Looks like Fullerton will reconsider its options concerning the existing City Council vacancy tomorrow. The current agenda goes into detail concerning the city’s options, including when a Special Election might be held, how much it would cost, and what a plan might look like if the Council were to appoint to fill the vacancy by February 2.
We’ve been trying to keep tabs on who’s playing Fullerton’s version of Game of Throneshere. So far, the only person known to openly campaign for the seat is former councilwoman Jan Flory.
So, which option will it be?
A) An unelected bench warmer who likely has no moral authority to do anything other than break tie votes
or
B) Taxpayers spending $400,000 to elect an independently wealthy or political action committee dominated Fullertonian who is only running to secure incumbency in District 1, 2, or 4 for another election in 2020?
Don’t you love choices with no downsides?
Find out who wins (someone) and who loses (you) tomorrow, when we play WHEEL. OF. REPLACEMENT CANDIDATES!
Today Police records are supposed to become a little more transparent and officers with “sustained” complaints (and a few other issues) get to share with the world their bad deeds by virtue of some Sacramento mandated sunshine disinfectant. With SB1421 to the rescue we might finally get to see what happens behind union closed doors when officers misbehave.
The law changing and becoming effective today, owing to the holiday, convinced some friends to put in a few records requests based on suggestions which we complied and others which were emailed to us after this post dropped.
Thanks to everybody who shared what they knew and pointed us in a few interesting directions. I was copied on the request and it contains over 40 officers both current and former, most of whom we believe to have had sustained findings against them. Because police departments refuse to tell us who has findings against them we had to take quite a few guesses based on the best information we could obtain. That or pay FPD $250+ to maybe compile a list per their Public Information Officer.
Being that we’re volunteers who don’t run ads or try to monetize FFFF we opted against the $250 check to FPD.
With the requests in the virtual mail we should be seeing some interesting things provided that the records aren’t obfuscated, buried and denied. We’ll keep you posted as things come back or don’t.
We’re also always open to suggestions so if we missed anybody let us know the details in the comments or via email. Who did what and where should we look? What officers had sustained findings in other departments? We’ll send requests for those records as well.
A few months ago an unnamed Fullerton Police Officer was allegedly stabbed in Placentia by an unidentified “Hispanic male”. Four agencies swarmed (Placentia PD, Fullerton PD, CSUF State Police & OC Sheriff’s) and a suspect was picked up, had his info blasted on social media and in press releases — only later to be cleared and released.
This is where all four agencies left things and no new information has been publicly presented.
The Fullerton Police Department, Orange County Sheriffs Department and Cal State Fullerton Police Department, made an extensive search of the area.
Officers detained and later arrested a parolee named James Carrera, a 19-year-old Placentia resident. Carrera was booked on an assault with a deadly weapon charge.
Police did not know if the officer was targeted but they said Carrera was out on parole for weapons violations and possibly knew the officer.
The victim was released hours after being treated at a local hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, according to Fullerton Police Lt. Tony Rios. He said the injured officer was at home recovering the day after the attack and is expected to return to duty in the next few days.
“I spoke to him this morning and he seems to be doing well,” said Rios. “He’s a strong young guy and he should be back soon.”
Investigators described the attacker as a Latino man in his late-teens or early-20s, of thin build. He had short, black hair and wore a baggie, black T-shirt.
Rumors lately have it that the officer made up the “Hispanic Male” and has been put on admin leave with nary a word or apology by the cites or agencies involved. Apparently now we’re hiring Leopold “Butters” Stotch’s mom at Fullerton PD:
Alas, that might turn out differently because ultimately Mrs. Stotch confessed. Instead we now actually know, thanks to diligent records requests, that the officer in question is one Nathan Roesler.
It’s been a busy day at the OCDA’s office re: Fullerton. First charges against Doug Chaffee’s wife Paulette and now our former Chief and a Captain have been charged with battery for their shenanigans at a Lady Antebellum concert.
OFF-DUTY FULLERTON POLICE CHIEF AND CAPTAIN CHARGED WITH BATTERY ON EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIANS AT CONCERT IN IRVINE
SANTA ANA, Calif. – The former Fullerton Police Department (FPD) chief and a captain were charged with battery on emergency medical technicians at a concert in Irvine.
Defendant
Charges
Maximum Sentence
Court Date
David James Hendricks, 47
Charged today with the following misdemeanor counts:
(2) Battery on emergency medical technician (EMT)
Resisting and obstructing officer
Three years in county jail
Arraignment
Jan. 9, 2019, 8:30 a.m.
Department H-8, Harbor Justice Center, Newport Beach
Thomas William Oliveras Jr., 50
Battery on emergency medical technician
Resisting and obstructing officer
Two years in county jail
Arraignment
Jan. 9, 2019, 8:30 a.m.
Department H-8, Harbor Justice Center, Newport Beach
Circumstances of the Case
On Aug. 24, 2018, Hendricks and Oliveras were off-duty and attended a concert in Irvine with their spouses. Hendricks’ wife needed medical attention and EMTs responded to assess her condition.
Hendricks is accused of pushing two EMTs as they attempted to provide treatment and Oliveras is accused of putting one victim in a headlock.
The Irvine Police Department responded to the scene and the defendants are accused of obstructing and delaying the investigation.
Prosecutor: Senior Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey Moore, Special Prosecutions Unit
We’ll let you know what happens on 09 January 2019.
Paulette was last seen receiving a bouquet of flowers at City Hall from Councilwoman Jennifer Fitzgerald.
Pilfering Paulette has her arraignment scheduled for December 18th at 8:30AM.
Given the razor thin victory of Doug Chaffee in last month’s election, one can’t help but wonder how his opponent would have fared had these charges been filed before the election.
More on Paulette’s plea and likely plea deal in two weeks.
We could dive into financials and campaign committees but from the above info alone it should be clear that he’s running again in 2020. Now why do I think he’ll beat Ling Ling Chang?
Just when I was preparing to see a new chapter of shenanigans in Fullerton coming from our new council, instead from the realm of ARE YOU F^&$&ING KIDDING ME comes Doug Chaffee trying to slap Fullerton with one more bit of cronyism before he leaves to play at the county level.
Less than two short weeks ago the council voted, 3-2 (Sebourn, Silva & Whitaker vs Fitzgerald & Chaffee) against an unsolicited bid for a hotel on the parking lot near the train station at Santa Fe and Ponoma. Cooler heads prevailed and a more open, transparent and honest process was suggested.
Now Chaffee, who per the City Manager agendized this item, wants to crush that transparency and openness in his last meeting this coming Tuesday. To make matters more unpalatable the council/staff arranged the agenda to swear in our new council member (Zahra) and say goodbye to the ones leaving (Sebourn & Chaffee) AFTER they vote again on this hotel nonsense. For the uninitiated there is a vendor who wants to build a hotel and Fitzgerald and Chaffee want to hand it off to them without opening a bid process to interested parties. It’s cronyism and backroom dealing 101.
This is truly a slap in the face to both Ahmad Zahra and District 5 as this new development would be in their neighborhood and the first District 5 candidate will have no say on it because the agenda lets Zahra join council mere moments AFTER this hotel’s fate is already decided.
This coming back this quickly means one thing and one thing only – somebody got to Silva* as he’s the likely weak link on this issue.
For reference here’s what Silva said about the ENA at the last meeting at approximately the 3:30:12 mark:
“I think an RFP, or a bidding, would help the city I think, would help us get the best possible product. Competition drives, brings out the best in you. And I think having that can bring out the best in the current applicant and someone else.”
We’ll see if Silva still believes this on Tuesday or if all of the sudden competition is less important than craven cronyism. Even if it’s the case that Silva changed his mind, does he really think so little of fellow Democrat Ahmad Zahra that he’ll prevent him from voting on an issue that residents of District 5 have officially elected him to decide on?
This is just dumb, unnecessary, and silly. One can’t help but wonder if this is really Doug Chaffee being that tone deaf or if it’s really retribution for Ahmad Zahra winning a seat his wife coveted in the first place.
Because, and let’s be honest, if Paulette Marshall Chaffee won this election, Doug wouldn’t be preventing her from voting on Tuesday.
*it’s possible that Whitaker or Sebourn were flipped but they had stronger arguments than Silva and are more ideologically opposed to cronyism.
Today the City of Fullerton put out a Press Release stating that Fullerton Police Chief David Hendricks was resigning. They extolled the virtues of his employment and when I called to ask about the resignation I was told that I was making an assumption that the Chief was resigning owing to his current leave of absence and possible criminal prosecution.
Let us clear a few things up here for the record.
First and foremost the City, per their Public Information Officer, agreed to waive the contractual requirement that Hendricks give 45 days notice upon his written resignation. It allowed them to appoint Acting Chief Dunn as…. Interim Chief Dunn, a distinction without a difference, unless you happen to have a pension stored at CalPERS.
Second, despite the Chief being on leave for over 2 months, this was announced on a Friday when City Hall is closed. Want further details? Too bad, you’re gonna have to wait until Monday when everybody is focused on Tuesday’s Mid-Term Election. This is government document-dump obfuscation 101. You don’t release information in this fashion unless you’re trying to bury the news and avoid answering questions.
Why did the City agree to waive the 45 day requirement? Why was this done now being that we already have an acting chief? Why didn’t the city work to fire Hendricks for contract violation owing to the ongoing investigation? What is the status of that investigation?
No clue. No responses. No answers. Gonna have to wait until Monday folks, sorry.
Let this be an abject lesson that City Manager Ken Domer does not believe in transparency contrary to his public and private statements. I had high hopes for Domer, but alas he is proving himself to be just another bureaucrat working to keep the bureaucracy funneling money into his and his cohort’s retirements. Don’t expect our tired and constantly campaigning City Council members to ask any of these questions or work to make things more transparent.
Fret Not Friends!
We want answers and I’m sure you want answers as well and thanks to an anonymous source from the great beyond we have some details that the city will never tell us because reasons.
Here is the redacted (for privacy) and highlighted (by me) highlights of what really happened at that Lady Antebellum concert back in August and why our Chief decided to resign with no notice.
This morning, city officials issued a press release announcing Fullerton’s top cop had departed. Per Chief Hendrick’s contract, no disparaging remarks are included in the release, which summarizes some accomplishments in the short tenure of Mr. Hendricks.
— Improved Morale
— Improved Retention
— Improved Response Time
— Online Crime Blotter Reporting
— Homeless Support
— Streamlined investigations and documentation for complaints
Not a single mention as to why the Chief Resigned, namely any confirmation or denial that the Chief did in fact assault a uniformed female emergency response technician.
In any case, after collecting $60,000 on a paid vacation covering two and a half months after the incident, Fullerton taxpayers have yet another interim chief, no shortage of sign thieves, stabbings, shootings, double digit arrests every weekend downtown, and absolutely no answers whatsoever concerning what the hell happened at a concert down in Irvine involving two of Fullerton’s top brass.
