The Public Fight

The Paper Trail, Part 5 of 7

At 1:25 on the afternoon of Oct. 4, Carlos Adams posted a private message I'd sent him.

I removed the post about Olga as a gift to you. My research is finished and has been submitted to the proper agencies, so there's no longer any reason for me to draw attention to it on Facebook. We got exactly what we needed from the interactions, and I'm done discussing it here.

That's mine. I wrote it.

In the same post, Adams said he'd been getting calls, offers to improve his net worth, investigations and people being contacted. He also wrote: "I won't claim to know who coordinated what without evidence."

Then he went into the comments and claimed it anyway.

yes, he used "we". So it's been a coordinated effort.

And then a guess:

he was most likely hired by a private investigator firm connected to a city official. That's my guess

That night at 9:50, he posted again. "Public records involving me have been gathered and submitted to agencies for review. Pages and accounts have appeared online with the apparent purpose of attacking my credibility." And: "I'm not going to claim that every criticism or action is connected without evidence."

He knew about the agencies three days before Council. He said so himself.

Three days later, he was at the microphone at City Council.

Who "we" was

Adams built a conspiracy out of one word. So here's the word.

"We" was the people who helped me gather information for this research. Contributors. Not the mayor. Not a city official. Not a private investigator. Not an agency. I'm keeping their names private, for their safety.

Nobody hired me. Nobody paid me. Nobody told me to do this. I did it on my own, as independent journalism.

His private-investigator guess named nobody. For what it's worth, Councilmember Ron Van Why's campaign website lists "Licensed Private Investigator," and Adams once confronted Van Why on video about it. Nothing connects Van Why to my work.

The post about Olga

The post I took down was about Olga Zulema Adams Pereyra, Tecate's mayor from 2019 to 2021. My opinion: she's Adams's aunt. Part 4 lays out why, and what's proven and what isn't.

I took it down as a gift. I meant it. It was his chance to come clean about himself and his family on his own terms.

He didn't take it. You already saw how he answered the post while it was up, in Part 4: "But my family ? That's not okay."

He went to City Council instead.

Why I started

This part is my side, and it's my opinion.

I started looking at Adams because his story didn't add up. He was the loudest voice in town accusing the mayor and council of hiding things, and he wouldn't answer the simplest questions about himself. Where did you go to high school? Who are your parents? Where's your company registered? Dodge, dodge, dodge. When I pushed, this is what came back.

Ask about his parents, and he jokes that he feels "like Obama back in 2008" and he's "just a private citizen."

In August, I asked him for the evidence behind accusations he'd made about Councilmember Ron Van Why. His answer: meet him in person and he'd give me a list of witnesses, "until then, stop flirting with me. All you do is talk about me man, its getting creepy." That came after I'd turned his campaign profile picture into a satire cartoon. He called that weird. Fair enough. It still wasn't an answer. I'm still waiting on those witnesses.

His comment section handled the rest. When I asked about the ranch road, another account called me retarded. When I asked about his birth certificate, one commenter told me "MYOB!!!!" Adams answered that one with a praying-hands emoji and a heart.

He never used the word gay. He didn't have to. My opinion: "flirting" and "creepy," every time I ask him for evidence, is a way to make the guy asking the questions the story, and get out of answering them.

He pitches his Yuma Transparency Club as a civic group. My opinion: it works like a political action committee. Our own reporting in September found the public record doesn't settle the legal question (that story).

A man demanding transparency from everybody else, and offering none about himself. That's why I started digging.

Oct. 7

On Oct. 6 at 10:17 a.m., Adams asked residents to email him about the ethics commission, and to send accounts of "abuse of power, retaliation, unethical conduct, conflicts of interest, or other misconduct" involving anyone connected to local government. "All will remain confidential," he wrote.

On Oct. 7, he was the last speaker at Council. According to the City's video transcript, he said he was turning in a message that "shows coordinated efforts to target and investigate me," and a communication about "an offer to improve my net worth." He said his citizenship, business and relationships were under scrutiny. "I believe this may be retaliation."

He demanded answers about the mayor's private business and a data center client. He asked for an independent investigation and an ethics commission. He told the mayor to step down. He said he was handing in a recall petition and 20 public records requests.

He didn't name me.

What he actually turned in

That's what he said at the microphone. So what did he file?

The next day, I checked the City's public systems: the 326-page meeting packet, the City's document portal and its public records request portal. None of his papers were there. No coordination message. No "net worth" communication. No recall petition. No 20 requests. The minutes were still a draft.

So I checked again on Oct. 30, more than three weeks later. The minutes from that meeting still aren't posted. Nothing on a Council agenda since then mentions a recall petition.

To be fair, paperwork takes time, and not everything a city gets ends up online. But Adams stood up in front of the whole city and said he had proof somebody was coming after him. Three weeks later, he still hasn't shown it publicly. If he has it, he can put it out there.

Where the mayor fits

Now, the mayor. Adams has questions about Nicholls's business and recusals. Fair questions, and Nicholls can answer them. That's not what this series is about. But you should know I'm the guy who sent the mayor a file on the man asking them. Keep that in mind.

The mayor's only reply to me was a thank-you. He didn't ask for the research, pay for it or tell me what to do with it.

The scorecard

Verified

• Adams posted my private message on Oct. 4 and called it proof of a coordinated effort.
• In the same post he wrote that he wouldn't claim to know who coordinated what without evidence.
• That night he posted that records about him had been "submitted to agencies for review."
• His "Obama" and "stop flirting with me" replies to my questions.
• On Oct. 6 he asked residents to send him misconduct accounts.
• What he said at Council on Oct. 7, as the City transcribed it.
• As of Oct. 8, none of the papers he said he turned in showed up in the City's public systems. As of Oct. 30, the minutes of that meeting still weren't posted, and no Council agenda mentioned a recall petition.

Not verified

• Any coordinated effort against Adams.
• The "net worth" offer: who, what or when.
• Whether the City received his petition and records requests.
• That Olga Zulema Adams Pereyra is his aunt.

My opinion

• Adams dodges basic questions about himself, and answers with jokes, deflection and a comment section that does the insulting for him.
• The Transparency Club works like a political action committee.
• He wants transparency from everybody but himself.

Ask him yourself

I've asked Adams these. He dodged. Ask him yourself, in public, and if he answers, I'll print it.

• Where did you go to high school?
• Who made the "net worth" offer, and what was it?
• Will you release the message you said proves a coordinated effort?
• Did the City Clerk receive your recall petition and 20 records requests?
• Has the Yuma Transparency Club raised or spent money to influence an election?
• Where's the list of witnesses you promised me?

Next: He said somebody went to the authorities. Somebody did. Here's exactly what I sent. Handing It Off

Where this comes from

• Facebook posts and comments on Adams's page, Oct. 4 to Oct. 7, saved as screenshots. They show what was posted; they don't independently prove who controls the account.
• City of Yuma, Oct. 7, 2026 Council meeting video and the City's transcript of it. Video. The transcript isn't certified.
• City of Yuma, Oct. 7 meeting record and packet. Meeting record. Official record.
• Our Oct. 8 check of the City's public systems, and an Oct. 30 recheck of the City's Council calendar and agendas. Council calendar. Snapshots, not a records request.
• Ron Van Why's campaign site. Page. His own statement.
• Yuma Informed, the Transparency Club story (Sept. 26, 2026) and the ethics commission story (Sept. 23, 2026).
• My screenshots of my questions to Adams and the replies, August to October 2026, in our research archive. Facebook showed only times like "1h," so dates are when the screenshots were saved.
• Full details: source guide.