Handing It Off

The Paper Trail, Part 6 of 7

Carlos Adams told City Council somebody had gone to the authorities about him.

He was right. It was me.

On Oct. 4, I sent Mayor Douglas Nicholls a summary of my research. That same afternoon I filed a tip about Adams with the Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center, ACTIC. I've also said I sent an identity lead to the FBI.

What I sent, and why.

The email

It went out at 7:29 a.m. on Oct. 4. Subject line: "Research Regarding Carlos Adams, Tecate Family Connections, and Federal Court Records."

It laid out the family tree from Part 4, and something I haven't told you about yet: a federal drug case. It said "several relationships still need final documentary confirmation," and in the same paragraph, "these are no longer isolated surname coincidences."

The case

This is the branch I held back.

In October 2001, a federal grand jury in San Diego indicted a group of people in a conspiracy to make and distribute MDA, a drug in the same family as ecstasy. The case is United States v. Alba.

One of the defendants was a man that Mexican press reported was married to Olga Zulema Adams Pereyra, the woman who'd later become Tecate's mayor. A financial form he filed in the case lists his wife as "Olga Zulema."

The government's case started with a DEA agent's affidavit. In it, the agent describes a wiretapped phone call from March 2001. In the middle of that description is a name:

"Carlos (Adams)."

He's not a defendant. The affidavit says nothing else about who he is.

The tip

That afternoon I filed a tip through ACTIC's online system. My screenshots show it, dated Oct. 4, between 4:22 and 4:28 p.m.

I attached three things: the front page of the complaint in U.S. v. Alba, the affidavit page with "Carlos (Adams)" on it, and a one-page sheet I made comparing the Carlos G. Adams on the 2000 Yuma deed to Tecate's Carlos Gil Adams Pereyra.

This is how my tip started:

I am submitting a documented identity/investigative lead concerning Carlos Adams, a 2026 write-in candidate for Mayor of Yuma, Arizona, and his extended family connections to Tecate, Baja California. Adams remains highly active on his public Facebook campaign page, "Carlos Adams, Next Mayor of Yuma," where he continues presenting himself as a future mayoral candidate and regularly posts about Yuma government, ethics, Mayor Doug Nicholls' administration, alleged pressure against him, and what he describes as a local "good ol' boys club." He has publicly stated that he intends to continue pushing for political change in Yuma.

And later:

I am not alleging that Carlos Adams is involved in terrorism, organized crime, or drug trafficking. I am providing this information because the family/network has documented cross-border connections, a historical federal narcotics-case overlap, and continuing political activity in a U.S. border city. I believe the identities and relationships may warrant review by appropriate federal/state intelligence personnel. I previously submitted the historical identity lead to the FBI.

ACTIC's system sent back an automated reply saying my information "will be passed along to the appropriate teams for investigation." I haven't heard from them since.

For the FBI, I have screenshots of the online tip form from that morning, before I'd filled anything in. I don't have one of what I sent. So for now, the FBI part rests on my word.

Why I did it

This is what I believed when I hit send. Beliefs, not proof.

• The "Carlos (Adams)" in that 2001 affidavit might be the candidate's father.
• The defendant reported married to the former mayor is the candidate's uncle by marriage, and he was convicted.
• The former mayor is the candidate's aunt.
• This family might have cartel ties, possibly to the Sinaloa cartel, which the U.S. government designated a foreign terrorist organization in February 2025. Reporting tied Tecate's violence in those years to cartel fighting, and Tecate's murder count more than doubled while she was mayor.

And I believe Carlos Adams has a family history he's worked hard to keep out of view, and that it's a danger to Yuma. A man with that history was asking Yuma to make him mayor, and he wouldn't answer one question about his family. I thought people whose job it is to look at that kind of thing should look at it.

What's proven, and what isn't

Now the same test I've run on everything else.

The case is real. Verified. The 2001 indictment is in the court record. So is a 2013 judgment showing that defendant's supervised release was revoked for failing to give a urine sample, and that he got four months. An indictment is an accusation. Punto Norte, citing the federal court record, reported that he pleaded guilty in 2003 to two conspiracy counts and got 50 months in prison. We haven't pulled that judgment ourselves.

The marriage. Reported. Mexican press says it, and the court form lists his wife as "Olga Zulema."

"Carlos (Adams)." Not verified. No record we have says who he is, and no record names the candidate's father. By KAWC's reported age, the candidate was about 8 in 2001.

The aunt and uncle. Not verified. They rest on the family tree in Part 4, which no record has closed.

Cartel ties. Not verified. The Sinaloa designation is real. No record we have connects Adams or his family to any cartel.

So here it is, plain: no record I have shows Carlos Adams committed a crime. What the records show is a family history he won't talk about, sitting next to a federal drug case, with his family name in parentheses in the file.

He could explain every bit of it. He hasn't tried.

What the mayor said

Nicholls replied at 6:40 p.m. on Oct. 5. Every word:

Mr. Bustard,

Thank you for this information. I'll have to dissect it as there are some exhaustive effort put into this.

He copied one other person: Jay Simonton, Yuma's interim city administrator, according to the City's website. I don't know what, if anything, Simonton did with it. He hasn't contacted me.

He didn't ask for it, pay for it or tell me what to do with it.

The next morning, I wrote back:

Thank you, Mayor Nicholls. What I sent is only part of a much larger body of research involving court, property, business, campaign, family, and cross-border records. I have also submitted relevant identity and investigative leads to the FBI and the Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center for review. I've been careful to separate documented facts from unresolved leads and speculation.

The next day, Adams stood up at Council.

The scorecard

Verified

• My Oct. 4 email to the mayor and my Oct. 4 tip to ACTIC, with what I sent.
• ACTIC's automated reply; the mayor's reply; my follow-up.
• The 2001 indictment and the 2013 revocation in U.S. v. Alba.
• A 2001 DEA affidavit in that case names a "Carlos (Adams)."
• The Sinaloa cartel's 2025 terrorist designation.
• Tecate's murder count more than doubled between 2019 and 2021.

Not verified

• Who "Carlos (Adams)" is.
• That the former mayor is Adams's aunt, or the defendant his uncle.
• The defendant's 2003 plea and sentence, which Punto Norte reported and we haven't checked against the judgment.
• Any tie between Adams or his family and any cartel.
• That I sent anything to the FBI, beyond my word, and whether any agency acted.

My opinion and beliefs

• "Carlos (Adams)" may be the candidate's father.
• Adams has a family history he's hiding, and it's a danger to Yuma.
• These leads belonged with the FBI and ACTIC.

Ask him yourself

I've asked Adams about his family. He dodged every time. Ask him yourself, in public, and if he answers, I'll print it.

• Who is your father?
• Are you Olga Zulema Adams Pereyra's nephew?
• Will you talk openly about your family's history in Tecate?
• Have you ever been contacted by the FBI or ACTIC about any of this?

Only ACTIC and the FBI can say what they did with my tip.

Next: Everything, added up. What the Records Say

Where this comes from

• My Oct. 4 email, preserved as quoted text in the mayor's reply; his Oct. 5 reply, copied to Jay Simonton; my Oct. 6 follow-up. Original files in our archive. Contact details withheld.
• City of Yuma, city administrator page. Page. Official site.
• ACTIC screenshots of my Oct. 4 tip, three images showing the full text, all three attachments and the confirmation, in our research archive. Not a certified agency record; the tip's reference number is withheld.
• FBI tip form screenshots, morning of Oct. 4, 2026. They show the blank form, not a submission.
• My identity lead sheet, Oct. 4, 2026. A document I made.
• U.S. v. Alba, No. 3:01-cr-03177 (S.D. Cal.): complaint and DEA affidavit, indictment, 2013 revocation judgment. Court records. An affidavit and an indictment are accusations, not findings.
• Punto Norte, July 19, 2020, and the court form it reproduced. Article. Used for the reported marriage, the spouse entry and the reported 2003 plea and sentence.
• Federal Register, Feb. 20, 2025, terrorist designations including the Sinaloa cartel. Notice. Official record; it's about the cartel, not anyone in this series.
• Fiscalía General del Estado de Baja California, Tecate homicide tables, 2019 to 2021. See Tecate's Deadliest Years.
• Full details: source guide.