Found guilty in a case involving an altercation at a bar, South Lake Tahoe’s mayor was sentenced to jail — and was also ordered to remain sober and stay out of the Stateline casino strip.
Cody Bass must begin a 10-day jail sentence immediately, Judge Richard Glasson said on Tuesday, denying a request to wait until Bass’ mayoral term is up.
Thirty-five days of the 45-day sentence was suspended and will be dropped if Bass complies with the conditions of his release for two years. Those include not using alcohol, marijuana or other controlled substances and staying out of the casino corridor, from the California-Nevada state line a mile north to Kahle Drive. He will be subject to testing for compliance with the drug and alcohol ban.
Bass, 45, faced a maximum of six months in jail for his harassment conviction arising from an incident on Sept. 25, 2025. He was accused of showing up at Lake Tahoe AleWorx, from which he had earlier been ejected, and threatening an employee there.
He proclaimed his innocence in a statement after the arrest became public, saying, “I was, in fact, the one who got assaulted.”
An assault charge against Bass was dropped before trial, and he was found not guilty of trespassing.
Bass was mayor pro tem at the time of the altercation. The following month, he took over the top spot when the city’s mayor resigned after admitting she had embezzled from a church.