Category: The Crime Beat

Posted onBrick Veneer, Fake Old, And Other Horrors

Fire Sprinklers Save Lives and Property!

by 65 Comments on Fire Sprinklers Save Lives and Property!
The family goes way back

And who should know that better than the Florentine Family whose nightclubs at the corner Harbor and Commonwealth, as FFFF recently noted, were out of compliance with their Conditional Use Permit that requires the installation of fire sprinklers.

Yo, this is better’n Joisey. I got me a sidewalk!

This is surely ironic to people who consider such things, since the paterfamilas of the clan, Tony, used to own a restaurant and lounge called the Melody Inn that was gutted by a suspicious fire in 1989 and required the demolition of the oldest remaining commercial building in Fullerton. This in turn, set off a years-long bureaucratic chain of humiliation and Redevelopment folly that concluded with the construction of a hamburger restaurant and other architectural monstrosities.

There is no second floor. Other than that it’s a 2 story building

 

Maybe it was supposed to be a swimming pool

Now, you might think that someone who suffered such a terrible tragedy as losing a business just a few hundred feet from his current one would be a lot more concerned about a repeat performance in 2019. And you might think the Fullerton municipal government would be a lot more concerned about fire safety and well-being of the Florentines’ patrons.

 

 

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Posted onDoug Chaffee

PAULETTE MARSHALL CHAFFEE CHARGED WITH TWO COUNTS OF THEFT

by 14 Comments on PAULETTE MARSHALL CHAFFEE CHARGED WITH TWO COUNTS OF THEFT

Today the Orange County District Attorney’s office announced it had filed two charges of petty theft against former Fullerton Mayor and Supervisor-Elect Doug Chaffee’s wife, Paulette Marshall Chaffee.

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.

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Posted onBad Cops

This is Why Chief Hendricks Resigned

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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.

We’ll leave the conclusions to you.

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Posted onBad Cops

HENDRICKS QUITS

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It’s official.

Once again, Fullerton is without a Police Chief.

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.

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Posted onCarpetbaggery

Chip Chimes In On Chaffee

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First Fox11, now KTLA. It looks like the news is starting to take notice of the Mayor’s wife’s pilfering.

Paulette Marshall Chaffee has also moved into Stage 3 in Kübler-Ross model of grief.

We saw denial when there was no acknowledgement. Anger when she suspended her campaign blaming toxicity. Now she’s at bargaining as she’s hired an attorney according to Chip Yost with KTLA:

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Posted onCarpetbaggery

CHAFFEE QUITS

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Anyone know what to know a defining feature of shitty politician?

They never, ever, apologize.

Enter, Paulette Marshall Chaffee. Over the past week, FFFF’s crack investigative pool embarrassed Pilfering Paulette into suspending her campaign after posting not one, but two separate videos of Mrs. Chaffee taking down political signage and driving away with property that isn’t hers.

Hat tip to Sharon Kennedy at the Fullerton Observer for getting a statement from Chaffee:

“I have too much respect for the people in this community to put them through this clearly toxic campaign. therefore I have decided for the good of the community to suspend my campaign for Fullerton City Council District 5.”

Really? Too much respect?

Let’s consider that. Pilfering Paulette has “too much respect for the people in *this* community to put them through this clearly toxic campaign”, but not enough respect not to steal.

(more…)

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Posted onBad Cops

Another One Bites The Dust

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Detective Barry Coffman, former president of the Fullerton police union, is the latest victim of housecleaning at the Fullerton Police Department.

The Original Tommy Burger

Two weeks ago management kicked Coffman out of his comfy detective chair and forced him onto patrol duty with the working stiffs. Coffman must have been unhappy because he started calling in with tummy aches. When Coffman saw that his pitiful work stoppage had no effect on management, he gave his two week notice. If I were a betting man, I’d say he stopped coming into work altogether.

For those who don’t remember, Coffman was responsible for defending the indefensible behavior of his union and its members after they murdered Kelly Thomas, repeatedly denying the existence of any corruption inside the FPD despite all of the evidence to the contrary. In addition to handing out ridiculous “excessive horning” tickets during a public protest, Coffman was also responsible for this sad tale where his lazy police work helped land an innocent couple in county jail.

Coffman’s early retirement means he left a few years of weighty pension gains on the table.  Farewell and good riddance.

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Posted onBad Cops

Complaint Against Officers Involved in Felz DUI Cover-up Sustained

by 24 Comments on Complaint Against Officers Involved in Felz DUI Cover-up Sustained

Back in 2016, FFFF filed a personnel complaint with the Fullerton Police Department against the officers involved in the attempted cover-up Joe Felz DUI accident. The complaint offered a tiny bit of hope that a quasi-legitimate internal investigation might be carried out. It also entitled us to a legally-mandated notification as to whether the complaint was “sustained” or “not sustained.” Sadly, this process represents the absolute limit of public visibility into the California system of police self-governance that has drawn the ire of FFFF for a decade.

Well over a year later, this letter shows that some of the accusations leveled at Sergeant Jeff Corbett and Lieutenant Goodrich, under the leadership of the since-departed Chief Danny Hughes, were indeed sustained.


While state law prevents the public from knowing what disciplinary actions were taken as a result of the investigation, sources inside the Fullerton Police Department indicate that Sergeant Jeff Corbett was terminated in February. Lieutenant Goodrich, who once considered himself a promising candidate for promotion to Captain, was pushed into an earlier-than-planned retirement beginning this Tuesday.

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