Fullerton Police Chief Accused of Whistleblower Retaliation

In a recently discovered set of claims [Link HERE] it is being alleged amongst other things that the Fullerton Police Department, up to and including Police Chief Dunn, retaliated against a former officer for exposing wrongdoing and corruption.

The Officer is claiming targeted harassment.

Hamel - Victim Card Female Whistleblower

Is Fullerton now in the business of retaliating against women to hide corruption? Has our city stooped so low as to attack whistleblowers?

There’s a lot to unpack here but first…

I should probably mention that the officer in question is former Lieutenant Kathryn Hamel and that she’s claiming that Chief Dunn gave us, the Friends for Fullerton’s Future, info about Hamel in violation of several laws.

Hamel Lawsuit - FFFF and Dunn

Let that sink in.

Sgt. Kathryn Hamel

Did Chief Dunn give us the very information that the city is suing us for having posted? Inquiring minds want to know.

If nothing else, seeing Hamel claiming damages for a million+ samoleans does seem to explain why the city is trying to shift the blame onto us for their gross negligence. Not that that plan is even going to work.

Her claim states that even IF Chief Dunn didn’t expressly retaliate against Hamel, the city is still screwed for being negligent (which by their own accounts in their lawsuit against us – they were).

Hamel Lawsuit - Negligence

Officer Christopher Wren, the dude who was seemingly banging his subordinate in a PD bathroom, is likewise claiming damages from the City of Fullerton over FFFF reporting because it’s his right to use his department issued phone to send nude photos while on the job without you knowing about it.

These claims for damages, usually the precursor to lawsuits, are just more examples of completely avoidable stupidity chalked up to the incompetency of Jones & Mayer and City Staff. Not to worry though, Jones & Mayer has likely investigated Jones & Mayer and found they did nothing wrong and will rectify these problems by billing the city countless hours (at $200/hr) to cover up for their own ridiculously negligent behavior.

ACLU Joins EFF and Reporter’s Committee In Support of FFFF

ACLU, EFF, RCFP, ACLU SoCal
The ACLU, ACLU of SoCal, EFF & RCFP Join FFFF

Yesterday the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Southern California & the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) filed a joint amicus brief in support of us here at Friend’s for Fullerton’s Future in our ongoing legal battle with the City of Fullerton. Here’s a sample:

“Rather than accept responsibility for its own failure to limit public access to information, the City instead is attempting to stretch computer crime laws to punish those journalists—first, for uncovering unflattering information and, later, for publishing it.”

Likewise, The Reporter’s Committee for Freedom of the Press filed a separate amicus brief supporting FFFF against the City of Fullerton. Here’s a sample:

“Amicus is not aware of any case where a federal or state anti-hacking law has been misused so brazenly to target routine newsgathering—namely, the collection of government information available to any internet user.”

On the City’s side of the ledger is an amicus filed by the League of California Cities – a group the City PAYS to belong to with your tax money and they managed to argue nothing relevant to the case. Here’s a sample:

“However, hosting this information electronically presents a variety of cybersecurity issues for local governments, many of whom have limited budgets for network and security systems, outdated technology, and limited IT staff to implement organizational safeguards to protect against cybersecurity breaches and/or human error.”

They’re arguing that the City has a limited budget and it’s gosh darn tough to “implement organizational safeguards to protect against… human error”. I can’t laugh hard enough at that premise knowing their payroll and the gross negligence the city itself is claiming.

They’re all fascinating reads in different aspects.

Ultimately you know the City messed up big and that Jones & Mayer gave terrible legal advice when the ACLU et al are siding with us on the merits. The Fullerton City Council might want to consider taking a hard look at these new briefs before just blithely listening to Kim Barlow and The Other Dick Jones™ again.

I’d like to personally thank the ACLU, ACLU of SoCal, the EFF & the RCFP for their support in this exhausting case. Without their support, and the support you friends, this would be a much harder fight on all of us here at FFFF. It’s nice to have real allies when the other “journalism” outfit here in Fullerton enlisted a hack to fight against us.

Should Cops Arrest People for Dining Based on One-Man Rule?

*The following is an editorial provided to Friends for Fullerton’s Future by Former CA Assemblyman and Fullerton resident Chris Norby.*

Observer Stasi

“City Allows Outdoor Dining in Defiance of State Health Order” blares the front page headline of the Fullerton Observer. The article bemoans the lack of police response in chasing off outdoor diners and closing local restaurants whose only crime is feeding people. Strange sentiments from a “progressive publication”?

California state government is a democracy whose powers are divided among the legislative, executive and judicial branches. The “Regional Stay-At-Home Order” referred to by the Observer is the arbitrary edict of one man –Gavin Newsom– that has not been passed by the legislature. The Fullerton Police Department should not enforce it. It should not shut down hundreds of local businesses and throw thousands out of work.

Emergency powers granted the Governor are of limited scope, when there’s no time for legislative action. This pandemic has been with us now for 10 months, yet none of his 58 emergency edicts have been approved by the legislature, which has had plenty of time to act. On December 8, L.A. County Superior Court Judge ruled against that county’s outdoor dining ban, as there was no “risk-benefit analysis” showing any connection with Covid-19 spread. Newsom himself doesn’t think so either, as his crowded unmasked dinner at the French Laundry showed.

There are many places in the world where the police enforce one-man rule. Does the Observer really want Fullerton to be one of them?

–Chris Norby  /  Fullerton

*This is being published without comment with the only change being to add a link to the mentioned Observer story for reference*

We FINALLY Have the Joe Felz 911 Call

Here it is after 4 years of obfuscation by City Hall and Fullerton PD. Here is the 9-1-1 call from the night former City Manager Joe Felz ran over a tree and tried to flee the scene. Pay special attention to the squealing of his vehicle as it limps down Highland away from poor Sappy McTree.

You’ll recall that he was given a ride home by Fullerton PD and given a pass on his DUI thanks to the position of power he enjoyed. This treatment ultimately, thanks to this blog, led to the firing and charging of the responsible Fullerton PD Sargent.

Give it a listen.

Now we await the body camera footage and other records from the incident.

Fullerton’s “Father” Dennis Casts the First Stone

A few days ago I broke the story of Fullerton Council member Ahmad Zahra being charged by the OC District Attorney for battery & vandalism. The Fullerton Observer picked up on it and quoted/cited us as the source. Fullerton’s “Father” Dennis then shared the Observer’s Facebook post on the issue and in doing so decided to besmirch my character and call me a fascist and Klansmen.

Father Dennis KKK Dickbag
How to be a dickbag in one easy post…

I was going to let this go with a snarky Facebook post but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to lay waste to the idea that somebody can get away with being such a total dickbag without response simply by virtue of a fancy title.

First let us put aside the robes that shield him from much criticism because clearly he has ignored their meaning and supposed importance. Despite being a member of the Order of the Servants of Mary (OSM), he forgot that he’s supposed to, and I quote (emphasis added);

“be at the service of God and all people, drawing inspiration from Mary, Mother and Servant of the Lord”

I’m sure Mary, mother of Jesus and Servant of the Lord, would absolutely twist a local blog’s name  (It’s FFFF not FFF or Tri-F) to impugn them as fascists and members of the KKK. Right? I’m positive that passage is in a missing chapter of the Bible which is still locked in the Vatican archives. Maybe not.

Hey “Father” Dennis, on what grounds do you compare me to the KKK? Because I’m white and you don’t like my politics? You offer no other substance so let’s just go with self-loathing racism. It’s all the rage these days with commies and crybullies online so it would track with your politics. Is that the same basis for likening me to a fascist?

Like I said, total dickbag.

The stupidity here is that I’m called these things by intellectual cowards because I think the law shouldn’t favor one group of people over any others and that the State shouldn’t dictate how you live your life. I want you to keep what you earn and for private charity (like, *gasp*, the tax exempt Church) to pick up the slack instead of a useless government that fails on every level. My political ideology is directly opposite of fascism but alas Father Dennis knows as much – or he would if he bothered to get to know the people he insults.

When *I* insult somebody at least I get the insults and facts on which I base them correct.

But no, not “Father” Dennis. Not the savior of the poor who’s so piously busy saving Orange County’s downtrodden by demanding the State steal from you to give to them and attempting to turn a city sidewalk into a third world shantytown.

Father Dennis Shanytown
Photo from the Fullerton Observer

“Father” Dennis looks to be taking his cues from Communist China and just rewriting biblical theology to suit his personal desires and petty grievances while hoping he can cloak his ugliness in the robes of faux piety.

You cast the first stone here “Father” and unlike so many others around town I’m willing to catch it and throw it back at your smug, sanctimonious, self-righteous ass.

OC Register Emphasizes Stunning and Brave Aspect of Battery

Zahra OC Register Battery

Fullerton City Council member Ahmad Zahra has landed in the OC Register for his battery & vandalism charges. While I was busy getting the court records to break this story, the Register has opted to… give you little by way of new details and a lot by way of telling you how stunning and brave and bravely stunning Ahmad Zahra is in their puff piece downplaying the alleged battery.

Looks at this sentence:

Fullerton Councilman Ahmad Zahra faces two misdemeanor charges of vandalism and battery stemming from a September altercation in which he allegedly damaged a woman’s cellphone.

“In which he allegedly damaged a women’s cellphone” isn’t exactly the big takeaway when battery is on the list of charges. This is a suck up piece if ever I read one. Even the sub-head of “Misdemeanor charges stem from a damaged cell phone” downplays the charges.

In the article, and again I quote, “Details of the alleged crimes were not available.”.  You can’t admit you know nothing and then claim with any confidence that you know from where the charges stem.

Cite your sources and give details. Otherwise stop pushing narrative as if it’s news. Saavedra has been around too long to be this sloppy.

But hey at least he managed to give us Zahra’s life story full of as much puffery as is possible in under 250 words.

If the charges are real then none of the petty details of Zahra’s upbringing, life, religion and sexual orientation are relevant to the story.

If the charges aren’t real then, you guessed it, none of that matters either.

You see, his personal backstory isn’t relevant to his pending charges unless he is being targeted because of any one or a collection of the things in said story and there is no evidence or even an accusation that such is the case.

Why Tony Saavedra would spend more words worrying about identitarian nonsense than the charges in question speaks volumes to the usefulness of the OC Register as a reliable news source. Maybe, per Zahra’s not-so-clever barbs at us, they’re “aspiring to be fake news”.

Ahmad Zahra Avoids Transparency, Calls Cops Liars

Zahra-Busted

Jesse La Tour over at the Fullerton Observer saw our post and went and asked Ahmad Zahra for a response to the pending charges against him for battery and vandalism. Check out his response:

When asked for a statement from the Observer, Zahra wrote via e-mail, “I deny each and every allegation and am innocent of the charges. I am confident that the truth will come out and expect to be fully exonerated.”

Notice how he doesn’t bother to actually explain anything or offer any defense. This is a typical strategy for politicians who expect you to forget about something while they wheel and deal to make the charges against them disappear down the memoryhole.

The problem here is that this isn’t a he-said/she-said problem – this is an actual arrest by a Fullerton Police Officer and charges filed by the District Attorney.

For Zahra to be innocent of the charges it means that the arresting officer, one Officer Brayley, falsified a police report and the District Attorney filed false charges.

Zahra’s implied allegations are very serious from a sitting Fullerton City Council member and deserve to be investigated. Do we have rogue officers arresting innocent people in Fullerton? Is our District Attorney filing charges which contradict the truth?

We deserve to know.

In the words of Fullerton City Council member Ahmad Zahra himself, as captured by The Fullerton Rag:

“I want you to know that YOUR City, YOUR Chief and YOUR Police Department are committed to accountability, and transparency, and the highest safety standards.”

Let’s see some accountability. Let’s see some transparency. Let’s make sure our officers aren’t arresting innocent people and smearing members of our city. We call on Fullerton PD to release the body camera footage immediately.

Ahmad Zahra Charged with Battery & Vandalism

Zahra-Busted

Fullerton Council member and wannabe Mayor Pro-Tem Ahmad Zahra has been charged with battery & vandalism here in Fullerton.

You can find a copy of the complaint as filed by the Orange County District Attorney [HERE]. The counts are as follows (emphasis in original):

“Count 1: On or about September 20, 2020, in violation of Sections 594(a) / (b) (2) (A) of the Penal Code (VANDALISM UNDER $400), a MISDEMEANOR, AHMAD ZAHRA did maliciously and unlawfully deface with graffiti and other inscribed material, damage, and destroy CELL PHONE, real and personal property belonging to MONICA F, in an amount less than four hundred dollars ($400).

 

“COUNT 2: On or about September 20, 2020, in violation of Section 242 of the Penal Code, (BATTERY), a MISDEMEANOR, AHMAD ZAHRA, did willfully and unlawfully use force and violence upon the person of MONICA F.”

The incidents appear to have taken place on 20 September 2020 with nary a word from anybody at City Hall to the public. It looks like Fullerton is once again up to their old Joe Felz & Chief Hendricks tricks.

Before anybody question is there is perhaps ANOTHER Ahmad Zahra being charged, here’s the incident log from Fullerton PD (with Ahmad’s address redacted by me):

Ahmad Zahra PD Arrest

Here is the case detail should you want to confirm it yourself with an OC Courts Criminal Case search:

Zahra OC Courts Charges

He was arrested for assault but charged with battery as seen in the arrest report versus the criminal complaint filed by the DA.

The arresting officer put “240” which is:

240. An assault is an unlawful attempt, coupled with a present ability, to commit a violent injury on the person of another.

The Courts have him charged with “242” which is:

242. A battery is any willful and unlawful use of force or violence upon the person of another.

When Zahra was whining and preening that he deserved to be Mayor Pro-Tem he was lying by omission and not telling you that he was, AT THAT VERY MOMENT, facing charges for battery and ticketed with vandalism in what looks like a possible domestic violence crime.

Seems that Zahra was sanctimoniously complaining about what he himself called a “ceremonial” position all the while hoping you wouldn’t find out about his apparent criminal conduct.

We’ll continue to follow this story as it develops. If nothing else it should be interesting to see which OC Dems run to Zahra’s defense or if they’ll stay quiet while hoping, just like with everything else that smears their team, if they ignore it long enough maybe it will just go away and inconvenient victims, including #YesAllWomen, be damned.

If we’re lucky we might get a patented CA (D) “I made a bad mistake, I should have stood up and … drove back to my house” or maybe the “I was set up” defense. Who knows, maybe those are only reserved for the higher-ups in the party.

Does Ahmad Zahra Still Live in District 5?

AhmadZahra
Movin’ on out?

I really don’t want to write this post because as much as I don’t like Zahra as a person, I don’t want to drag his family onto this blog undeservedly.

But facts being what they are, Ahmad Zahra looks to be getting divorced. I try to avoid family drama as best as possible except in cases where it is relevant to the public interest. In this case, sadly, it is in the public’s interest.

Zahra-Divorce

The reason this becomes an issue of public interest is because it isn’t very common for divorcing couples to still be living together and the likelihood is that one of them moved out.

So does Zahra still live in District 5 with his soon to be ex or has he moved elsewhere?