Sex-tape stunner in Nadia Lockyer case

District Attorney Nancy O'Malley answers a question during a news conference after a jury convicted Yusuf Bey IV and Antoine Mackey of first degree murder of Bailey on Thursday, June 9, 2011 at the Alameda County Courthouse in Oakland, Calif. less District Attorney Nancy O'Malley answers a question during a news conference after a jury convicted Yusuf Bey IV and Antoine Mackey of first degree murder of Bailey on Thursday, June 9, 2011 at the Alameda ... more Photo: Mathew Sumner, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Mathew Sumner, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Sex-tape stunner in Nadia Lockyer case 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

There's a shocking twist in the saga of Alameda County Supervisor Nadia Lockyer and the incident at a Newark hotel that landed her in the hospital and a male acquaintance under police scrutiny.

We're told that a sex tape of Nadia Lockyer and the man was given to her husband, state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, about six weeks before the Newark incident. The treasurer believed that the man, who has a history of arrests for alleged methamphetamine use, might make the tape public if forced to break off a romantic relationship with the supervisor.

Here's the story, as we've pieced it together from sources knowledgeable about the law enforcement investigation into the Newark incident and the events that preceded it.

After receiving the sex tape and viewing a string of text messages between his wife and the man over the past three months, Bill Lockyer privately contacted Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley - a personal and political friend of the treasurer and his wife. Lockyer was at wit's end as to what to do about his wife, and he hoped to persuade prosecutors to seek a court order barring the man from approaching Nadia Lockyer.

Bill Lockyer's argument was that his wife was being stalked by the man, a 35-year-old San Jose resident whom he portrayed as a former boyfriend of Nadia Lockyer.

The investigation went nowhere, however, because prosecutors came to believe that Nadia Lockyer, 40, and the man were engaged in a consensual relationship, based partly on text messages and X-rated photos found on her computer.

O'Malley's chief assistant, Kevin Dunleavy, confirmed only that the first official contact came when "our office was contacted by Nadia Lockyer's office back in early January, and that Nadia felt she was being stalked" by the man.

"So we assigned a couple of inspectors from our office to do a threat management assessment," he said, which included interviewing Nadia Lockyer but not the man.

"At the end of that interview, our inspectors came back and reported their evaluation that there was no stalking going on" - at least, nothing that could be legally construed as such, he said.

As for a sex tape?

O'Malley herself tells us "my office had nothing at all about a tape and blackmail."

But the D.A., who acknowledged having a number of conversations with Bill Lockyer about his wife, said she was deeply concerned about Nadia Lockyer's health, since she had lost considerable weight. O'Malley also had received sporadic text messages from Nadia Lockyer that suggested she was "in a downward spiral - in crisis."

After news of the hotel incident went public, O'Malley turned over the criminal investigation to the state attorney general, citing Nadia Lockyer's earlier work with a domestic violence program in the district attorney's office. O'Malley said the information turned over included a string of text messages involving the man Nadia Lockyer had seen.

Before that, however, Bill Lockyer also contacted the father of Nadia Lockyer's male acquaintance, telling him that his wife and the man's son were in a "bad relationship" that had to end.

We're told the father offered to help in destroying any copies of the sex tape and compromising photos that might be on his son's computer or elsewhere - but then there was no follow-up.

The story might have died had police not been called to the Homewood Suites in Newark in the wee hours of Feb. 3, where they found Nadia Lockyer suffering from head and neck injuries. She told police she had been assaulted by the man her husband described as her ex-boyfriend. But even that incident has taken another twist.

Sources familiar with the case say the man gave a story of self-defense during the hotel encounter. His version differs sharply from the account given by Bill Lockyer. According to our sources, here's how it goes:

For starters, the man - whom we're not naming because he has not been arrested in the case - says there is nothing "ex" about the relationship, and that he's not the stalker or potential suicide case that Bill Lockyer has characterized him as being.

The man, a construction worker, says his relationship with Nadia Lockyer has lasted more than a year, beginning when the two met at a Kaiser outpatient rehab program in 2010. Sources say she was enrolled for abusing alcohol and he for meth addiction.

The man also says he and Nadia Lockyer have communicated with each other since the hotel incident.

As he tells it, Nadia Lockyer invited him to visit her at the Homewood Suites on Feb. 3, where records show she had checked in.

He also says it was Nadia Lockyer who instigated the fight that night, because she suspected he was involved with other women.

Police, who answered a 911 call from the hotel about 2:40 a.m., have repeatedly interviewed Nadia Lockyer about the alleged attack.

Police referred all questions about the case to the attorney general's office, which isn't commenting. A spokesman for Bill Lockyer, who also served eight years as attorney general, said his boss had nothing further to say about the case.

Efforts to reach Nadia Lockyer were unsuccessful, and her acquaintance isn't talking. She has checked into a center for treatment of an unspecified chemical dependency, and he was released from the Santa Clara County Jail late Thursday after being arrested last weekend for alleged drug possession and driving under the influence.

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