Just in from the Press Enterprise is this shocking news:

San Bernardino County supervisors filed a complaint last August with prosecutors over concerns Assessor Bill Postmus and a political consultant were misusing county e-mail, court documents released this afternoon show.

That complaint, coupled with a grand jury investigation that was under way by mid-November, helped convince a judge to grant a search warrant for the assessor's office in April.

Investigators seized documents and computers during the raid, and on Monday, Assistant Assessor Adam Aleman was arrested on six felony charges, including presenting false evidence to the grand jury and destroying public records.

The documents are included an affidavit for search warrant that San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge David Cohn ordered released to the public.

Cohn sealed the documents in April at the request of prosecutors. But The Press-Enterprise challenged that decision and Cohn agreed with the newspaper in May that the records should be made public.

Prosecutors appealed, and on Tuesday, the Riverside-based Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Two, denied a motion to keep the documents under seal.

Despite that decision, Deputy District Attorney John Goritz appealed to Cohn on Wednesday to redact information before releasing the documents.

"We are not seeking to keep the vast majority of that affadavit confidential," Goritz said. "We are asking that certain names and references to the grand jury be redacted so we can maintain the confidentiality of the grand jury process."

Robyn Aronson, an attorney representing The Press-Enterprise, said the state Court of Appeal made its decision and the documents should be released.

"The court recognized the public's right to access these court records," Aronson said after the ruling. When dealing with public officials, she said, "there is a heightened necessity for public disclosure."