Joe Sipowicz, Author at Friends For Fullerton's Future

June 12, 2012December 12, 2016A Step in the Right Direction

Slidebar Slides Into Litigation

For almost a year now rumors have been swirling around the role of Fullerton’s Slidebar in the death of the mentally ill homeless man, Kelly Thomas, last July. Specifically, did a Slidebar employee at the behest of his or her boss, owner Jeremy Popoff, make a phony call to the cops to give them a pretext to roust Thomas.

poptart — Staring into an uncertain future...

Despite all of his protestations of innocence and donations of canned food to the homeless, Popoff’s story never quite rang true.

A couple days ago the other shoe finally dropped: a lawsuit for wrongful termination by a former employee named Michael Reeves that goes into elaborate detail about what happened on the night of July 5, 2011, and the cover up that followed.

The guy claims the fateful and false call to the FPD that triggered the events leading to the murder of Thomas was made by Slidebar manager Jeanette DiMarco at the behest of owner Jeremy Popoff.

Later, when he wouldn’t play ball, Reeves claims he was demoted, then fired. The guy is suing for $4,000,000, a tidy sum, to be sure.

Read the complaint

Well, there you have it. Is any part of this tale true? I don’t know. But I do know that the other, even more sinister part of the story is still looming on the horizon like a nasty weather front; and that’s the disturbing possibility that the bar was in cahoots with one or more of the police before hand, complicit in a criminal conspiracy to deprive Kelly Thomas of his Constitutional rights and even his physical well-being.

We now know that the DA has decided to look the other way in his haste to kiss and make up with the Fullerton cops, but the possibility that the attack on Thomas was per-arranged does indeed explain the antagonistic behavior of Wolfe and Ramos, and perhaps even the seemingly inexplicable violence of Cicinelli.

All this is now bound to come out in the civil proceedings against the City by Ron Thomas and Garo Mardirossian. The latter may be pressured to cut a deal to avoid embarrassing the City too much in a public trial, but the new council needs a vehicle to get all the facts on the table once and for all. A trial is just the thing.

June 7, 2012June 7, 2012Behind Closed Doors

Here’s an E-mail To The City Manager Accusing Cops of Drinking At Lunch

by Joe Sipowicz90 Comments

A Friend forwarded this e-mail purportedly sent to Fullerton City Manager Joe Felz. Personally, I don’t mind having a beer or four for lunch before returning to the gun store, but I don’t wear a badge.

To: citymanager@ci.fullerton.ca

Subject: Misconduct on oct 18th

Mr Felz,

Please look into allegations that officers of the Fullerton police attended a training class on Oct. 18th, Tuesday and during their lunch break drank beers at Roscoe’s in Fullerton before returning to training.

Officers drank beer in front of LT Crum and his Sgt’s and none of them took any action for this obvious policy violation..

I apologize for the anonymous email, but I’m afraid of retaliation.

Bottoms up!

June 6, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

So What’s Next?

by Joe Sipowicz164 Comments

As soon as the Fullerton Recall election is certified (which should be comparatively quick) the reactionary Old Guard will be out and the new majority of reformers will be sworn in to join Bruce Whitaker in an opportunity to usher in a new era of accountability in Fullerton City Hall.

What should be the immediate agenda? How about finally (and immediately) revoking the illegal 10% water tax and figuring out how to implement a refund? How about pulling the plug on the last minute (and also illegal) Redevelopment deals handed out by the Three Flat Tires to their buddies like Dick Ackerman? How about initiating an immediate search for a new chief of police from outside the tainted innards of the FPD? How about an immediate jettison of the incompetent and inert City Attorney, Jones & Meyer? How about the demotion or removal of the City manager, Joe Felz, dubbed “Albert Pujols” of city managers by Patdown Pat McKinley, who sat on his ass while Fullerton went to hell?

How about a timely assessment of the labor union agreements that have created a multi-hundred million dollar unfunded liability for Fullerton? How about consideration of a “total compensation” approach in all future negotiations?

Feel free to add your ideas.

June 5, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

Do The Right Thing

by Joe Sipowicz473 Comments

Here’s a great video of the courageous Marlena Carrillo questioning Patdown McPension for hiring a one-eyed cop retired on disability from the LAPD; and Sharon Quirk, who wants to move up the political ladder leaving lots of unfinished business behind; and the Acting Police Chief Dan Hughes for leaving a gang of killer cops on the streets of Fullerton after having watched and listened to the video and audio recordings of the Kelly Thomas murder.

The theme? Have you done the right thing? As Marlena points out, quite correctly, doing the right thing is not always easy, but it is what we expect from our leaders. The deafening silence from the dais in instructive.

Today, June 5th, 2012 you can join us in doing the right thing: sweeping out City Hall of the incompetent, sclerotic, unaccountable gang that has failed to lead.

June 1, 2012June 1, 2012Behind Closed Doors

Back Room Deals at the FPD; Hughes Wants Blatney, Craig and Hampton Back on Our Streets

by Joe Sipowicz143 Comments

Acting Chief Dan Hughes has been trying real hard lately to peddle the notion that he is in charge of a new and improved Fullerton Police Department, even though when you get right down to it there really wasn’t all that much to fix – just some irritating communication problems.

Although the scribes at the OC Register have apparently bought into this malarky, others who have seen the veritable conga line of crime perpetrated by the boys and girls in FPD blue, are a long way from being convinced. After all, the first step toward recovery is admitting the problem right?

Which is all preliminary to the point of this post.

Our FPD deep cover source informs us that Hughes is pressing to have three of the cops who ganged up on Kelly Thomas, and who stood around as he gasped his last breaths in the gutter, return to active duty. That would be cops Hampton, Blatney, and Craig. Of course he needs the DAs assurance that these goons won’t be prosecuted for anything. Which is why he came out with all that BS about how he and his boys were part of the “prosecution team” and why Tony Rackaukas praised the FPD for all their hard work for the benefit of Lou Ponsi. Looks like that deal’s done. It’s all about damage control now, and surely the City’s highly paid lawyer Michael Gennaco chipped in to help exonerate the three accomplices though his double top-secret report.

We have also been informed that although he is formally being fired, a back room deal is in the works to reward Joe Wolfe, the thug who started the murderous beat down on Kelly Thomas, with a nice, fat disability claim if he goes quietly. Of course we’ve been told that Wolfie re-injured his shoulder in the “tussle”, most likely bashing Kelly’s face with his elbow. That ought to good for a hundred thou’ of our money, give or take. Nice.

May 29, 2012May 29, 2012Chronic Failure

A Picture of FPD Officer Christopher Wren Emerges

by Joe Sipowicz282 Comments

As promised I have uncovered the court documents relating to a case against Fullerton cop Christopher Robert Wren.

Mr. Wren got into a little trouble out in the Inland Empire back in 2009 when he did something bad to somebody named Samuel Ramirez. The details of the case remain sketchy but one thing is obvious: Wren plea bargained “no contest” to a charge of false imprisonment, applied for some anger management (no evidence that he ever got help with that temper), paid some fines, and got probation. And of course he remained on the FPD force, presumably in good standing, given the behavior of his colleagues on the squad.

False imprisonment? That’s sounds pretty bad, especially if a weapon was involved. I’ll be awaiting details of the case.

Case summary

Charging document

May 28, 2012Behind Closed Doors

Two More “Aliens” in the FPD?

by Joe Sipowicz187 Comments

Former Fullerton Police Chief and current council recall target “Patdown” Pat McKinley once likened cops Manny Ramos and Jat Cicinelli to “aliens,” meaning, presumably, that the only plausible explanation for bad cops on his force must be a visit from extraterrestrial travelers.

Of course the litany of bad cops in the FPD has now gotten so long that you really have to wonder if McPension ever hired any regular human beings at all.

And now some more potential bad PR for the FPD – an e-mail we received about two more cops who ran into difficulties in 2009, and whose problems may have been swept under the proverbial rug:

Privacy: You may publish this, but protect my identity

Subject: bad cops

fpd officer christopher robert wren, date of arrest 01-30-2009, assault of a minor. case # MCH 900309 ..SH 200900572 .. but he took a deal…got probation and k9 officer………still on patrol….

officer gary potts, dui arrest date 07-17-2009. orange county case # 09cm08352… still on patrol and a corporal………

Christopher Wren, of course, was the second cop originally named in the lawsuit against the sex perv Albert “Alby Al” Rincon. His name was dropped later, but he must have some interesting stories to tell about his running buddy, Rincon. “Assault of a minor”? I wonder what that means.

The name Gary Potts is new; DUI? No bueno, if that’s true.

Naturally we’ll be looking into the these cases, particularly that of Mr. Wren to see if there’s any there, there.

May 27, 2012May 27, 2012Behind Closed Doors

This Post Is Not About Jay Cicinelli

by Joe Sipowicz219 Comments

Nope. It’s a reminder of how a one-eyed cop was hired by the City of Fullerton to patrol our streets with badge, gun, taser and who knows what else.

It is now pretty common knowledge that Jay Cicinelli was put on a disability pension by Bernard Parks, Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department following a horrific shooting of the six-week rookie cop. Smart move. Among other injuries, Cicinelli lost his left eye.

But Cicinelli’s dream of being a policeman was not to end so quickly. For he had an ally in the figure of Mike Hillman, a gung-ho cop’s cop – the type whose worldview divides people into two groups: cops and everybody else; and Hillman was determined to put the one-eyed cop back on the streets somewhere – anywhere.

Hillman’s thoughts turned to little Fullerton, California where his one-time boss in the LAPD, Pat McKinley, had been appointed police chief. And what followed was a decision so incompetent and self-serving that it eclipses all of McKinley’s other disastrous personnel decisions – and that’s saying a helluva lot.

ArmedJay — Should be considered armed and dangerous...

McKinley hired Cicinelli, gave him a badge, fire arms, and the keys to a patrol car, a decision so reckless and with such blatant disregard for the safety of the public and his own policemen, that he should have been immediately fired.

But he wasn’t, of course, and nobody else seemed to care. And Cicinelli remained on the force, a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. And when it finally did, the result was a dead man and a series of huge civil payouts to the man’s family. The first payout was for $1,000,000. More are coming.

Meanwhile, the miscreant who hired Cicinelli and all the other thugs, goons. thieves, con men, pickpockets, kidnappers, perjurers, destroyers of evidence, and sex offenders is sitting on our city council, voting on the settlements his employees caused, that will have to be paid by us.

May 25, 2012May 25, 2012"Dick" Ackerman

McKinley Jumps Republican Ship

by Joe Sipowicz44 Comments

The OC Republican Party went to bat for “Patdown” Pat McKinley when he ran for Fullerton City Council in 2010. With the help of his influential ‘pug friends like Dick Ackerman he secured the OCGOP Central party endorsement. Party volunteers even helped oversee Doug Chafee’s recount effort against him.

So what’s this we see, above? Oh oh. It looks like Patdown Pat is backing a Democrat, Sharon Quirk. Now that’s not very good, is it?

Right alongside old guard liberals Jan Flory and fellow massive pension suckateer, Chris Meyer.

And to Ed Royce, who created this twisted McMonster and foisted him on us all, all I can ask is: are you finally satisfied with the damage you’ve done?

May 24, 2012May 24, 2012Behind Closed Doors

Register’s David Whiting Up To Old Tricks

by Joe Sipowicz89 Comments

Whoring for the inept, sclerotic Establishment, that is.

Last fall Whiting was defending the cops that murdered Kelly Thomas and attacking the lynch-type mobs calling for justice.

Most recently he wrote a tribute to “both sides” that was nothing more than a wet love letter to the Three Bald Tires, defending their compassion and objecting to the use of the phrase “kingmaker” in reference to Tony “Bashula.” Brandon Ferguson of the OC Weekly writes about Whiting’s pabulum, here.

(Note: I refuse to link to the Register)

I find the then-and-now quotations remarkably self-serving. Maybe the Three Hollow Logs said something to Whiting in private, because I don’t remember those “before” statements at all. Whatever. What I do remember with crystal clarity these “before” comments:

Dr. HeeHaw (on local TV news): “…I’ve seen far worse injuries that were survivable. I don’t know what killed that man”

Patdown Pat McKinley: (on CNN): “I’ve had my eyes bloused a few times…facial injuries look terrible but they are not life threatening…they heal…”

Just to show you where Whiting’s true sympathies lay, here is Ferguson quoting Whiting’s cuddly description of killer cop Joe Wolfe:

Instead of referring to Officer Joe Wolfe as one of Kelly Thomas’s attackers, which the video clearly shows he is–he was first to strike Thomas with his baton–Whiting clumsily described him as “an uncharged officer and partner of one of those charged.”

Anybody who has ever owned a dog knows they have some nasty habits, including sniffing each other’s rear ends and ingesting their own vomit. But you have to give them credit for loyalty.