2 weeks Ago
He resigned his seat on the El Cajon City Council in 2019, barely halfway through his term and confronting a litany of lawsuits and other accusations. Not long after that, a Superior Court judge sentenced Bessmon “Ben” Kalasho and his wife to eight days in San Diego County jail after they failed one too many times to turn over evidence or show up for a civil trial. The Kalashos did not report to jail as directed, and two years ago the judge issued a bench warrant for their arrest.
But by then, Ben and Jessica Kalasho had relocated to a remote castle in North Carolina. Come Monday, the couple is due back in San Diego Superior Court for a separate trial. But the Kalashos will not be arrested.
The bench warrants were stayed until June so they could defend themselves in a civil lawsuit filed by the city of El Cajon, which alleges the couple violated city rules by illegally adding an apartment to their former home on Cliffdale Road. The former council member and his wife were slapped with civil penalties that grew to $2,000 a day after code-enforcement staff visited the property and discovered an unlawful addition that also was being offered as a short-term rental. “The officers observed and took photographs of unpermitted construction of an outdoor stair and a deck and an unpermitted second kitchen in the primary dwelling,” the lawsuit says.
“They also had become aware of an illegal bed and breakfast business with services on the property.” Kalasho could not be reached, and his lawyer did not respond to messages seeking comment. The civil penalties are now approaching $1 million, which public real estate websites estimate is the approximate value of the Cliffdale Road property .
City officials also want access to the home to evaluate its condition, an injunction against future rentals, a receiver appointed to maintain the property, the home returned to its legally permitted condition and related penalties and attorney fees. They also want permission to sell the house to pay off the fines if need be. “Defendants, and each of them, have failed and refused and continue to fail and refuse after a reasonable time to correct the violations and abate the nuisances,” the lawsuit says.
Kalasho had barely begun his public service when he was sued by multiple plaintiffs, including two women who participated in a beauty pageant he ran through his for-profit business group called the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce. One plaintiff accused Kalasho of rigging the contest against her after she refused his sexual advances; the other said he reneged on her prizes after she was awarded the Miss Middle East crown. Kalasho and his wife were also accused of creating fake social media profiles to disparage people who did not support them and posting photos of naked women online with the plaintiffs’ faces pasted over the original subjects.
The first-term council member quit mid-term , but the legal case — one of many filed against him — stretched well beyond Kalasho’s public service. One defendant won a $300,000 judgment that has never been paid. Another filed a defamation claim against the Kalashos after they posted messages on social media criticizing her work as a lawyer.
Lina Charry refused to settle her defamation suit, and the case remains pending. In 2023, she told the court the Kalashos were in San Diego twice despite filing sworn testimony that they were in North Carolina and available to appear in San Diego Superior Court. “The Kalashos did to this court what they have been doing to me in the case for years,” she told the judge.
“Without any regard for the superiority of this court, without any hesitation, without any respect, they lied to you. They did not even flinch while doing so.” A judge subsequently sentenced both Ben and Jessica Kalasho to eight days in sheriff’s custody.
After they failed to report to jail, another judge issued bench warrants for their arrest. The San Diego City Attorney’s Office, which is responsible for executing the warrants, did not enforce the warrants. A spokesperson for then-City Attorney Mara Elliott said the office does not generally spend the money it takes to retrieve misdemeanor defendants from out of state.
The upcoming trial has been assigned to Judge Joel R. Wohlfeil..
