DA Investigator Blows Whistle on Felz DUI Coverup

Add Another Item for the DOJ and State Attorneys to Investigate

The Joe Felz DUI case just took another wide turn and this time not over a tree. New allegations have arisen within the Orange County District Attorney’s Office:

One of the allegations, listed only by [investigator Abraham] Santos, involves an election night car crash by Fullerton’s then City Manager Joe Felz on Nov. 9, 2016. A Fullerton police officer, who responded to the scene, notified the city’s then Police Chief Dan Hughes, who contacted a police sergeant and allegedly told him to drive Felz home instead of arresting him.

Santos’ investigation later concluded that Hughes was calling in a favor allegedly owed by a sergeant. That sergeant, according to Santos’ claim, had once been caught having sex in a police car but was never disciplined.

“Chief Hughes covered up the misconduct by his sergeant and, when he needed him in the Joe Felz DUI/attempted hit-and-run case, (the sergeant) repaid the favor to Chief Hughes,” said the claim.

Santos’ subsequent investigation of the incident concluded that Hughes “criminally obstructed justice.” But the county never filed a charge against Hughes. Santos, in his claim, said Assistant District Attorney Ibrahim Baytieh told him, “I am friends with Chief Hughes and we are only going to be investigating the DUI and nothing else.”

Let us repeat part of that for emphasis.

“Santos’ subsequent investigation of the incident concluded that Hughes “criminally obstructed justice.””

This isn’t your run of the mill water-cooler talk either as it was disclosed in an official complaint with the OCDA’s office. Pertinent Screenshots as follows:

DA Complaint abt Felz Case

DA Complaint abt Felz Case2

This seems to be par for the course for the OCDA being that Supervisor Todd Spitzer has asked the US Department of Justice to take over their operations owing to an ongoing Jail Snitch scandal amogst other trying issues. Things have gotten pretty bad at the OCDA. So much so that the U.S. Dept. of Justice, the California Attorney General & the Orange County Grand Jury are all separately investigating the OCDA for “systemic” cheating in the jail snitch program. While speculative it wouldn’t be surprising for this Felz DUI Cover-up case to be sucked into the investigations.

We in Fullerton were told time and again that Hughes reformed the department. We were told that he was the man we needed for the job. If these allegations are true it means that not only did he cover-up previous misconduct regarding officer Corbett but he then used that previous cover-up to bury another more egregious case. One cannot have a reformed department if the man in charge is not only participating in coverups but using them as leverage for later ones.

If the rot at FPD started with the head down did it permeate other parts of our city as well? If an Assistant District Attorney refused to look into Hughes owing to a personal friendship did others likewise turn a blind eye to corruption and criminal wrongdoings? Considering how often our own Jennifer Fitzgerald proclaimed her friendship to both Hughes and Felz one must wonder how much misconduct she was aware of and if she was aware did she help cover anything up while she’s been on council?

This further begs the question of how Disney feels about having a potential felon in Fantasyland?

Disney Danny.

20 Replies to “DA Investigator Blows Whistle on Felz DUI Coverup”

  1. Danny Hughes belongs in jail. I’m glad the world is finally seeing it. Hopefully Disney gets rid of him before it’s too late.

  2. I would laugh my ass off if StumbleJoe and Danny Boy ended up accidentally helping to take down Orange County’s corrupt DA. This case is far from over.

  3. Let’s not forget who showed up at the Kelly Thomas beating and instructed his officers to watch the video many times, before making up BS reports. He covered up the Kelly Thomas case from the beginning.

    1. Not necessary at all. Disney obviously valued Danny Hughes’ ability to cover up crimes, which comes in handy when you’re trying to project an image of “the happiest place on earth.”

  4. So Hughes and the DA had the coverup all wrapped up… until just now when the investigator had enough and turned the tables? You really couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried.

  5. Very glad attention is being given to this by the formal press. Hopefully this will force the OCDA to file. Even better would be the eventual downfall of Rackauckas given everything that is coming out on his office.

  6. Danny Hughes Fullertons Chief of Police conspires with his “friend” Sgt Corbett to fail to arrest his “friend” Joe Felz after being called at home by his “friend” Lt. Andrew Goodrich. He knows that his “friend” Sgt Corbett will cover for him because he had his “friend” Captain George Crum investigate his “friend” Sgt Corbett when he was found with a woman in his city truck after drinking at a bar with “friends”. Danny called his “friend” city councilwoman Fitzgerald and told her that their “friend” Felz had been detained. Fitz later offers a comically redacted phone bill that is filled with white out and sharpie lines, presumably to protect her “friends” whom she may have also spoken with that evening. (Maybe she is also “friends” with Corbett)?
    So the next day the crap hits the fan. The OCDA sends an investigator out that is not a “friend” of any of these people but is instead a professional who believed his job was to gather the truth and present it to his organization. Litttle did he know that Danny also has “friends” at the OCDA office.
    So if one has a problem with all this where is the complaint department located?

    Not with the city council, Danny has “friends” on the city council.
    Not with the OCRegister, Danny has made sure that he has “friends” there will take care of him.
    Not with the Fullerton City Manager or Police Chief. They are seat warmers.
    I really believed that the OCDA possessed some integrity and that at some point in time a press release would be forthcoming that exposed the corruption they had investigated.

    But that’s no way to treat a “friend” now is it?

    http://behindthebadgeoc.com/cities/oc/battle-tested-fullerton-captain-ready-new-chief-duties-cathedral-city

      1. Should have read “I really WANTED to believe”. I started to have my doubts, now confirmed, when I read this at the bottom of the press release announcing charges on Felz.
        “FPD initially responded to the scene and then transferred the case to the OCDA for further investigation and legal review. ” There was no reason to include that statement unless it was written by Captain Obvious or was to provide an out for Hughes which he did take when he testified that HE contacted the DA office and turned the case over to them. Failing of course to mention the memo he wrote before he realized that the really bad smell was coming from that fan.

  7. Danny has a lot of “friends” they are essential to a manipulator. Loyalty is a pillar of corruption. Conklin and Santos are now targets because they can no longer be trusted to keep their mouths closed. Their supervisors , coworkers, people they thought were friends are now in a position where they have to play the game of bull-shit discipline to protect their own jobs and prove their loyalty.

  8. Once the police unions figured out the game of electing their friends to oversee the game, corruption is going to happen. End of story.

  9. What I don’t get is why Disney is allowing Danny to hide in Sleeping Beauties Castle and not answer questions from the press.
    They are a multi billion dollar corporation. Surely they uncovered the same information that Santos did when they did Hughes’ pre employment investigation. They had to have known Hughes was alleged to be corrupt.
    Or at least the question should have been asked by Goofy, Micky or Dopey at his interview, Is there anything we should know about, we are a very public organization? Did Hughes tell them that he occasionally abused his discretion was just a little bit corrupt but was sure he could do better?
    Did they think that he would be perfect, a bad news bears kind of screw up and then do good kind of guy?
    Or was Hughes just the kind of evil that Disney needs for their story?

  10. I have a shout out to anyone who will listen and do some more investigating. Please look into Mr felz past as museum director. You want to know why maul left? He taught her his dirty little tricks!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *