos to prison for six years followed by three years of supervised release plus forfeiture of properties purchased with fraudulent funds and restitution to victims. 

Prosecutors requested a sentence of four years’ imprisonment for Andres Camberos, followed by three years of supervised release, forfeiture of properties and restitution to victims. 

Joshua Mellor, one of the federal prosecutors who worked on the Camberoses’ case, said the siblings were not currently in custody prior to sentencing. 

Neither Camberos sibling responded to a request for comment made through their lawyers. 

McCann is now running for a vacant seat on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, campaigning in part on a platform of public safety and increased funding for law enforcement. 

Asked about the Camberoses’ turn to crime so soon after Adriana Camberos was freed from prison, McCann said he “was saddened [Adriana] chose to engage in illegal activity after she was restored.” 

“Ms. Shayota was given a remarkable opportunity to restore her life,” McCann said, referring to Adriana Camberos by the last name she used before filing for divorce from Joseph Shayota in 2019. She “didn’t, unfortunately, take that opportunity.” 

McCann said neither Camberos sibling gave him anything other than a verbal thank you in return for writing the commutation letter. 

“I received a call and…they verbally expressed their appreciation,” McCann said. “I didn’t receive a card…They didn’t give me anything physically…I really had very little if any communication or interaction with them since the commutation.” 

The Siblings’ Spending 

Among the properties prosectors seek to force the Camberoses to forfeit at their sentencing this week is a $1.6 million two-bedroom condominium in a luxury beachfront high-rise complex in Coronado called Coronado Shores. Real estate documents show that Adriana Camberos bought the condominium in May 2021, less than six months after leaving prison. 

One of McCann’s primary sources of income listed in financial disclosure statements is a real estate company called Coronado Shores Co., headquartered a few blocks from the Coronado Shores condominium complex. The company provides real estate and property management services in the complex and elsewhere in Coronado. 

Christina Denning, a lawyer representing McCann, said that, though McCann’s company and the Coronado Shores complex share a name, they are not related and McCann’s company “did not list the property [purchased by Adriana Camberos] for sale, nor did Coronado Shores Company represent Ms. Shayota in the purchase.” 

Contrary to Denning’s statement that the Coronado Shores Co. did not list the property for sale, real estate documents show that, on July 25, 2020, McCann’s company listed the Coronado Shores condominium for sale on behalf of a Texas-based holding company run by a Houston interior designer and property investor named Lourdes Barroso. 

On Jan. 23, 2021, three days after Adriana Camberos left prison, Coronado Shores Co. took the condominium off the market – “likely due to the property not selling,” Denning said. 

Six weeks later, the property was for sale again but listed by a different realtor. 

On May 14, 2021, Adriana Camberos bought the condominium for $1,665,000.  

Asked about the transaction, McCann said he wasn’t even aware Camberos had bought a unit in Coronado Shores until Voice of San Diego brought the purchase to his attention. 

“I did not even know there was a transaction like that,” McCann said. “Our Coronado Shores Co. had nothing to do with sales, transaction, management, renting, anything” involving Adriana Camberos’ condominium purchase. “We had no conversation [with Camberos about the purchase] and had no knowledge of any of her actions.” 

When Voice of San Diego asked Denning about the fact that, contrary to her statement, McCann’s company had listed the condominium for sale shortly before a different realtor ended up selling it to Adriana Camberos, Denning replied that her initial statement that McCann’s company “did not list the property for sale” was “in direct relation to the transaction inquiry, not the history of the property itself. Real estate is very transactional in that every single individual transaction/sale/purchase is, in and of itself, singular and separate. The statement that The Coronado Shores Co. brokerage ‘did not list the property for sale’ was in response to the single transaction you inquired about. This was not a false statement, nor an intent to leave out any information. The Coronado Shores Co. brokerage did NOT list the property on this single transaction.” 

Denning acknowledged that McCann’s company “had a business relationship” with the owner who sold the Coronado Shores condominium to Camberos – McCann’s company had represented the owner when she bought the condominium in 2019, as well as when she bought another Coronado Shores condominium in 2020. And McCann’s company had provided property management and rental services on the unit Camberos later bought, Denning said. 

But Denning said the prior business relationship had nothing to do with Adriana Camberos’ Coronado Shores purchase. “Coronado Shores made zero money on the transaction and had no communication with Ms. Shayota about the purchase at all,” Denning said. “You continue to attempt to draw conclusions to make my client look guilty of something to fit the fictitious narrative you so desperately want to create.” 

Four months after Adriana Camberos purchased the Coronado Shores condominium, she and her brother embarked on a series of campaign donations that aided McCann’s 2022 campaign for Chula Vista mayor. 

On Sept. 20, 2021, Andres Camberos gave $7,500 to the Lincoln Club of San Diego, which at the time was a primary backer of an independent expenditure committee called the Community Leadership Coalition. Eight months after Camberos’ donation, the Coalition spent $8,066 on direct mail ads supporting McCann’s campaign. 

Campaign records show that the Community Leadership Coalition spent a total of $483,526 on political races in 2022, supporting or opposing candidates in more than a dozen races in the San Diego area. 

Three months after Andres Camberos wrote that initial Lincoln Club check, he and his sister both donated the maximum allowable amount – $360 – to McCann’s 2022 mayoral campaign. 

A few months after that, Adriana Camberos gave $20,000 directly to the Community Leadership Coalition. Campaign records show that, one week after Camberos’ donation, the Coalition spent $19,997 on attack ads against McCann’s mayoral campaign rival, Amar Campa-Najjar. In total, the Coalition spent more than $104,000 opposing Campa-Najjar in 2022. 

The Camberoses also made donations to the Community Leadership Coalition in the names of two of the companies identified by prosecutors as central to the siblings’ 2023 fraud case. The companies, Baja Exporting and Specialty Foods International, each gave $15,000 to the Coalition on Aug. 11, 2022. Specialty Foods employee Lauren Branham also gave $360 directly to McCann’s mayoral campaign. 

Asked about the Camberoses’ political giving, McCann said he had been aware the siblings donated to his mayoral campaign. But he said he had not solicited the donations. 

“The idea that each of them gave $360 out of a several-hundred-thousand-dollar race – we are appreciative, but it was not a major source of income,” McCann said. “We [had] a strict contribution list when I ran for mayor…I do not have any involvement in independent expenditures.” 

McCann pointed out that Campa-Najjar, his mayoral opponent, also had benefited from substantial independent expenditures. 

Camberos Lands First Legal Cannabis Dispensary in Chula Vista 

While donating to political races, Andres Camberos also kept himself involved in Chula Vista city affairs. Two months before his federal indictment, his cannabis company, Grasshopper Dispensary, announced it was sponsoring Chula Vista’s annual summer outdoor movie series in a local public park. 

The announcement, as well as a companion announcement from the city, described a child-friendly event featuring youth-oriented movies such as “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider Verse.” 

In an April 4 response to prosecutors’ sentencing recommendations in Andres Camberos’ fraud case, Camberos’ brother Alfonso Camberos urged the judge in the case to be lenient because “Andres has consistently demonstrated a deep commitment to his community through various charitable initiatives and sponsorships.” 

In addition to the summer movie nights event, Camberos’ brother cited Andres’ support for Chula Vista’s annual holiday Starlight Parade, a cultural arts festival and last year’s 27th annual Lemon Festival on downtown’s Third Avenue. 

McCann said he had nothing to do with Andres Camberos’ cannabis business and had not interacted with Camberos after writing the commutation letter on Adriana Camberos’ behalf. 

“I actually voted no to have cannabis businesses in Chula Vista,” McCann said. “And the City Council does not approve any cannabis store. It actually all goes through the city manager’s office and the city [staff].” 

In an interview with the Emo Brown Podcast on Jan. 22, 2021, two days after Adriana Camberos exited prison, Andres Camberos described the process of opening his cannabis business in Chula Vista. 

Asked by the podcast host whether “there was one person at the city that was very instrumental in holding your hand and walking you through the [city’s permitting] process,” Camberos named McCann, who was deputy mayor at the time, and another Councilmember named Jill Galvez. 

“The actual [business] application was outside of their hands,” Camberos said. “But they’ve always been someone you could go inquire to, you know, and just like an advocate, you know. And John has been, I’m like, ‘Hey, John, we need this.’ Or, ‘We’re inquiring about this.’ And at the very least they can point you in the right direction, right? So you’re not making like a million phone calls and getting, like, a voicemail.” 

Camberos withdrew from ownership of Grasshopper and its parent company, Vista Holding Company, six months after his fraud indictment, following an order to divest sent by Chula Vista’s city manager. 

In her own response to prosecutors’ sentencing recommendation, Adriana Camberos marshaled more than 50 letters from family members and friends attesting to her character, including from Jeannette Lizarraga, the realtor who represented Adriana Camberos in her purchase of the Coronado Shores condominium. 

Like other letter writers in the sentencing response, Lizarraga described Adriana Camberos as a loving friend and an honest businesswoman who didn’t even realize her fraudulent activity was illegal. 

“I truly believe that Adriana had no ill will and truly believed in the [legal] advice she was given,” Lizarraga wrote. “Had she not, she would have shut the whole business down a long time ago. Nothing was worth losing her family and freedom.” 

In the sentencing response, Adriana Camberos’ lawyers objected to prosecutors’ efforts to seize her property, pointing out that she was a 54-year-old grandmother who cared for her own ailing parents and “has touched many others in ways big and small by putting their needs above her own.” 

In addition to the Coronado condominium, prosecutors asked for permission to seize a 7,300-square-foot mansion in El Cajon, a $2 million house in La Jolla, two additional houses in Chula Vista, a Ferrari F12 Berlinetta sports car and three Range Rover SUVs. 

“The bottom line is we helped somebody, and we were looking to give them a second chance,” McCann said of his involvement with the Camberos siblings. “We’re trying to help people in the community ethically…That’s pretty much the situation.”