In the days since that bomb dropped, everything and everyone around him has felt the shockwaves.
Xanadu Coffee closed. Employees said they’d been unaware of the nature of Denton’s crime. A few days later, it reopened, though its prospects for survival are uncertain. People have inundated the shop’s social media accounts with vitriol. Several employees quit. Valley coffee shops that bought roasted beans from Xanadu have scrambled to find new suppliers.
The shockwaves have gone as far as Phoenix Elementary School District No. 1. The district’s governing board president is Jessica Bueno, a longtime associate of Denton’s. And though she hasn’t been directly involved with Xanadu since 2022, public records show she bailed Denton out of jail following his 2024 arrest, using her house as collateral.
Considering her prominent role in a 14-school district near Xanadu that serves more than 5,500 children — from preschool through eighth grade — her move caught parents’ attention. But in an interview with Phoenix New Times, Bueno said she was only trying to help a friend and that she hadn’t considered the political effect of doing so.
“I am still a human and I’m still going to show up authentically as myself, and that is someone who is always going to help their friends,” said Bueno, who was first elected to the governing board in 2020 and became its president in 2023. “I’ve known Randy for a while and I do believe that he is a good person and has good character. And so, to me, it was helping out a friend in need.”
Bueno said she met Denton in 2016 when smallMatters, a nonprofit Bueno worked for, put on a workshop for small business owners at Denton’s former roastery. They quickly connected as Bueno, a self-proclaimed coffee snob, has “always been an admirer of coffee.” Through the nonprofit, Bueno helped Denton begin selling beans at farmer’s markets and training people to roast coffee.
With a background in accounting, Bueno became the accounts manager of Xanadu Coffee Company in 2017. In October 2020, she and Denton opened Xanadu’s cafe on 7th Street in downtown Phoenix. She left Xanadu in 2022, citing priorities with the governing board, her nonprofit job and unhappiness with the business. But she and Denton remained friends.
Bueno said that was the state of things when Denton called her from his jail holding cell after his arrest in Surprise.
Though Bueno initially missed the call, she tracked Denton down and bailed him out. A deed of trust on file with the Maricopa County Recorder’s office shows she paid $12,500, with her downtown Phoenix home as collateral. When she saw Denton’s charges, which were then listed as solicitation of a minor, “I immediately thought, ‘Oh, he got set up’” — which, she added, is “essentially what happened.”
Indeed, there was no actual 14-year-old communicating with Denton, who’d actually been corresponding with an undercover cop. “But that’s the extent of what I knew the charges were,” Bueno said. It’s not clear exactly how much Bueno knew. Xanadu staffers said they weren’t aware of some of the specifics of Denton’s arrest — including that he was told the girl was 14 and still decided to pursue her — until his sentencing.
Bueno said her conversations with Denton after his arrest mainly consisted of making sure that he was following the court’s rules. If Denton didn’t make the required check-ins, that would have "jeopardized my house,” she said. Otherwise, she said, Denton and Bueno have talked sporadically over the last year, mostly with her checking on him about his emotional state.
Deacon Batchelor, a longtime friend of Denton’s and former lead roaster of Xanadu’s wholesaling business, said that after Denton’s arrest, Bueno spoke with Xanadu’s coffee shop employees about what happened to “straighten things out.” Bueno said she doesn’t recall addressing the whole staff, but she did work with different staffers to navigate the situation.
‘She should resign’
When she bailed Denton out last March, Bueno was in her third year on the governing board and seven months into her tenure as president. Yet, the political consequences of that decision “never crossed my mind,” Bueno said. Instead, Bueno described her decision to bail out Denton as “more of me being caught in the whirlwind of helping a friend.”More than a year later, Bueno looks back at her decision with regret.
“I wasn’t in the right frame of mind, and I understand that now,” she said. “I didn’t, in retrospect, reflect on what it could mean for me, or how serious these charges are and what his actions really were.”
Bueno’s connection to Denton, and her role in bailing him out of jail, has left many district parents feeling irate and concerned about the safety of their children.
“That’s a pretty big step for a former business partner, who is no longer involved, supposedly, to be putting their house on the line for somebody accused of a crime like that,” said Paul Booth, whose 4-year-old son attends Faith North Elementary School’s preschool. “We deserve to know what’s going on with our school board, some transparency.”
Angelica Luna, whose 7-year-old son is in the second grade at Maie Bartlett Heard School, wrote to New Times that she’s “beyond angry.”
“As a parent and volunteer, I do not want her anywhere near children,” Luna wrote. “This whole situation is incredibly shady.”
Booth and Luna both pointed to a photo that Bueno posted to her campaign’s Instagram account — which is now set to private — in August 2024. In it, more than 40 people pose with campaign signs, with Denton in the back row in a black collared shirt. Bueno said the photo was taken in February 2024, a month before Denton’s arrest.
District spokesperson Nicole Baker said Bueno informed District Superintendent Deborah Gonzalez last week that she had bailed Denton out of jail.
“We want to assure our families, staff, and community that the safety and well-being of our students remain our top priority,” Baker wrote in an email to New Times. “Our schools operate under strict policies and procedures to ensure a safe learning environment for all students. We remain focused on our mission to provide high-quality education and support for the children and families we serve.”
No other members of the Phoenix Elementary School District #1 governing board responded to New Times’ request to comment.
Bueno already had faced recent criticism from district parents. In January, parents were upset that the governing board decided to end a lease with ASU Preparatory Academy, which is located just steps away from Xanadu. On March 25, the board also voted unanimously to close two schools, Paul Lawerance Dunbar Elementary School and the Heard School, because of low attendance and money woes.
On Feb. 25, Booth filed a petition for a recall election of Bueno, citing “transparency, accountability, financial responsibility” concerns related to school closures, the dismissal of the former superintendent and the ending of ASU Prep’s lease. The revelation of Bueno’s connection to Denton has reinvigorated that effort, Booth said.
“I think she should resign,” Booth said. “Is this really in the best interest of the community? I don’t think so.”
Bueno is hopeful that her record on the governing board will outweigh parents’ concerns. “(I hope) my work and what I do and my service to the community can speak louder than, you know, me being a friend,” she said.
