Another Possible Cover-up by FPD

This involves some rumors. Proceed accordingly.

Roseler-Stabbing-Investiation

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.

Carerra-Arrested

This is where all four agencies left things and no new information has been publicly presented.

Here are the relevant news stories.

Per CBS (22 Sept):

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.

Per OC Register (23 Sept):

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.”

Per KTLA (23 Sept):

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:

SomePuertoRicanGuy

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.

Roelser Got Stabbed (more…)

Hendricks Already Up for a New Gig

Former Fullerton Police Chief David Hendricks is already up for a new gig at Mt. Sac. He’s apparently a finalist for the job of Mt. Sac Police Chief.

Hendricks-Mt-Sac

You have to love that description and what it omits.

“A long history at the Long Beach Police Department.”

And a short history in Fullerton. That ended in disgrace.

Lest we forget, Hendricks is being charged with Battery on EMTs and resisting and obstructing an officer. No wonder that was omitted. (more…)

Hendricks & Oliveras Charged with Battery

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.

Hendricks-Oliveras-Charges

Hot Off of the Presses:

Case # 18HM15615

December 7, 2018

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 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.

A New-ish Council This Way Comes

Backroom-Deal

Tonight Doug Chaffee and Greg Sebourn leave the Fullerton City Council and Ahmad Zahra gets sworn in to be the first to represent District 5 on the dais. This wouldn’t be Fullerton if that’s all that was happening tonight – a simple transition of (some) power – but true to form our current Mayor (for a few more hours), Doug Chaffee, opted to ram a pet project down the council’s throat one last time. An unsolicited bid to turn the parking lot used for Train Days into a “boutique” hotel without the pesky bother of worrying about competition or opening a bid process. He wants this to happen now, NOW, NOW! because… reasons. It’s such a great idea that Chaffee doesn’t trust the council to pick it up without him which means he either thinks they’re too stupid to know a good thing when they see it or it’s not… wait for it… a good thing.

Ah the smell of cronyism.

While we’ll eventually get to say goodbye to a few members and add Ahmad which should be the only focus tonight, first we have to see if Jesus has been bought off and has changed his tune on competition. A tune that he sung only 2 weeks ago, mind you.

After that first crony, I mean agenda, item has been dealt with the council will move on to the actual (partial) transition of power.

For those not keeping track here’s what will happen tonight:

Jesus Silva moves from at-large to the District 3 representative. This will leave his at-large seat open until council decides to fill it or holds a special election.

Bruce Whitaker and Jennifer Fitzgerald will stay status quo.

After tonight we’ll also have a new Mayor (likely Silva) and a new Mayor Pro-Tem (likely Fitzgerald). As for the empty seat – don’t forget to comment on who you think will be the appointed council member in our Wheel of Replacement Candidates thread.

We doubt there will be any surprises tonight but we’ll keep you posted as always friends.

Ready to Bring Back Josh?

Now that the 2018 General Election is about to be certified (Tuesday in Orange County), let’s start annoying ourselves with predictions of 2020.

I have one for you —

Despite being recalled, by a wide margin, Josh Newman is going to be back in the running for State Senate and he’s going to win. Big.

What makes me say this? Let us look at the evidence:

First we have Exhibit A: LinkedIn

NewmanLinkedIn
“In Exile”

Then we have Exhibit B, the cringeworthy website BringBackNewman.com:

BringBackNewman
Bring Back Josh Newman

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?

(more…)

Chaffee’s Last Crony Grasp on Council

SONY DSC

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.

Agenda-NewCouncilHotel

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.

cronyism-kills

*it’s possible that Whitaker or Sebourn were flipped but they had stronger arguments than Silva and are more ideologically opposed to cronyism.

City is Still Shilling for Bar Owners

cronyism

For the last, well forever really, the city has been trying to figure out how to change downtown to make it more… something. I can’t quite figure it out. By the looks of it the only goals City Staff have are to pack as many residents into as many high-density apartment complexes as possible and to hand over as much of Downtown to the local “restauranteurs” which is Ted White (Director of Community Development) for “Bar Owners”.

This past Wednesday night one such plan hit our Planning Commission. The plan was 70+ pages of muddled definitions and empty promises. I’ll summarize:

City Staff has been ignoring their jobs and our municipal code for 15+ years because reasons. It’s hard to do the job we pay them to do so they want to do less of it and they want to relax the rules so the rule-breakers have fewer rules they have to break while making piles of money.

Instead of cleaning up bad definitions and attempting to hold businesses responsible for the melees enveloping downtown each weekend, the city would rather permanently legalize downtown getting louder and more rowdy with the promises that this time, with no indication of staffing changes or practical enforcement, they’ll hold bar owners to a standard of behavior, or perhaps a guideline, or at least an amorphous shape resembling a line if you squint really hard.

It reminds me an old UN Peacekeeper joke where whenever they see somebody doing something wrong they yell “Stop! Or I’ll Yell “Stop!” Again!”. This time they mean it for realsies.

Ultimately Wednesday’s item was held until a possible study session in January and a new meeting in February, which is when we’re totally screwed. The bar owners will get everything they want and then some come February because the Planning Commission is changing. A lot. (more…)

Let’s Play WHEEL OF REPLACEMENT CANDIDATES!

UPDATE 1/14/2019

This item is back on the agenda for tomorrow. You gotta spin it to win it!

 

With Jesús Silva big win in Fullerton’s District 3, Fullerton is abuzz with potential names for who the Council might pick as a replacement.

So, who’s it going to be? Here’s some gossip for you to discuss. Feel free to nominate your own darlings for consideration on the WHEEL . . . OF . . . CANDIDATES!

Updated 11/27 with reader suggestions

Free Play– Current Councilman (odds 1:1)

Greg Sebourn

Seems like the easiest option. Someone familiar with the current issues and has existing relationships with city staff and council, and isn’t eligible to run in District 1, 2, or 4 in 2020. Let the voters spin again in 2020.

Lose a Turn– Leave it Open (Odds 1.5:1)

If three votes can’t be found to put a warm body in a cold chair, Council could choose to leave the vacancy open. The vacancy could last through 2020 or until a Special Election gets called.

Bonus Round– Former Members of Council (odds 2:1)

Still can’t come up with an answer to the riddle? Bring back some former contestants for another crack at solving the puzzle.

Jan Flory, Fullerton City Council (twice)

Chris Norby, Assemblyman, Supervisor, Fullerton City Council

Shawn Nelson, Supervisor, Fullerton City Council

Leland Wilson, Fullerton City Council + Fox Theater Point Person

Pam Keller, Fullerton City Council, Ex-Fullerton Collaborative

Buy A Vowel– Current and Former Fullerton Officials (odds 3:1)

Get some help with those neighboring consonants from people who’ve helped reveal a simple phrase to  Council before.

Chris Meyer (Former City Manager)

Joe Felz (Former City Manager)

Wolfgang Knabe (Retiring Fire Chief)

Pete Beard (not a former employee, but Fullerton’s current Metropolitan Water District Representative)

Paul  Dudley (Former Dev Services Director)

Ed Royce (No way in hell, but hey, we’re listing everyone on the wheel)

Luxury Resort Vacation– A Bar Owner (Odds 7:1)

Relax and let all your troubles float away as you blissfully drift from lane to lane down Commonwealth Avenue…

Tony Florentine

Jeremy Popoff

Toss Up– Former Candidates (odds 9.5:1)

Just like an Olympian disqualified by a post race drug test, let the title go to the runner-up!

Paulette Marshal-Chaffee

Vicky Calhoun

Larry Bennett

Jane Rands

Jose Trinidad Castaneda III

Kitty Jaramillo

Joe Imbriano

Mystery Wedges– Other Notables(odds 10:1)

Marty Burbank (Infrastructure Review Commission)

Nick Dunlap (Chair, Planning Commission)

Christopher Gaarder (Vice-Chair, Planning Commission)

Patrick McNelly (Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Ad-Hoc Commissions)

Arnel Dino (Infrastructure and Water Ad-Hoc Commissions)

Rusty Kennedy

Tony Package

Gretchen Cox (Parks, Energy, and Water Ad-Hoc Commissions)

Erik Wehn (Parks Commission)

Kathleen Shanfield (Planning Commission)

Kevin Pendergraft (Planning Comission)

Ryan Cantor (Planning and Library Commissions)

BANKRUPT Anyone Associated with FFFF (odds 100:1)

Sure would put is in a pickle. What would we live for? Criticize ourselves?

The inevitable self-loathing may morally bankrupt us, if it doesn’t destroy us first.