Pismo Beach Candidate’s Lawyer Says Witness Disputes Halloween Accusations

A Halloween encounter on a Pismo Beach doorstep has turned into a public dispute over what happened when a 16-year-old declined a religious pamphlet. The teen says Shelby Bowen, who ran for mayor, grabbed her and shouted insults. Bowen’s attorney says a witness who was there disputes the entire account.

The encounter took place Oct. 31 in Shell Beach, where Bowen was handing out candy and copies of a Christian tract called A Pumpkin Tale. Katt Winter told the San Luis Obispo Tribune she had taken her three children trick-or-treating in the neighborhood, as the family had done for about a decade. Bowen’s house was their first stop.

Winter’s daughter, River, an autistic transgender teenager, told the newspaper she declined the pamphlet. She alleges Bowen grabbed her firmly and put the tract in her candy bag anyway. River also said Bowen called her a “sin to God” and told her to get out of the city. The teen believes Bowen singled her out because she is transgender.

Bowen’s attorney, C.J. Huck, pushed back. He told the New York Post that the story first surfaced in an unsigned Nextdoor post that the platform later removed for violating its guidelines. The Post said it could not independently verify that post. Winter has since put her name to the allegations in an interview with the Tribune.

The more consequential part of Huck’s response was his statement that someone who was present disputes the family’s account. The published reports don’t include that witness’s version, leaving unanswered what the witness saw and heard.

The two sides also gave different accounts of whether police had been notified. Winter told the Tribune she filed a police report. Huck said he was unaware of any report. The Post contacted local police, but its article did not establish whether authorities had opened an investigation or whether any charges would be filed.

The dispute surfaced around the election. Bowen, an Air Force veteran and former ROTC instructor, was running a distant third with 5.1% of the vote in the county update cited by the Post.

Handing out a Christian pamphlet with Halloween candy is one thing. Grabbing and berating a teenager is another. The first is undisputed in the reporting; the second is the serious allegation Bowen’s attorney contests. Until there’s more evidence about what happened on that doorstep, Bowen deserves to be judged on what can be established.