Cal Coast News reporter hopes to kill defamation case without appearing in court

Cal Coast News reporter Karen Velie is trying to get the defamation case against her thrown out without testifying in court.

Why? She believes it could put her in harm’s way.

In court records, Velie cited alleged threats to her life by Ryan Petetit-Wright, the former business partner of San Luis Obispo County attorney John Belsher.

Velie believed her “life was in imminent danger” in 2016 after she reported on Belsher and Petetit-Wright, she said in court records.

Velie is being sued for defamation for a second time, following a $1.1 million verdict she lost in 2017.

The new lawsuit was filed on Feb. 14, 2025, by Belsher’s wife Jody Bernat, who accused Velie of defaming her in a Dec. 30 Cal Coast News article. The couple had previously filed for legal separation, but it was never pursued, and they never divorced, Belsher told The Tribune.

As former business partner to Petetit-Wright, who was convicted of bribing late Supervisor Adam Hill, Belsher has been the subject of Velie’s reporting on multiple occasions.

Belsher was not charged with any criminal violations relating to his business dealings, but he was ordered to pay a $3.6 million judgment to two former investors after he was found liable by a SLO County judge for fraud and breaching his fiduciary duty as their attorney. The judgment was fully settled, meaning it was paid in full, Bernat said.

Belsher was previously Bernat’s lawyer on the case until he resigned from the California State Bar in January. Bernat is currently representing herself while searching for new counsel, she said.

The defamation allegations stem from Velie accusing Bernat of using an “alias” while living in Surprise, Arizona, when in fact Bernat had legally changed her surname to protect her reputation and to guard herself from a stalker, she said.

Velie later ran a correction on the article, but Bernat said this was the last straw in a long history of Velie inaccurately connecting Bernat to her husband’s business dealings.

“I’ve put up with this for years of her doing this to me,” Bernat told The Tribune. “At this point we just want to live our lives. ... Karen Velie is really, truly a bully.”

On Wednesday, Bernat and Velie both appeared over Zoom in the San Luis Obispo County Superior Court to discuss the case, which Velie hopes to squash with a motion to strike that also requests Bernat pay her attorneys’ fees. It was filed nearly two weeks after the allotted deadline to file a motion to strike.

Velie remained on mute for most of the hearing. She kept her camera off and never spoke. Her attorney Annalisa Zulueta attended in person.

Bernat appeared remotely with her camera on and spoke as her own legal representative. She appeared to be consulting someone off camera, which was questioned by the judge.

Other online attendees included Belsher, Cal Coast News co-founder Dan Blackburn — also previously sued for defamation with Velie — and someone using the name Adam Hill.

Bernat had requested Velie give live testimony, but Velie filed an opposition, claiming that “forcing her to testify live could expose her to unnecessary risks,” due to “prior threats” she has allegedly received over her reporting.

Those threats include “an alleged hitman plot” by Petetit-Wright, “pet poisoning, mutilated animals on her porch, and a fake bomb — all reported to law enforcement and the FBI,” Velie’s opposition said.

The Tribune attempted to confirm the existence of any reports but received no immediate response from the Sheriff’s Office or the FBI as of Tuesday. The Paso Robles Police Department found Velie was documented in two reports as a witness only.

“She’s apparently afraid to testify or hear others testify,” Belsher told The Tribune ahead of Wednesday’s hearing.

Velie’s motion to strike was continued by the court to April 22. No decision was made regarding whether she will be ordered to give live testimony, nor whether she must appear in person or over Zoom.

Neither Velie nor Zulueta immediately responded to The Tribune’s requests for comment.

Cal Coast News reporter claims she wasn’t properly served

In court records, Velie said that Bernat’s defamation lawsuit “is a classic SLAPP suit designed to chill” her free speech rights.

Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation — or SLAPP — suits are baseless lawsuits designed to burden critics with high legal costs in an effort to intimidate them into silence on issues of public interest.

Velie argued Bernat’s complaint “arises solely from protected journalistic activity” and that she was “reporting on matters of public interest ... in the wake of a multimillion-dollar judgment against Mr. Belsher and his business partner.”

Velie also claimed she has “never written any article specifically regarding” Bernat, and only mentioned her in reporting about Belsher, court records show.

“The case is about one sentence on Plaintiff’s pseudonyms,” Velie said in court records.

Bernat argued by even being mentioned in Velie’s reporting, having her picture published and accused of using an alias, she falsely appeared to be “hiding” something or “lying” about her lack of involvement in Belsher’s business dealings.

“I had nothing to do with anything,” Bernat said in court Wednesday. “I was cleared of everything by Judge Kelley. I wasn’t a part of the business. I had nothing to do with the legal situation.”

Velie also shared more than 18 photos of Bernat on Cal Coast News, including one of her in a bikini, Bernat said. All but one of the photos were pulled from her private Facebook posts without her consent, Bernat said.

“I believe the only intent Karen Velie had in publishing this privately published photo was to cause embarrassment for me,” Bernat said.

Velie claimed she had “never seen the bikini photo” until Bernat submitted it to the court as evidence, and she denied ever publishing or posting it to the Cal Coast News website or Facebook page, which she said automatically generates and posts photos based on the articles, court records show.

On Aug. 26, Velie filed an anti-SLAPP motion to strike — almost two weeks past the allotted 60-day time frame to do so, court records show.

On Wednesday, Bernat argued the late filing should be grounds to ignore the motion, but Velie said it should still be valid because she was improperly served and was unaware her time to file a response had started, court records show.

According to court records, Velie was sub-served on May 31 at a home in Paso Robles belonging to her daughter on May 31. Sub-serving involves delivering legal documents in a lawsuit to another suitable adult at the person’s residence or workplace after diligent attempts to directly serve them.

However, Velie claims she does not and has never lived at her daughter’s residence. In court records, she said her driver’s license, voter registration and car registration all list her personal residence, “which is not in Paso Robles.”

The documents were sub-served to her 19-year-old grandson, who allegedly told Velie he told the server she did not live at the house, but the server “did not believe him and argued with him,” according to court records.

At least one previous attempt to serve her at Cal Coast News’ place of business on Feb. 26, 2025, was followed by the service at her daughter’s house and a mailing of the summons and complaint to Velie at that residence on June 2, court records show. She was allegedly observed wearing “various disguises” including a “dark-colored wig” outside the home during attempts to serve her.

Though Velie vehemently denied she lives with her daughter, two witnesses declared the home was also Velie’s place of residence.

Paso Robles Planning Commission member Sharon Roden and local radio host Clive Pinder, who also writes an opinion column for The Tribune, both declared that Velie lived at the address, according to court records. They are under subpoena to testify.

Roden declared Velie once asked Roden to pick her up from her “home,” which was her daughter’s Paso Robles home, court records show. Roden also saved the address as Velie’s in her phone contacts.

Social media posts by Velie’s daughter also reflect that her mother lives at the home with her, according to court records.

Velie, however, said she tells people her daughter’s residence is her own due to a “documented history of threats and harassment,” court records show.

“My practice of not disclosing my home address is based on a well-founded fear for my safety stemming from years of harassment and threats related to my journalism,” Velie declared in court records.

Velie claimed to have been intimidated on multiple occasions “as a direct result of my reporting on individuals including John Belsher.” She said that included “having my family dog poisoned and killed, finding mutilated dead animals left on my porch and discovering a fake bomb placed under my porch,” incidents for which she filed reports with the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office, according to court records.

Velie also claimed to have received “specific information from a source that led me to believe my life was in imminent danger” in 2016 following her reporting on Belsher and Petetit-Wright.

“The threat was so credible and severe that I immediately reported it to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Santa Maria,” she said.

For these reasons, Velie asked Roden to pick her up at her daughter’s home to protect her own address.

Due to the “conflict in testimony” concerning whether Velie lived at the address where she was served, Bernat subpoenaed Velie to give live testimony along with Roden and Pinder. She also argued that Velie’s “entire testimony should be stricken” due to the fact that Velie did not raise any concerns about how she was served until after Bernat objected to the motion to strike.

Velie filed an opposition to the request for live testimony, citing the same concerns for her safety and noting Belsher and Pinder’s “potential biases.”

Karen Velie named in third potential defamation case

Pinder declared he also discovered the Paso Robles address to be Velie’s place of residence through a private investigator he hired in preparation for potentially serving her in another “defamation action,” court records show.

Pinder filed a small claims court order on Jan. 12 against Beth Brennan, the publisher of Paso Robles Daily News, related to potentially false claims about Pinder.

Pinder previously published a six-part column for Paso Robles Daily News on the alleged conspiracy to oust former Paso Robles city manager Ty Lewis. The columns were later removed without explanation.

In June 2025, Velie published an article quoting Brennan and Paso Robles Daily News editor Skye Pratt making statements that Pinder’s previously approved columns were removed because they were “defamatory” and “inappropriate,” the order said.

The small claims court order seeks to understand if Brennan actually made those comments, or if Velie defamed him by making them up, Pinder told The Tribune. Brennan has not confirmed nor denied to Pinder if her comments were accurate, he said.

“If she did say it, I’d sue Beth Brennan for defamation,” Pinder told The Tribune. “If she didn’t, I’d sue Karen Velie for defamation.”

If so, it would be the third defamation lawsuit against Velie.

“I think she’s a liar and a defamer,” Pinder said.

Velie claimed Pinder was a biased witness because of his “history of disparaging defendant publicly” and affiliation with The Tribune, which Bernat has previously “praised,” court records show.

She also claimed the private investigators’ report contained manipulated photos of her daughter’s home that should undermine the report as evidence of her place of residence.

This story was originally published February 11, 2026 at 10:00 AM.