Chair of SLO County advisory group taken into jail custody over restraining orders
The recently appointed chair of the Templeton Area Advisory Group — or TAAG — was taken into custody in court on Friday after San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Judge Erin Childs found that he violated multiple restraining orders filed against him by his neighbors.
TAAG is a volunteer group that meets once a month and makes recommendations to the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors on land use and development in Templeton.
David Leader, 70, replaced the group’s former chair Jennifer Jones after she resigned due to “problematic behaviors” of another board member — longtime board member and vice chair Murray Powell — in December.
The group is currently in limbo as it waits to fill its officer positions of chair, vice chair, treasurer and secretary, board member William Nowinski told The Tribune. Powell was reappointed to one of the empty seats in March, he said.
Leader was voted in as interim chair to stabilize the group in a time of turmoil, but he faces his own impending trial of 25 criminal misdemeanor charges mostly for allegedly violating restraining orders involving two of his neighbors in rural Templeton.
The charges stem from what Leader previously described to The Tribune as a “neighborhood dispute of an easement that’s just gotten way out of hand.”
But the District Attorney’s Office described it instead as a “campaign of harassing and intimidating” by Leader against his neighbors.
The District Attorney’s Office filed 21 criminal misdemeanor charges against Leader on March 5, 2025, related to alleged violations of restraining orders — including 11 charges for contempt of court for disobeying the court orders. He was also charged with two counts of vandalism of less than $400 and one count of petty theft — also misdemeanors.
An additional contempt of court charge was filed in another later case on Dec. 16, and on Feb. 14, he was charged with two criminal infractions for letting his dog off leash in a public area.
Leader appeared in court Thursday and Friday for a hearing to consider a motion to revoke bail filed by the District Attorney’s Office — the third motion of this kind by the prosecution. A motion to revoke bail is a formal request to cancel a defendant’s release and return them to custody, usually due to repeated infractions.
Assistant District Attorney Eric Dobroth told The Tribune that Leader has continued to violate two temporary restraining and criminal protective orders across two cases filed against him on behalf of two neighbors.
The first motion in April 2025 resulted in a bail increase to $35,000 and pretrial monitoring of Leader, then a second motion increased bail to $85,000. Bail in the second, newer case was then set at $50,000, totaling $135,000 across both cases — but Leader continued to violate the terms of his release, Dobroth said.
Before he was even arraigned, Leader violated one of the restraining orders 14 times, then “committed several incidents of violation” inside the courtroom during his arraignment and again during a court recess at a hearing in Paso Robles, Deputy District Attorney Jerry Lulejian argued in one of his motions.
After bail was raised the first time, he violated the order again “now much more serious by shooting a rifle for target practice within earshot of his neighbors,” an act which was “evidently for the purpose of letting his neighbors know that he can get ahold of firearms any time he wants,” Lulejian said.
Leader continued to violate the order three more times, including giving his neighbor “the finger,” Lulejian said.
Several of Leader’s neighbors who have filed restraining orders against him took this witness stand during the hearing, as did Leader himself.
He had previously told The Tribune he looked forward to his day in court because the judge had not heard his side of the story, and he was confident the charges would be dismissed once he testified.
Instead, he was remanded to the custody of the sheriff on Friday with his bail set at $300,000 across both cases, court records show. He was booked into the SLO County Jail at 12:17 p.m., according to the Sheriff’s Office booking log.
Leader did not appear to be in custody as of Monday morning, according to the Sheriff’s Office Who’s In Custody database. Neither Leader nor his attorney could not be reached for comment.
His trial is schedule to begin on April 27.
Why are there restraining orders against the TAAG chair?
Leader’s neighbors’ restraining orders alleged instances of him trespassing, vandalizing their property and making verbal threats. In one case, his neighbors alleged he had brandished his gun around the neighborhood. Another family said he harassed them daily by speeding past their home, “shouting obscenities, making lewd gestures and shining bright lights” into their home.
All cases involved allegations that Leader rode his horse and drove vehicles — including a truck, Porsche and an ATV — across his neighbors’ private driveways and properties.
Several of his neighbors expressed concern for their families’ safety or said their children feared Leader.
A civil lawsuit from one of the neighbors also seeks damages in addition to a restraining order, again alleging he trespassed to purposefully trigger his neighbors motion sensitive security cameras and honked his horn five to 10 times daily as he passed their property in an effort to “annoy” and “harass” them. It alleged he often did so multiple times a day for months on end.
That neighbor believed Leader did so out of a grudge against the neighbor for beating Leader in a homeowners’ association board election, with the goal of intimidating the neighbor to move away.
Four restraining orders were filed against him in total, including one since the criminal charges were filed on two of the orders. Leader filed restraining orders against two of his neighbors in response.
This story was originally published April 7, 2026 at 1:22 PM.
