‘This has been a long journey.’ Merced County swears-in first woman as DA chief investigator

A longtime investigator who has played an active role solving some of Merced County’s biggest cases will now be spearheading investigations for the District Attorney’s Office.

Anna Hazel was sworn-in Thursday as chief investigator for the Merced County District Attorney’s Office, making her the first woman in county history to hold that role.

She took the oath from Merced County District Attorney Nicole Silveira, while Sheriff Vern Warnke and others stood by in support during a brief ceremony at the District Attorney’s Main Street Office.

Silveira heralded Hazel as a strong leader who strives to serve by example. She also noted Hazel has distinguished herself by investigating fraud cases in particular since joining the District Attorney’s Office in 2003. She was promoted to supervising investigator in 2017.

“It is a historic day today at the Merced County District Attorney’s Office,” Silveira said. “It means so much to the community and for little girls everywhere to see women in these positions, especially in law enforcement, to know that these are things they can shoot for and strive for.”

Silveira’s choice also marks one of the first key executive role she has named since taking the reins of the Merced County District Attorney’s Office this year. Last year Silveira defeated then-incumbent Kimberly Helm Lewis for the seat.

Hazel thanked her supporters Thursday, saying she is excited and honored to begin the new role. “This has been a long journey to this day and I am so grateful to have made it here with this agency,” she told the Sun-Star.

“I am so happy to be a part of the formation of a management team that I know is going to be doing some great things in the community of Merced,” she added.

Among some of the highlights of her career, Hazel led the investigation into the Los Banos bribery case involving Tommy Jones, former mayor and then-trustee on the Los Banos Unified governing board, and Greg Opinski, a Merced contractor and then-trustee on the Merced Union High governing board.

She served as the lead investigator on the Firm Build case that led to federal prison sentences for three men who used high school students to remove asbestos from buildings at the former Castle Air Force Base.

Hazel also was a trial team member in the capital murder case of Tahua “Tao” Rivera, who was convicted and sentenced to death in the killing of Stephan Gray, a Merced police officer.

Hazel attended Atwater schools before earning her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Fresno State in 1997. She worked as an intern at the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office for five years.

She earned a master’s degree in criminology from Fresno State in 2000 and completed the Fresno Police Academy in 2001. She began her stint in Merced County as a white collar crime investigator.

This story was originally published February 17, 2023 at 10:33 AM.