Criminal Probe Opened in Threats Against Councilor

City Councilmember Mark Carnevale filed a police report against Alan Carvalho, which has led to a criminal investigation

CATHEDRAL CITY — The Cathedral City Police Department has confirmed — through a Public Records Act request Uken Report filed — that a criminal probe has been opened based on a police report City Councilmember Mark Carnevale filed against Alan Carvalho.

However, because this is a “criminal investigation” and Uken Report is not an involved party,  the police report will not be released. The report was reportedly filed in mid-June.

Carvalho ran unsuccessfully for City Council in November 2020 and is married to former City Councilmember Shelley Kaplan.

Carvalho, who also served as a member of the Public Arts Commission, told Uken Report, “I don’t know what this is about, I swear to God. On my mother’s soul, I know nothing, I’m always the last to know.”

The report allegedly centers on comments Carvalho made to Carnevale during a phone call. Two sources familiar with the incident say that Carvalho allegedly threatened to kill Carnevale, who was elected to the City Council in November 2014.

“It wasn’t pretty,” Carnevale told Uken Report. “There were some pretty threatening comments made.”

Carnevale would neither confirm nor deny that Carvalho threatened to kill him.

‘He has made some pretty outrageous remarks before,” Carnevale said. “This isn’t the first time. This time, however, he really went over the top.”

In what seems to be a related matter, the Cathedral City Evening Rotary Board of Directors on June 28, 2021, sent Carvalho a letter stating that his membership in the Club “has been terminated” effective June 30, 2021.

“The termination is based on the guiding principles of the Four-Way Test and the high ethical standards that one should hold as a Rotary member,” according to the letter Uken Report obtained.

The Four-Way Test is a nonpartisan and nonsectarian ethical guide for Rotarians to use for their personal and professional relationships. The test has been translated into more than 100 languages, and Rotarians recite it at club meetings:

Of the things Rotarians think, say or do:

• Is it the TRUTH?
• Is it FAIR to all concerned?
• Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
• Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

Carnevale isn’t the first one to have an issue with Carvalho. In August 2019, Rita Lamb, a candidate in the District 1 special election, filed a Civil Harassment Restraining Order against Carvalho, saying she was “scared” and “frightened” of him. She later dropped it.