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Jury clears sheriff’s deputies in excessive force case

October 27th, 2009, 11:44 am by Tony Saavedra, Register investigative reporter

jailJamie Marie Meissner, an Arizona health professional, has lost her lawsuit accusing Orange County Sheriff’s deputies of excessive force while she was being booked into the jail in March 2007.

Meissner, as Watchdog readers may recall, was questioned by Laguna Beach police for jaywalking and arrested on suspicion of giving false information to a police officer.

Video segments of Meissner’s encounter at the jail, included in a previous blog post, did not appear to show any evidence of abuse at the hands of deputies. Her attorney, Stephen Tornay, said it would probably come down to who the jury believed.

Last week, the jury came down on the side of the sheriff’s department. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Justice • Sheriff's department | 26 Comments »

State Farm sues wrong woman in case of mistaken identity

October 15th, 2009, 5:43 am by Tony Saavedra, Register investigative reporter

state-farmStacy A. Calderon has never been to Fresno — but she’s spent $3,000 in legal fees fighting a lawsuit by State Farm Insurance accusing her of causing a three-car collision in that city.

If she lost, Calderon would end up owing State Farm more than $14,000, for an accident that occurred while she was four hours away at her home in Placentia.

How could this happen? It would seem to be a case of mistaken identity.

Calderon has the same name as a woman at the wheel of a Pontiac Firebird that spun out of control, causing the crash. But that woman has a different address, listed on the California Highway Patrol report. And a differrent phone number, also listed on the police report. And no insurance.

One interesting thing: the driver’s license number listed on the police report belongs to Stacy Calderon of Placentia — it’s not clear how authorities got that number, said CHP Officer Gil Peirsol. Perhaps that portion of the report was filled out later, using the DMV database, Peirsol surmised.

Calderon said she was surprised when State Farm served her with the lawsuit. The day of the 5:15 p.m. crash, she spent the morning working at a Brea dental office and the afternoon taking care of her three children.  She has witnesses, bank statements and other evidence proving that she was in Orange County all day.

So compelling is the evidence that the Department of Motor Vehicles reinstated her driving privileges, which were taken away after the  crash because the driver had no insurance.

But State Farm held steadfast to its suit, forcing Calderon to hire an attorney and counter sue. With the legal bills mounting, both sides seemed locked in a standoff. “We have had to cancel two family vacations and I have had to take on a part-time job to help pay for the lawyer. Not to mention all the time that I have had to put into calling the DMV, the CHP; and the fact that this accident is on my driving record and insurance,” said Calderon.

She was concerned that if the case went to trial, she’d  have to pay travel expenses for a lawyer that she already can’t afford. So she reached out Monday to The Watchdog, who in turn reached out to State Farm spokesman Bob Devereux.

Working from home with a bout of bronchitis, Devereux quickly looked into the matter and assured that State Farm knew of the mixup and had agreed to drop its suit  — with the option to refile later. Calderon, however, said she would not agree to any settlement that left State Farm an open door to come back after her.

So on Tuesday evening attorneys for State Farm and Calderon began hammering out a new agreement. (Funny how things change when you shine some sunlight on them).

Posted in: Consumer stuff • Justice | 54 Comments »

Questionable cartoons pulled from OCSD website

October 14th, 2009, 5:03 pm by Tony Saavedra, Register investigative reporter

inspector-c

It started out humorous but became less funny with each click of the mouse as The Watchdog looked through the Orange County Sheriff’s Department official website.

On the investigations division web page we found a cartoon of world famous — and thoroughly inept — fictional French detective Jacques Clouseau where a portrait of the captain should be.

The cartoon seemed just a tad overboard. Is this the proper mascot for Orange County’s top detectives? Isn’t this like having Barney Fife represent the patrol deputies?

The Watchdog called sheriff’s spokesman John McDonald on Wednesday afternoon and in what seemed like an hour Clouseau was gone.pinkpanther

In the meantime, The Watchdog continued to click through the investigations division web pages — and our jaw dropped with each click. People sitting around our desk gasped at what appeared on screen.

The page dedicated to homicide detectives was anchored by a cartoon featuring a vulture sitting atop a badge dug into the desert sand. Leaning against the badge is a human skull. Not very sensitive to homicide victims or their families.homicidecartoon Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: County government • Sheriff's department | 162 Comments »

Pacific Amphitheatre pulls out of nose-dive, makes money

September 29th, 2009, 5:00 am by Tony Saavedra, Register investigative reporter

pacampWhen it comes to the Pacific Amphitheatre at the Orange County Fair, less is really more. 

The fair ended the latest 23-concert season with a profit of $659,606 — that’s after losing $1.3 million over the previous six seasons.

How’d they do it? By simply getting rid of the opening acts (saving $800,00), going after fewer blockbuster performers and cutting down on freebies, resulting in lower ticket prices. Fans gobbled up the tickets, with a total paid attendance of 133,561. That’s about 30,000 more than last year. Ticket prices ranged from an average $4.88 for Three Dog Night to an average $46 for Duran Duran.

With the shorter shows, concert-goers got to spend more time enjoying other fair activities, like the Lucha Libre Mexican wrestlers.

“We hit all our targets,” said fair chief executive officer Steve Beazley, who changed the format this year and crossed his fingers.

The Watchdog has blasted Beazley in the past for the amphitheatre’s lackluster performance, so it is only fair  to durangive him credit when the venue has a good year. Ten of the 23 acts still lost money, however, so Beazley still has some work to do.

The biggest money-maker at the Pacific Amphiteatre this season was Duran Duran, which generated a profit of $150,070  — even after charging the venue $300,000 to perform.

The next biggest show was the Black Eyed Peas, which charged $250,000 but ended with a profit of $148,511 and nearly filled the 8,000-seat venue. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: OC Fair • • • • • • • • | 16 Comments »

Sheriff’s internal investigators let statute expire, deputies walk

September 15th, 2009, 10:00 am by Tony Saavedra, Register investigative reporter

oirpixIt doesn’t happen often, but at least twice in recent months Orange County Sheriff’s internal affairs investigators have failed to complete an investigation before the one-year statute of limitations required by the California  police officers’ bill of rights.

Stephen Connolly, with the Office of Independent Review, notes that one deputy was supposed to receive a moderate suspension after allegedly telling an assault suspect not to report an existing injury during triage, which would have extended the booking process and  inconvenienced the deputy. Connolly reports that it took several months for the deputy to be interviewed and several more for the final determination, by which time the statute had passed.

At the Watchdog’s request, the sheriff’s department looked into its internal affairs files and found that investigations have crossed the statute of limitations five times in the 634 cases handled since 2008. But Sheriff Sandra Hutchens was concerned enough that staff created a new tracking system that will make it harder to miss the deadlines.

Here are other noteworthy cases that the Office of Independent Review is following: A relative of an inmate complained that the inmate seemed dazed days after a significant altercation with deputies. A few weeks later, another complaint emerged involving one of the same deputies. Video tapes were viewed of the two incidents and the deputy was subsequently relieved of duty. A criminal investigation has been launched into potential assault under the color of authority.

Also, a patrol deputy may be demoted Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Justice • Sheriff's department | 36 Comments »

Does The Watchdog really want to demonize little old ladies?

August 27th, 2009, 6:00 am by Tony Saavedra, Register investigative reporter

The Watchdog may be ready for a brawl, but our fight isn’t with little old ladies making a meager pension.

ocersWe hear that the Orange County Employees Retirement System has portrayed our request for pension records as an attempt to embarrass the common folk who are scraping by on small retirements. That’s just plain wrong.

We have always sought to draw a distinction between the average pensioners, who collect annual retirement in the small five figures, and the former public officials collecting five or ten times the average–those over $100,000 a year.

So in the spirit of compromise, and to make our intentions clear, The Watchdog is amending our request. We are no longer asking for the names of all the retirees and what they are collecting. We only want the names and pensions of those retirees making $100,000 a year or more.ocers2

As stated in our post earlier this week, we believe the information is public and here is why:

  • A 2007 California State Supreme Court ruling — Contra Costa Times vs. city of Oakland — held that the salaries of public officials was releasable under the California Public Records Actto ensure transparency. Even police are not exempt. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: County government | 59 Comments »

OCERS withholds pension data from taxpayers

August 24th, 2009, 6:12 am by Tony Saavedra, Register investigative reporter

rocky_red_boxing-gloves3The Watchdog is putting on the boxing gloves. It’s not a fight we take lightly.

Taxpayers throughout California are on the hook for millions of dollars in public pensions.

But Orange County’s retirement system doesn’t want you to know who is getting the hefty pensions. Or how much. Other agencies throughout California – including the giant Public Employees’ Retirement System — are releasing the data without a fight.

The most recent court battle over pension information, in Contra Costa County, resulted in a judge ruling that taxpayers have the right to the data.

The Orange County Employees Retirement System is similar to the one in Contra Costa and covered by the exact same laws.

In fact, while the Contra Costa case was being argued, a lawyer for OCERS told a lawyer for The Register that OCERS would look closely at the court’s decision.

But OCERS changed its tune after Judge Barry Baskin ruled that the information was public, calling transparency the cornerstone of democracy.

“We cannot disclose the information without a specific court order from a court that has jurisdiction over OCERS,” wrote David Lantzer, an attorney for the retirement system. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Best of Watchdog • Bureaucratic bungles • County government | 118 Comments »

Sheriff’s deputies neglected cases, vandalized boats and interfered in investigations, report says

August 18th, 2009, 6:00 am by Tony Saavedra, Register investigative reporter

oirpix2The 11-month-old Office of Independent Review, created to monitor the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, has given The Watchdog an unprecedented peek into the inner workings of internal affairs cases. In the past, the department had maintained a public persona of “we never do anything wrong.”

In his occasional reports to the Board of Supervisors, Executive Director Stephen Connolly (above left) paints a different picture, giving Sheriff Sandra Hutchens’ administration much credit for the new transparency. The information, however, is still limited by state laws against disclosing police disciplinary records.

Here’s is a sample of some of the cases that Connolly is monitoring:oirpix

  • An investigator allegedly neglected more than 100 cases and misrepresented her efforts to cover up her lack of work.  The cases included several serious felonies, Connolly said. Because of state laws protecting police officers, Connolly could not identify the detective or the kind of cases she covered. Connolly recommended she be fired. A decision is pending.
  • A man released from Orange County Jail complained that he was missing several hundred dollars. A department investigation concluded that, in fact, the man had the money when he was booked into jail. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: County government • Public safety • Sheriff's department | 51 Comments »

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