UPDATED: Seaside Police arrest former mayoral candidate Karla Lobo on child assault charges.

Editor's Note 4:50pm 2/27/25: This story has been updated to include responses from Karla Lobo and her attorney, as well as additional comments from Seaside Police Chief Nick Borges. 

Editor's Note 11:45am 2/28/25: This story has been updated slightly following additional clarity Borges provided this morning regarding the charges. 

Seaside Police officers arrested former mayoral candidate Karla Lobo this morning, Feb. 25, on charges she allegedly assaulted her 15-year-old son while intoxicated. Seaside Police Chief Nick Borges says Lobo surrendered peacefully after officers pulled her over on San Pablo Avenue. 

The alleged assault of her son, Borges says, occurred Sunday, Feb. 23, and resulted in the boy’s father coming over to the house and taking his son to the hospital, where he was treated for his injuries. 

Borges says officers knocked on Lobo’s door twice on night of the incident and twice the following day, asking her to come outside, but she did not.

In an email, Lobo writes she "cooperated fully" with police on the night of the incident, "and exercised my right to remain silent. At no point was I informed that I was being arrested, detained, or required to turn myself in."

Rather than escalate the situation, officers staked out her home on Wednesday morning and waited for her to emerge, then pulled her over shortly thereafter.

Lobo has been booked at the Monterey County Jail on five charges. Two are felonies relating to the alleged assault, three are misdemeanors that include driving under the influence of alcohol and violating her probation. Lobo's bail was set at $57,500.

Lobo denies she was charged with a DUI, and Borges says Seaside officers did not charge her with crime; nonetheless, it was one of the charges listed for Lobo in the Monterey County Jail's inmate custody log (after conferring with his officers Feb. 28, Borges says that charge was listed because Lobo's arrest violated her DUI-related probation).

Furthermore, Lobo denies being intoxicated at the time of the alleged incident. (Borges says his officers' report was based on statement's from Lobo's son and his father.) 

Lobo is not in custody, and as of Thursday, Feb. 27, has not been charged by the District Attorney. 

Lobo also denies that her son received hospital treatment following the incident, but Borges says his officers are informed the boy's father did take him to one. 

This happens less than 24 hours after Seaside PD, after an hours-long standoff that included the SWAT team, arrested—peacefully, in the end—Seaside resident Joe Cubbage for making credible death threats. 

Notably, Cubbage and Lobo are two of the most prolific public commenters at Seaside City Council meetings, and Lobo serves on the city's Parks and Recreation Commission.

Lobo's attorney, Jennifer Rosenthal, says she and her client are not commenting on the case at this time.