The president of the Val Verde Unified School District board was charged this week with driving under the influence of alcohol, his second DUI offense since 2018.
Matthew Serafin, who has resisted calls to step down from the Board of Education, was charged Thursday, Oct. 12, with three misdemeanor counts for driving a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, unlawfully driving a vehicle with a blood alcohol level of 0.08% or more, and for being involved in a vehicle accident and failing to immediately stop and provide his name and address, according to the criminal complaint from the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
Riverside County sheriff’s deputies arrested Serafin about 4:50 p.m. Aug. 27 after he crashed into a parked car on Redding Way, near A Street, in Perris. No injuries were reported, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
Serafin, 31, is scheduled to be arraigned Monday at the Hall of Justice in Riverside, said Brooke Beare, a spokesperson for the District Attorney’s Office.
Serafin did not respond to email requests for comment on Friday.
Prior convictions
Serafin’s previous arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol, with a blood alcohol level of .08 or higher, occurred in August 2018, Riverside County court records show.
A year later, Serafin pleaded guilty to the offense and was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to complete a first-offender, three-month DUI program. His probation expired in August 2022, according to Riverside County Superior Court records that have since been sealed.
In 2015 — about a year before he was elected to the school board at the age of 25 — Serafin, who went by the surname Guevara at the time, was charged with two felonies in a case stemming from a pair of vehicle burglaries. Under a plea bargain, however, he pleaded guilty in Orange County Superior Court to one misdemeanor count of vandalism, with less than $400 in damage, court records show.
Declining support on board
School board member Melinda Young called for Serafin to step down at the board’s Sept. 5 meeting due to his history of using foul language at public meetings. Parents also had repeatedly complained about Serafin’s course language and unprofessional behavior behind the dais and demanded he resign.
Young put it before the board for a vote, but the proposal failed on a 2-2 vote, with Young and Marla Kirkland voting yes and board member Daniel Aquino joining Serafin in voting no. Board member Erika Zamora, a Serafin supporter, was absent.
Young said she was unaware of Serafin’s August DUI arrest at the Sept. 5 meeting. Otherwise, she said, she would have said something about it.
During the board’s Oct. 3 meeting, the first since Serafin’s arrest became public, Zamora said she had given Serafin a second chance, but that it was time for him to step down.
“This DUI that happened, we should have been informed of it, because even though it’s a personal matter, it affects us as a community,” she said.
Aquino said he agreed, noting that Serafin’s actions do not reflect the values of Val Verde Unified, which serves Perris and Moreno Valley.
Extremist views
Serafin also has come under fire for far-left views. In 2015, Serafin, then a student at UC Irvine, successfully led a campaign to have the university stop flying the American flag, and flags of all other nations, in the lobby area of student council offices, claiming they were offensive to some. The student council’s executive cabinet, however, subsequently reversed the ban.
In an interview with Fox News at the time, Serafin called the United States the largest force for evil in the world.
Serafin’s response
Serafin has made no suggestion he will resign from board. In his first public address following his arrest, he said during the Oct. 3 board meeting his arrest was a “personal matter” and he would not be commenting on it. He said his family had been going through hard times with the recent deaths of both his great-grandmother and grandfather.
“I am not a saint,” Serafin said during the meeting. “I take responsibility and I pray daily to the creator, to my ancestors, to the sun and to the moon. I strive to be a better person and will be a better person.”
Val Verde Superintendent Superintendent Michael R. McCormick and Daniel Whitfield, the district’s director of risk management, did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.
