out near san francisco city college to check out all kinds of classic exotics, lowriders, and motorcycles. car owners say it gave them a chance to show off the workmanship and the love they put in to their rides, including the horsepower and the style. some like the style i'm kind of crazy about the horsepower. when you peel off the line. gere you know what i'm saying? yeah, yeah, she knows what i'm saying. definitely. thanks for joining us. all right. we'll be back at it at 11. see you then. this is an nbc bay area news special. we investigate. i definitely don't want someone else to have to go through what i did. she's a two time cancer survivor and a san francisco firefighter. concerns that chemicals in her protective fire suit could be causing cancer. as san francisco blazing a trail for fire departments nationwide. we can't not run

into fires. serious questions about taxpayer funded medical care and a contra costa county program. a whistleblower comes forward only to nbc bay area full body infection happened. he needed to have his leg amputated. a sexual assault charge is pled down to just five days in jail. the alleged victim is blindsided. you know, they just kept saying to me, well, you know, this stuff doesn't happen. and all i could keep looking at him is, but why did it happen to me? like, why didn't i matter? and bart spends millions on new lights to make the tunnel safer. but years later, almost all are still in boxes. sometimes i do look at some of these things and say, gosh, you know, that's pretty. that could be pretty absurd. i can see how the public would say that we investigate how it happened and what bart plans to do about it. good evening, and thanks for joining us. i'm candace when we start tonight with an nbc bay area exclusive,

californians are paying billions of dollars into a new health care initiative to help our most vulnerable. like our seniors, the unhoused, and people with mental illness. a whistleblower tells us contra costa health plan is ignoring some medical needs, inflating caseloads and harming patients. it's been heartbreaking. it's been mysterious. heartbreaking, because we are supposed to be, helping these patients. this contra costa health nurse says some of the county's most fragile and medically complex patients are being left in the lurch. there are people who are unhoused, some of them have been going to the hospital, er, multiple times in a week. a patient who has had a diabetic ulcer was given to a non-medical staff, non-clinical staff. they then didn't address it. a full body infection happened. he needed to have his leg amputated

. it's not just this one case and she says it's not the staffers fault. incidents like this, she says, occur regularly through contra costa health's enhanced care management, or ecm benefit, provided through california's new cal aim program . we're transforming medi-cal. it's our journey to a healthier california for all, according to the department of health care services, cal aims ecm benefit is supposed to address clinical and non-clinical needs, meaning both medical and social care assistance. but in contra costa, the nurse and three other sources familiar with the system tell us the program has abandoned medical assistance altogether after, they say, ecm case managers who are nurses who were already with the system before the program started, are now being instructed to focus only on social needs, like a member's access to a shelter or fresh food, or their non-clinical staff, like housing

specialists who aren't trained to properly refer medical issues at all. they've been told if they don't understand what a health condition is, they just should google it. that sounds potentially dangerous. it's extremely dangerous. it's negligent. do you have firsthand knowledge of patients being harmed or dying as a result of this? yes yes they do. one fatal case, she warned supervisor and county officials about through email last year involved a patient saying he couldn't get out of bed. a non clinical staff member unknowingly labeled this patient as bed bound, and the rest of his care team treated him as such by only providing telephone visits. as a result, the patient didn't get out of bed for months, and his bed sores turned into bone infections. he later passed away , according to her email. another ecm patient she emailed about received no discussion of health needs or health interventions for a year when he

was clearly sick, he was on death's doorstep, then passed away a month later. i tried so hard to report this internally and those concerns were both dismissed. and then i also received just the extreme hostility, abusive treatment. we reached out to contra costa health ceo anna roth. she declined our interview request. instead, kim mccarl, their communications officer, spoke with us. our members clinical care needs address. so the way that our model is set up, no, except that ecm is a part of the entire care model. but i was looking at the state's description of ecm, and it seems to be pretty clear. it says here ecm is a comprehensive care management benefit to address both clinical and non-clinical needs for the highest needs members. so why isn't that happening in contra costa

county? because we don't need to. so so contra costa county is what we call an integrated system. so we have a whole clinical arm and we have a whole ecm arm. and so we don't need to have our ecm program provide clinical care because our our clinic system does that. but it doesn't always. and cases fall through the cracks. that's what the department of health care services found in a 2023 audit of contra costa health, after receiving anonymous complaints, the state found patients complained about not receiving enhanced care management services. in one case, a comprehensive history and physical examination wasn't completed and without proper assessment, the state said patients may not receive important behavioral and medical health screenings that can help identify and prevent illnesses. this the state know that contra costa county is not providing clinical care through its ecm program. yes, when we reached out to the state, a spokesperson

repeated in an email, both clinical and non-clinical needs must be addressed by ecm teams. there are a lot of taxpayer dollars involved. contra costa health took in nearly $3 billion in medi-cal revenue in 2022 and 2023. of that, it spent $56 million on ecm, according to the state. i think that it's wrong. this nurse says she's concerned cutting corners on medical allows the system to report more patients to the state to get more funding. it gives them an excuse to really inflate caseload sizes and, because by ignoring clinical needs, they're then it's then okay, it's totally manageable to manage. just the social needs of 100 patients. contra costa health denies that serving more medi-cal members means more money for the system. the state actually determines the formula upon which we get paid. so

having more of them is not a financial benefit to us. so we checked what other health systems are doing la care planned and san francisco health plan tell us their ecm benefits, address clinical and non-clinical care. but in alameda county, alameda alliance's program appears to be similar to contra costa's. although we haven't heard of any issues there. contra costa health says it is working to correct the problems detailed in that audit is the san francisco fire department's own gear, putting firefighters at risk. we investigate the health concerns and how sf is working to become the first city in the nation to protect our firefighters. this way. sailing. it's actually super intense. i'm danielle amoros, i'm in sailing and i'm from san francisco, california. naomi girma, san jose, california soccer. really exciting. we'll be sailing in the south of france for the olympics. paris would be a dream

come true. the paris olympic games coming this summer. brought to you locally on nbc by monterey bay aquarium. inspiring conservation of the ocean. it may be small, but it can bear over 4000 times its own weight. and that's just the door hinge. sturdy design all the way down to the smallest detail. the toes up in. it's a vw get 0% apr financing for 60 months on the 2024 taos s, or lease one for just 259 per month. limited inventory available. san francisco is taking major steps to extinguish a possible health hazard, threatening more than a million firefighters nationwide. recently, the city was the first in the country to ban certain firefighter gear made with cancer causing chemicals. but as senior investigative reporter

bigad shaban found, there are concerns the fix could create more hazards. this needed water coming. lieutenant miguel sadie is teaching the next generation of firefighters about what to expect on the front lines. our whole job is to work under pressure, manage your emotions and your fears, and get the job done, regardless of how dangerous it may be. regardless, that includes the risks they can see and the ones they can't. i definitely don't want someone else to have to go through what i did. sadie is a two time cancer survivor. she underwent radiation and ultimately a double mastectomy here in san francisco, female firefighters have a six times higher rate of breast cancer than the national average. the department has lost more than 300 firefighters to cancer over the past 20 years. we're in ongoing exposure to smoke and other chemicals is so serious. the world health

organization now classifies firefighting as an actual carcinogen. nice work. and in recent years, studies have also shown the jackets and pants firefighters rely on to stay safe during emergencies are made with materials proven to cause cancer to put something in the equipment to people who are already there at a risk of their life. for you, seems really malicious. these so-called pfas chemicals help clothing repel flammable liquids and resist extreme heat. but researchers say the compounds can be harmful when absorbed through the skin. the level of exposure for firefighters and exact health risks are still being studied. what is it like knowing that the very thing that's supposed to protect you may actually have been part of the reason you got cancer? you know, we can't stop the job from being dangerous. we can't not run into fires, but we can change the future. we can make it so that someone else

doesn't have to go through this. we're tired and we're dying. reporter on the steps of san francisco city hall. behind a mound of uniforms. firefighters and lawmakers recently announced plans to enact a first in the nation ban on firefighter clothing made with pfas. those uniforms, known as turnouts, would need to be replaced over the next two years. fundamentally, what's at stake is, is people's lives. san francisco supervisor aaron peskin authored the legislation. he says while outfitting an entire department won't be cheap , doing nothing could force the city to pay an even higher price . the approximately $10 million that will cost is so small compared to a human life is so small compared to the cost of health care, is so small compared to the cost of settling lawsuits. it is morally right, and it's financially right. but alternative gear that doesn't use pfas still isn't widely available, even though the potential health hazards have been known for years. critics, including the firefighters

union, argue that's because industry standards released by the national fire protection association continue to be written in a way that favor the use of pfas chemicals by including certain requirements that can't easily be met using other materials, the nfpa tells us. it doesn't create or dictate standards, but instead relies on expert volunteers, including many representatives of the firefighting community. the nfpa and the firefighters union remain locked in a heated lawsuit about what the standards should say. we contacted some of the largest manufacturers of firefighter gear to understand why pfas continues to be used only, viking responded, telling us there's been a lack of pfas free fabrics approved by the nfpa. but says it's now testing alternative materials and plans to release a new line of gear by the end of the year. manufactured without pfas. at

least two other companies, fire decks and lion, are already advertising pfas free uniforms that are now being tested at fire departments across five cities, including san francisco, where firefighters say so far the gear is working. we don't want to just trade one hazard for another, so we'll burn the first one. chemist brian ormond is trying to find out if those alternatives will be safer long term at his lab at nc state university in raleigh, he and his team are testing fabrics for reliability. there's a little bit of char right here so far, he says. his research has shown removing pfas can make uniforms less breathable and more flammable. we're introducing a potential hazard for flammability on the fire scene, where firefighters didn't have that before. but he cautions what he's seeing in the lab could differ from what firefighters might experience on the front lines. regardless, first responders across the country continue to suit up. so even with the risks, you're still willing to put on the

uniform in a heartbeat. it's not a choice when we have to do our job. it's our job. nice work buddy, but lieutenant sadie is concerned about her trainees who were just issued the same type of standard clothing she's worn for decades. her fight for safer gear, she says, is for them so firefighters can focus on saving lives instead of worrying about their own. this would affect the future, and if it changes and legislation goes forward, then yeah, then it was all worth it. with the investigative unit on bigad, siobhan, if approved, the ban on fire gear made with pfas will go into effect in two years. coming up was an accused rapist let off the hook? prosecutors offered a plea deal despite a confession and an apology. we investigate. the lessons of the past can guide us moving forward. so all month long, nbc bay area is highlighting the rich history of

our asian american, native hawaiian and pacific islander communities. we'll explore their vibrant cultures and spotlight some extraordinary people making a positive impact on others. join us as we amplify aanhpi heritage, because knowing each other's stories brings us together, and that moves the bay area forward. i'm doug hopkins with brothers by homes.com and i want to buy your house. i'll make you an aces cash offer on your house within 24 hours. whether it's a total fixer upper or in perfect condition. brothers by homes.com is the easiest way to sell your house. when you sell your house to brothers by homes.com. there's no fees, no commissions, no banks and no repairs. just go to brothers by homes.com for your free, no obligation cash offer. 24 hours a day. that's brothers by homes.com. a peninsula woman says her alleged rapist was let off the hook too easily, taking a plea deal and serving no

additional jail time. and now her trust in the legal system is shattered. investigative reporter hilda gutierrez looks at how often defendants charged with certain sex crimes take plea deals. this was originally brought as a rape case that police say included a videotaped confession and an apology note by the defendant. so the victim wonders why prosecutors offer him a deal that leaves him with no sex crime on his record, and says she was not consulted. korey banks grew up believing in the justice system. she comes from a law enforcement family. her father and uncle worked for the belmont police department, and i grew up knowing that if you did wrong, you'd get in trouble and the police would help you, and the police did. but she says her trust was shattered when she was raped. but i knew, like, the process would work. at least i thought it was the summer of 2021. banks, a mother of two, was at a

local piano bar in san carlos where she recalls talking to an acquaintance she had met the year before. at some point, she says, she realized she had enough to drink and walked outside with a friend to order a rideshare home. the acquaintance followed them, and he comes up to the bench. we're waiting on and starts kissing on me again. like similar to the year prior. and my buddy's like, hey, hey hey. and when he does say that, the guy runs off. bank says her friend helped her get home and snapped this photo of her in bed before leaving her apartment. clearly had enough. so pass out, from drinking. when banks woke up, she says. the acquaintance fernando altuna mendoza was standing by her bed. he's there and i'm like, what are you doing ? you know, get out of here, get out of here. and i remember getting up, chasing him out, and i really, truly believed i'd stopped him. and i saw on my phone there were all these. you know, missed calls through instagram. screenshots show altuna mendoza tried to reach her in the middle of the night before entering her apartment. banks says she reported the

incident to the san mateo sheriff's office and obtained this restraining order. you don't have the right to come in my house. i've never invited you to my house. this is. you know this is not okay. banks says it was the sheriff who, upon questioning altuna mendoza a week later, led her in on what really happened that night. according to the sheriff's report. altuna mendoza wrote an apology note that in part read, i shouldn't have opened your door and gone into bed with you in the narrative. altuna mendoza also agreed that having sex with someone who is too intoxicated to consent is rape. he was booked and charged with two felony counts of rape and sexual penetration with a foreign object in november of last year, banks says she was ready to go to trial, but as she sat in this court, she was told that defendant was ready to enter a last minute plea deal for false imprisonment. a charge she had never heard of before and wasn't even a sex crime. and i begged her to please not do this, that i was ready, i said i would

rather lose on the stand. then to let him get away with false imprisonment, which meant nothing. even though we were ready to go to trial on that day, we decided to offer some charges that were felonious but did not carry sex registration. shinmei chang was not the prosecutor in banks case, but supervises a sex assault unit within the san mateo county da's office. we asked why they accepted a plea deal when the sheriff's report states they had a taped confession. the trial deputy, after having listened to it, decided that there were some issues because of the tone of the conversation, banks says the prosecutor never mentioned the confession tape or its tone. chang says the timing of the plea was unfortunate, and in hindsight, wishes they would have asked for a continuance to consult with banks and give her time to process it. we reached out to altuna mendoza and his attorney, but never heard back. it turns out the plea agreement in banks case is not an isolated

one. nbc bay area's investigative unit reviewed records for rape and sexual battery cases from the san mateo sheriff's office dating back to 2018. through public records requests, we obtained information on 60 cases and cross-referenced the original charges with the final outcome. we found 32% of the cases were either rejected by the da's office or later dismissed. 11% are ongoing, and about half, only 57, were resolved. of the 31 cases where the d.a. charged a defendant with a sex crime, 19 resulted in a sex crime conviction. four were convicted of a sex crime by jury, but in eight cases, 26% of the time, the defendant negotiated a non sex related plea deal. sometimes the facts or the witness statements change after we file the case and if our case is weaker than we originally assess it to be, then we're going to enter into negotiations with defense. but a law enforcement

source with direct knowledge of banks case told us we expected a harsher sentence. this was a no fail case, meaning everything was put together with a legal confession in a box and ribbon for them to prosecute. accordingly the sheriff's office has not released a confession tape to the investigative unit or to banks, but told us as the charging entity, the district attorney's office, determ means the strength of a case for the purposes of prosecution. you know, they just kept saying to me, well, you know, this stuff doesn't happen. and all i could keep looking at him is, but why did it happen to me? like, why didn't i matter? altuna mendoza only spent five days in jail, but was put on probation and told to abstain from alcohol and drugs. two months ago, he was caught driving under the influence and is now serving six months in jail for violating his probation. that's more time than he ever served in connection with the banks case. banks is now working with civil rights attorney aaron sizer, who's reached out to the department of justice, citing our findings and

requesting a practice investigation into the san mateo county da's office with the investigative unit. i'm hilda gutierrez. coming up. bart spent millions of dollars to buy new lights but never installed them. we investigate next. the infiniti qx60 was clearly designed to make an impression, and my first impression is wow, it totally fits my vibe. the interior, it's luxurious. it really is. the back seat has a ton of room. hello ooh, i didn't realize this would have a third row of seating. consider me wowed. discover what you'll love about the 2024 three row qx60. with infiniti premium care included only at your local retailer, this is the most exciting moment in painting. when the frog tape comes off. when all the swatches samples, prep, and pride depend upon frog

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going up considerably on the lighting. then bart project manager javed khan pitched the plan to install more than 2100 new lights twice as many as bart had in the tunnel, saying it would bring ten times more light into the subway and bring the lighting up to current code. so train operators could see better and passengers could evacuate more quickly during an emergency. for emergency egress, you want to be able to see the walkway and find the exit. but today, six years later, bart has yet to install those lights. so what happens? correct? bart inspector general claudette beamer says the problem goes back to 2020, two years after the lighting contract was approved, when a whistleblower complained that bart was not getting its money's worth, it didn't meet the standards, the specifications that they set out. the inspector general confirms the new lights were not as bright as bart wanted, and

wouldn't last as long as the contract specified. still bart liked them because they would be easy to install and lower projected maintenance costs. after the inspector general's office got involved, bart fired the lighting contractor and settled with them for $2.4 million and vowed to install all 2182 fixtures itself. this video we took in the subway shows that another four years later, those old dim fluorescent fixtures still line the tunnel and those new lights bart promised to install. most are in storage with time running out on their warranties. that's wasteful. yeah, you want to make sure that you're getting the best use out of your your your purchases. bart board member deborah allen, a frequent critic of bart management, has another word for it. sometimes i do look at some of these things and say, gosh, you know, that's pretty that could be pretty absurd. i can see how the public would say that we reached out to bart.

they wouldn't answer any specific questions about what's going on with the lighting, saying only that they're reviewing the inspector general's findings and the agency acknowledges the procurement process. did not meet our high standards. and we will work to do better in the future. during a recent audit committee meeting, bart deputy general manager michael jones suggested the audit process itself is to blame for all the delays, but quickly added there's multiple reasons why that project was not completed at, you know, at that time and at this point in time. okay, well, i'd love to know all the other reasons. bart officials now say they've installed roughly 30% of the lights they bought for san francisco, mostly in the berkeley hills tunnel. lack of time. but when allen asked whether any of the uninstalled lights are still under warranty, is it gone? i mean, we're past the warranty. i really don't know. i it's not clear how long it will take for bart to finish installing the

replacement lights in san francisco. back in 2018, bart predicted it would take a dedicated contractor two years because crews can only work during a four hour window while the system is down overnight. jaxon van derbeken. nbc, bay area news now if you have a story for our investigative unit , just call 888996 tips or go to our website nbcbayarea.com. slash investigations i'm candice wynne. thanks for watching nbc bay area, where we investigate. wait. it's a beautiful day to fly. it's got a large mushroom pizza. susan marie pizza again. beep! homer hellofresh has delicious guilt free recipes you can make in a snap. speaking of cooking plain chicken, really, it's healthy. it's boring.

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