Joe Felz Plea Destroys Disney Dan’s Deception

The Joe Felz Guilty Plea contains an explicit admission of driving under the influence of alcohol. This is an actual literal signed confession in his own handwriting. This can’t be good for the cops who conspired to drive Felz home instead of hold him to account for his actions. That would be (former?) Sergeant Jeff Corbett and former Chief Dan Hughes.

For those of you having a hard time reading that on your phone I’ll transcribe it:

“ON OR ABOUT 11-9-16 WHILE IN ORANGE COUNTY, I WILLFULLY AND UNLAWFULLY DROVE A VEHICLE UPON A HIGHWAY WITH WILLFUL AND WANTON DISREGARD FOR THE SAFETY OF PERSONS OR PROPERTY WHILE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL”.

While. Under. The. Influence. Of. Alcohol.

I need some help here because I cannot for the life of me manage to square that with the following as written by then Fullerton Police Chief Dan Hughes:

“The sergeant conducted the assessment and made the determination that the city manager had consumed alcohol, but did not meet the criteria of 23152(a) CVC. The city manager was driven home and his vehicle was towed.”

Why would Dan Hughes tell our city council that Mr. Felz did not meet the criteria of “23152(A) CVC” only for Felz, 405 days later, to rebuff him and admit to having done just that? It’s almost as if Hughes was lying to the city council and simply hoped this would go away on his way out of the door to Disney.

Let us be clear here for a minute and lay out the details as we know them:

  • No arrest was made at the scene of the crime. The police had Felz’s car towed and gave him a ride home.
  • No Citation was issued at the scene of the crime. Felz paid the bill for Sappy McTree, proof that he ran over public property, later.
  • No Breathalyzer was administered to the not-accused.
  • It was months later when the District Attorney finally filed charges.

Now ask yourself – In what world does Joe Felz admit, in his own writing on that plea deal, that he was driving under the influence if there wasn’t proof? That must be some damning video that the city refuses to release. Make no mistake here either – the city won’t release the video of the Felz incident unless forced to do so by the courts because doing the right thing is a foreign concept to our local government.

You add to that the allegations from former District Attorney investigator Abraham Santos that the DA wasn’t going to look into the possible criminal actions of Dan Hughes and his cabal of miscreants AND the current allegation that the Sergeant on the scene who administered the “Field Sobriety Test”, Jeff Corbett, was recently put on Administrative Leave over this very case and you have the makings of a conspiracy to subvert justice and engage in a cover-up.

I’ve put in records requests for the video from Felz’s “incident” and it has been denied by the city twice. Once under the old guard and once under the current crew. The legal reason for denying the release is 6254(f) for those who might want to know the minutia.

Essentially the city refuses to release the Felz incident bodycam/dashcam videos because they don’t have to? I don’t know because our City Attorney seems to pride himself on being a pompous ass.

From my conversations on and around this issue it basically boils down to this:

Joe Felz was friends with people and those friends don’t want him embarrassed by his own actions. We simple plebs who don’t live our lives feeding off of the government teat should just shut up and trust that our government is doing the right thing and that they have things under control. No evidence of this will be given because apparently in a Representative Democracy it is too much to ask for our government to prove their worth and not simply demand obedience of the ratepayers.

We will get no civilian oversight. We will get no details on the case. We will get no answers. We will get what they give us which amounts to lies and resentment coiffed in legalese. Well, that and Jennifer Fitzgerald’s sad, sad tears of sadness.

The trouble here is that the deference that is being afforded to Joe Felz to save him from embarrassment isn’t afforded to the little people who fall under the boot of our same government. Keep an eye on the F.P.D. Facebook Page if you want evidence of the double standard in place when it comes to haves/havenots. Here’s a pretty standard example of the dignity afforded to criminals not the City Manger:

FPD FB Double Standard

Joe Felz was City Manager which means the then Chief of Police worked with him and both were only answerable to the City Council. The same City Council who has all but turned a teary eye away from this whole issue. Even the illusion of City Council accountability has now changed with our new Chief’s new contract which actually delegates authority over the Chief of Police to the City Manager.

Let that sink in for a moment.

We have proof, in Joe Felz’s own writing, that he drove under the influence. We know from his payment for damages that he hit a tree. It is believed by many based upon photos from the scene that he attempted to flee the scene of the crime. We also know that despite all of this Dan Hughes decided to give him a pass on his criminal behavior despite not giving that pass to countless regular schmucks who mess up less in life. AFTER all of that our Council has not demanded public disclosure. They have not demanded any sort of oversight. And when the Contract for the new Chief of Police came up they opted to delegate their authority away to the position, the City Manger, who benefited from this very case of official corruption. This isn’t just not learning, this is doubling down on stupid.

It’s bad enough that we didn’t get anything positive out of such a terrible situation but we never even got a fight. Seemingly convinced of his own inability to sell an idea to the public or his fellow council members, even a basic idea like good government, then Mayor Whitaker couldn’t even be bothered to agendize anything even remotely relating to oversight or accountability in any facet of our city. To be fair the entire council is complicit in this problem, especially Jennifer Fitzgerald who was Mayor when the incident occurred, but they aren’t all running on their record of transparency for higher office so it needs to be pointed out.

BruceTransparency

This whole situation would be comedic if it wasn’t so pathetic and sad and infuriating.

23 Replies to “Joe Felz Plea Destroys Disney Dan’s Deception”

  1. in the aftermath of the Kelly Thomas murder by Fullerton PD that revealed its history and pattern of abuses on the good people of Fullerton, the Fullerton Police Academy was permanently shut down for its substandard courses. Sadly, this same police force where many were trained as police officers still abuse the good people of Fullerton by allowing a drunk driver who drove off the road and onto the front lawn of someone’s home a pass because he is “rubber stamp” Fullerton city manager Joe Felz.

    1. In the aftermath of Kelly Thomas murder? You seemed to forget the officers were cleared. Because this big farce headed by Rauckaucus for his own political career. He is such a big asshole and doesn’t care about anyone. He was such a dumb F***k at the trail.

  2. Great post. Thanks.

    Your conclusion about Whitaker, sadly, is right on. Doing the right thing would have cost him nothing but the expense of some energy.

    1. I’ve made these comments to him in person. He doesn’t seem to believe in trying something he thinks will fail and I believe in holding people accountable and forcing the opposition to vote against the public interest. You make them take the stand against accountability and transparency and oversight. You make the opposition put it on the record instead of just letting them off the hook.

      1. “… He doesn’t seem to believe in trying something he thinks will fail…” This is indeed a very frustrating and defeatist strategy for getting any thing done. The bully pulpit can be tremendously useful, even for an elected in a political minority (this is not the case, in terms of parties, on the Fullerton City Council, of course). But let’s not fool ourselves, taking up the cause can cost an ambitious politician much more than just “some energy.”

  3. It may take a while, but Sergeant Corbett always gets his man. He even got a signed confession from the perp! Now Corbett is getting some time off and hopefully a big promotion.

    1. This explains why Jeff Corbett was walked out last week and placed on admin leave. I guess you CAN’T get away with covering up a DUI and get away with it! Look for Corbett to roll on Hughes to save his own ass.. Im beginning to like the new Chief-got rid of two captains, two LT’s on their way out and a Sgt leaving this wknd to be AN OFFICER at Irvine PD…. Someone should drop a dime to Irvine PD and let them know they hired a FPD IA Sgt…. lol

        1. Goodrich and Cheblowski(both fat fucks) will be gone by the end of the year. They were asked by the new chief are you retiring or resigning? Lol…..days of the good ol boys will soon be over… and I’m not a Felz fan but the disposition of his case is normal for first time offenders. His admition of guilt IN WRITING and the recent suspension of the SGT who handled the cover up leads me to believe there’s a bigger fish(or mouse) to fry…… stay tuned and keep hitting the long ball!

  4. It’s sad that Whitaker defines corruption as a one party majority. That doesn’t lead to corruption. That leads to overreaching and expensive government. Corruption comes through the inattention of electeds – like when Griffin Structures is paid big bucks to oversee construction projects like the wood stairs and the elevator towers that are screwed from A to Z with no accountability.

    What say you Bruce? Time to get off your ass?

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