Category: Dead heads

Posted onChronic Failure

Vince Mater Gets Wrist Slapped For Destruction of Evidence in Fullerton Jail House Death Case

by 118 Comments on Vince Mater Gets Wrist Slapped For Destruction of Evidence in Fullerton Jail House Death Case

I always hate it when the stooge press indicates that a “former cop” was convicted of something when the former cop was an active cop when he did what he did to get convicted.

And so I won’t say “former Fullerton cop Vincent Mater plead guilty…” Rather, I will say dirty Fullerton cop Vincent Mater who clearly had something to hide in the wake of the Dean Gochenour Fullerton jail suicide and who demonstrated as much by destroying his DAR plead guilty to day…

Here’s the text of the DAs press release:

FULLERTON – A former Fullerton Police Department (FPD) officer was convicted and sentenced today for destroying evidence by crushing his audio-recorder after an inmate committed suicide in jail following a driving under the influence (DUI) arrest by the defendant. Vincent Thomas Mater, 42, pleaded guilty to a court offer by the Honorable Frances Munoz to one misdemeanor count of destruction of evidence and one misdemeanor count of vandalism. Mater was sentenced to three years of informal probation and 60 days of community service. The People objected to the sentence, arguing for jail time based on the nature of the crime, destruction of evidence possibly related to an inmate’s death, and the defendant’s violation of his position of trust.

At the time of the crime, Mater was a police officer with FPD.  At approximately 9:45 p.m. on April 14, 2011, Mater conducted a DUI investigation after making a traffic stop of a vehicle being driven without its lights on in the dark. Mater was in uniform and driving a marked FPD patrol car. Mater arrested the driver, Dean Gochenour, upon determining that Gochenour was under the influence of alcohol.

Mater transported Gochenour in his patrol car to the Fullerton City Jail (FCJ) and turned him over to FPD jailers to be booked upon arrival. Throughout the duration of his contact with Gochenour, Mater wore an FPD-issued Digital Audio Recording device (DAR), which was activated and would have audio-recorded any statements made by Mater or Gochenour.

At approximately 11:30 p.m., inmate Gochenour committed suicide by hanging himself in a cell at FCJ. The Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA) was subsequently contacted to conduct the custodial death investigation.

In the hours after Mater learned of Gochenour’s death, Mater destroyed his DAR by crushing it and removing the mother board and circuit board. The audio captured on Mater’s DAR of the defendant’s interaction with Gochenour could not be recovered as a result of the damage. Mater destroyed the evidence that would have been relevant to the OCDA’s custodial death investigation.

FPD investigated the case against Mater regarding the destruction of evidence and submitted it to the OCDA for criminal prosecution.

To read the OCDA’s full report on the custodial death of Gochenour, visit www.OrangeCountyDA.com and select “OCDA Report Custodial Death Investigation – Inmate Dean Gochenour” from the Investigation Letters tab under the Media Center. The report was issued March 13, 2012.

Deputy District Attorney Brock Zimmon of the Special Prosecutions Unit prosecuted this case.

I don’t know who “the honorable” Frances Munoz is, but I sure want to end up in her court if I ever get busted doing anything naughty. Probation and sixty days’ community service? Really? You or I would be looking at hard time. Oh, well we’ve always know there were rules and regs for us and a get out of jail card for the cops.

Did something fishy happen to Dean Gochenour before or after he was deposited in the FPD jail? Thanks to Mater we shall probably never know.

Oh, and yeah, Mater’s now a former Fullerton cop, although whether he was fired or permitted to walk away we will never know. That shall remain a mystery, too.

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Posted onChronic Failure

Quirk Is Afraid of Would be Anaheim Constituents; Blows Off Meeting

by 156 Comments on Quirk Is Afraid of Would be Anaheim Constituents; Blows Off Meeting
Lost In Space
Updated list on Quirk-Silva NO-SHOWS:
9-7: Fullerton Chamber Candidates Forum
9-12: Cypress College Candidate Debate
9-21: OC Real Estate Managers Assoc. Legislative Forum
10-7: West Island (Anaheim Uninc.) Homeowners Forum
10-17: Cypress Chamber of Commerce Debate
10-27: West Anaheim Neighbors

I just received some interesting news about our Mayor Sharon Quirk who is running for the State Assembly – and its both embarrassing and telling.

I have it on real good authority that Ms. Quirk was invited to a “meet the candidate night” by the good folks in the unincorporated West Anaheim Island – a large area of unincorporated Orange County.

Now theses are the very people Quirk’s political handlers said she would do well with – the working class people of Anaheim’s flatlands, so you would think Quirk would jump at the chance to mingle with her peeps.

Nuh uh.

No, Anaheim is the other way!

Apparently at first she just ignored the West Island Neighborhood group, and finally some campaign flunky responded saying that it might be a trap to embarrass Quirk with – questions! That sure has the ring of truth since a quick trip to Quirk’s website shows a cardboard cut out candidate who steadfastly refuses to take a position on any of the important propositions on the ballot this fall – including Governor Brown’s new tax and spend plans.

Nice work, Ms. Quirk.

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Posted onA Step in the Right Direction

Sooner or Later, Social Justice For Kelly Thomas

by 116 Comments on Sooner or Later, Social Justice For Kelly Thomas

It’s funny, in a sick sort of way, but the very types who used to bray the loudest about the need for “social justice” have been virtually silent in Fullerton in the wake of the Kelly Thomas murder at the hands of members of an out-of-control police department.

The graying establishment Democrats had been hiding behind their drawn chintz curtains, curled up in an intellectual fetal position on their plastic slip-covered Naugahyde sofas. It was just too scary and, well, controversial to say anything, let alone actually do anything.

Fortunately, others, such as Stephan Baxter, Marlena Carrillo and Lauren Becker are willing to keep up the pressure.

Here is a link to Becker’s website that reminds us exactly what a Culture of Corruption can do, and try to get away with, when left to its own devices. It also reminds us what we can do to push back against an entrenched system.

The bars stayed open and the bands played on…

Democrats like Jan Flory, and Molly McClanahan and Pam Keller didn’t say a word in the aftermath of the murder. No, they only got outraged when people outside their cozy little circle took the reins of government out of the hands of three incompetent old fools.

These people are a lot more worried about the fate of the bureaucracy than they are about the people of Fullerton. All of them.

 

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Posted onBehind Closed Doors

We Get Mail

by 75 Comments on We Get Mail

I just picked up these missives from the FFFF in-box this morning. First this:

I know who Iwant to work for, and it isn’t you!

Hey, FFFFsters, I just want to point out the obvious. Jan Flory just got fourteen grand, cash, from the corrupt cop union. She also got ten grand from some land developer named Phelps. The rest of her dough came from “retired” individuals, most of them former public employees.

Cops, developers, massively pensioned government workers. Wow. Talk about special interests!

– Sick of BooHoos

Good point, S.o.B. And then this:

I was driving along Chapman a few days ago and saw Pam Keller on the corner of Harbor. She was holding up a sign promoting the candidacy of Rick Alvarez, a Republican! Here’s what I want to know. Why won’t the establishment Dems in this town support a real good candidate like Jane Rands? Why the Hell not? What is wrong with Keller, and Quirk and Flory and their ilk?

Are they so in bed with the FPOA thugs and baboons that they can’t recognize an authentic progressive? I guess that question answers itself.

– ACLU Mom

Good point, Mom. The Old Guard liberals in Fullerton don’t stand for anything, of course, except for the prerogatives conferred upon the department heads in City Hall (see first letter, above). Please address you questions to Keller herself and see if you can get an intelligible answer. Or you could ask this gentleman:

Working on an answer…
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Posted onDead heads

Jan Flory Wants to Get Something Off Chest

by 141 Comments on Jan Flory Wants to Get Something Off Chest

Seeing Jan Flory in action I have come to recognize a bitter, humorless shrew who happens to be a cheerleader for the department heads in City Hall and the worse their actions, the less accountability she requires.

Is she also losing her marbles? I don’t know. But I do know she wrote this weird entry on Facebook in which, among other things, admits that she employed “undocumented” domestics:

You’re going to love this one.

Last night I picked up a cryptic email message from O.Co. Register reporter, Tony Saavedra, asking me to call him today. We talked about 10:30 this morning. Apparently Tony had received a copy of a letter from an anonymous “concerned court employee” that had been sent to Shawn Nelson, our esteemed county supervisor. Tony said that Shawn had turned the letter over the District Attorney for investigation. WHAT! Tony wanted to know if I had been contacted by the D.A. WHAT!

My next 2 questions were: 1. Am I going to be arrested for something? That would be a bummer for the campaign, and 2. What was the letter about? 

As described to me by Tony, the anonymous letter described an encounter that the writer had with me mid-August when I appeared in North Court with a 19-year-old friend of mine, Jackie, to deal with a traffic citation Jackie received the month before. Jackie was cited for an illegal left hand turn and driving without a license. The letter accused me of asking the court for some kind of special favor for Jackie. (I’m still trying to get a copy of the letter.)

Let’s back up. Jackie is one of the “Dream” kids. She was brought to this country by her undocumented parents when she was 8 and has lived here since then. Because Jackie has no documents herself, she (like hundreds of thousands) cannot get a driver’s license. I’ve known Jackie for 10 years, and she is a good girl who has done everything asked of her. She earned a 3.9 GPA in high school and has just finished her first year at Fullerton College with a 3.7 GPA. She volunteered as a poll worker for the June election. She has applied to work as a cadet for the City of Anaheim, but cannot get a job because she has no papers.

Once upon a time, Jackie’s parents worked in my home cleaning my house, and I developed a friendship with Jackie. Although her parents haven’t worked for me for a while, Jackie and I keep in touch. She was terrified of going to court by herself because she didn’t know if she might be arrested by ICE officials and deported. I offered to go to court with her to help out if I could.

When Jackie’s matter was called, I stood up with Jackie and notified the court that I was an attorney appearing to vouch for Jackie’s character and ask the court to cut Jackie a break if it had any discretion at all in the matter. The judge heard me out, and asked if Jackie was driving without a license. Jackie admitted that she was, and pled guilty to both counts. Jackie and I went downstairs where she had to pay nearly $600 for the fine.

This is what gets me. Based on the facts set forth above, 

1. Why would Nelson (an attorney himself) turn such a letter over to the D.A. for investigation? 

2. How did Tony Saavedra get the letter conveniently “leaked” to him?

3. Does this have anything to do with my being the frontrunner in the city council election? YA THINK! And more important,

4. Does this have anything to do with Shawn’s tight relationship with Tony Bushala who has been attacking me on his blog for the past 4 years.

Mr. Nelson, you owe me an explanation.

Apparently the progeny of these illegal aliens recently got a citation including driving without a license. What the girl’s GPA or employment status has to do with the ticket is anybody’s guess. It sounds like Flory did what the anonymous letter claims: asked the court for a favor.

Apparently Flory has got her corset in a twist; in her warped worldview she is the “frontrunner” and Shawn Nelson turned over an anonymous letter to the DA to derail her frontrunnership. I don’t know about any of that, but I do know that her obsessive paranoia about Tony Bushala doesn’t seem to fit the profile of a frontrunner – or even a completely balanced person.

I’m not a lawyer but I’m pretty sure Flory didn’t break any laws. However that letter should be turned over to the California Bar Association to let them decide if that was appropriate behavior.

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Posted onChronic Failure

Acting Chief Danny Playing Games?

by 135 Comments on Acting Chief Danny Playing Games?

Believe it or not, Acting Chief Dan Hughes, the alleged “reform” chief the Fullerton Police Department needs so desperately seems to the beneficiary of a campaign – to have himself appointed Chief permanently.

Check out this:

So who’s playing games? Is it our amiable Acting Chief who seems to have zero control over his badged and armed goons?

Or perhaps it is the greasy little mole Doug Chaffee who decided to agendize the issue of giving Hughes the job even though the council majority has stated that it wants to do a recruitment to get the best candidate for the job. Nice job politicizing a personnel appointment.

Now I don’t know about you, but I believe the appointment of Hughes to permanently take over the cesspool would be pretty bad. The Old Guard would dearly love the voters of Fullerton to think the Kelly Thomas murder was a weird one-off, something that can never happen again because Rusty Kennedy has taught the poor, unwitting Fullerton cops how to deal with the mentally ill homeless population.

They always cleaned up after me!

Um, not so fast, Mrs. Flory. Please explain the following personnel issues and embarrassing events that have occurred under the rancid regime of which Acting Chief Danny has been a lead player:

1) Erroneous raid on Robin Nordell’s home. No apology for a year.

2) Kelly Mejia steals iPad from Miami TSA checkpoint.

3) Todd Major rips off Explorers to feed pill habit.

4) Miguel Siliceo popped for sending wrong man to jail.

5) Kenton Hampton assaults and arrests and tries to convict innocent Veth Mam.

6) Ditto Frank Nguyen.

7) Cary Tong violates policy in arrest of Trevor Clark; City sued.

8) Albert Rincon sexually assaults as many as a dozen women in his custody; civil suit settled by two victims for $350,000.

9) Vince Mater charged by DA with destruction of evidence after the jailhouse suicide of Dean Gochenour.

10) April Baughman arrested for ripping off the FPD evidence room for a period of years. Where is the accomplice? Who was taking inventory? Such things are not for us to know.

11) City sued again – by Edward Quinonez who alleges he was accosted and falsely arrested by – Kenton Hampton. What a multi-tasker!

12) Phony “horning” tickets handed out by FPOA boss Barry Coffman to intimidate protesters; Hughes is seen sending out instructions.

13) DA charges Manuel Ramos, Joe Wolfe and Jay Cicinelli in the death of Kelly Thomas; Hughes lets them view video, re-write reports, pats all on back, handshakes all around and lets them stay on streets.

14) Danny says he’s watched video 400 times; says it will give public the real story (he is right).

15) Danny says those who perceive a Culture of Corruption are liars or ignorant.

15) Danny returns Craig, Hampton and Blatney to duty.

16) Permit Internal Affairs Sergeant Jason Sheen to bring a bong into the council chamber for demonstration in front of kiddie soccer players.

I don’t know about you, but I have seen as much of Acting Chief Danny as I care to. It’s obvious this man is a congenial glad-hander. But he is inextricably entangled in the Culture of Corruption with absolutely no interest in recognizing  past FPD malfeasance, let alone atoning for it.

Just as bad, it is clear from recent events that he has absolutely no control, or no interest in controlling his employees.

 

 

 

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Posted onChronic Failure

The Price of Integrity May Be Lower Than You Think

by 99 Comments on The Price of Integrity May Be Lower Than You Think
What would you do for $5000?

Here is Sharon Quirk heaping praises on her supporters in the FPOA. She is proud of her police force. Why? She doesn’t really say.

Is it the fact that they are one of the most expensive police forces, per capita in Orange County?

Is it the hard work of “Alby Al” Albert Rincon, the serial molester of women detainees?

Is it the hard work of Kenton Hampton who beat up and arrested and had prosecuted an innocent man?

Is it the hard work of Miguel “Sonny Black” Saliceo who through malice or laziness ID’d the wrong man who spen 5 months in jail?

Is it the hard work of Andrew Goodrich who kept spinning half-truths and outright lies during his rancid tenure as PIO?

Is it the hard work of the cops who tried to pin a completely bogus hit and run rap on George Bushala?

Is it the hard work of the on-duty cops who, on 2010 started dumping obscenity laced threats on the FFFF blog?

Is it the hard work of Todd Major who ripped off Explorers to feed hi pill habit?

Is it the hard work of Kelly Mejia who tried to steal an Ipad by hiding under her bag of chicken at a Miami TSA checkpoint?

Is it the hard work of April Baughman who ripped off the evidence room for years without detection?

Is it the hard work of Manuel Ramos, the grossly obese killer of Kelly Thomas?

Is it the hard work of Joe Wolfe, the cop who initiated the assault on Kelly Thomas with his baton?

Is it the hard work of Jay Cicinelli who tased KT numerous times and then beat his face to jelly.

Is it the hard work of Hampton, Blatney and Craig who appeared on the scene long enough to add their weight to the chest compression that killed Kelly?

Is it the hard work of the watch commander, Tom “Tango” Basham who watched the KT killing unfold?

Is it the hard work of Danny Hughes, the Fullerton Six boss who told them they had done a good job and put them back on the street?

Well, that’s enough slime for today.

So what would you do to get the Fullerton cop union endorsement?

 

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