THE CHARADE OF FULLERTON POLICE DEPARTMENT REFORM UNDER FORMER POLICE CHIEF DAN HUGHES AND THE SILENCE OF OUR FULLERTON CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS…MAYOR BRUCE WHITAKER, MAYOR PRO-TEM DOUG CHAFFEE AND COUNCIL MEMBERS JENNIFER FITZGERALD, GREG SEBOURN AND JESUS SILVA. BY BARRY LEVINSON
Barry Levinson
Our streets are the joke of Southern California, we are drowning in millions of dollars in red ink caused by overly generous salary and pension increases, our traffic congestion is quickly reaching big city proportions and our elected representatives are the poster children for corruption and crony capitalism, yet the biggest problem still remains the corruption throughout the ranks of our Fullerton Police Department. They have the power to use lethal force against the public and the ability to put innocent people in jail. I have first hand experience with the latter statement. This can definitely impact adversely every citizen in Fullerton. It does not matter if you are an activist or you are someone who does not know the names of any of our elected officials. We are all at risk and will continue to be at risk until we clean house at the FPD!
So with this as the backdrop, I spoke at the Fullerton City Council during Public Comments on April 18, 2017. They give you a “generous” 3 whole minutes to speak. In reality, with the current group of council members, it would not matter if they gave you three hours or even three days to speak because they ignore everything out of the public’s mouths unless you choose to kiss their you now what!
I spoke about two very important subjects. The first subject was the failure of our “reformed” Fullerton Police Department to take the statements from Joe Imbriano and myself to report the crime of obstruction of justice by recently retired Police Chief, Dan Hughes in regard to his failure to allow his officers to follow normal police procedure to arrest Joe Felz for DUI and for leaving the scene of an accident with damages. Joe Felz was eventually charged with those two counts, months after the incident by the OCDA Office. I admonished the entire council for its continued failure to discuss this very important issue.
With my remaining 30 seconds I dropped a bombshell in the laps of our distinguished dais. I told them that I was informed by Banc of California employees at the Euclid and Rosecrans Avenue branch that it is closing because a developer bought the property to be part of the development of the entire Sunrise Village Shopping Center to become mixed-use high-density high-rise residential units. The city desperately needs the short-term infusion of money that would be generated by the Park and Recreation Department Park Dwelling fees of $11,700 per residential unit. If they build 500 units for example that would generate an additional $5,850,000 in revenue. This would help to cover the extremely generous salary and benefit employee raises approved by the council last year. More development approvals would be needed to continue paying for these salary and benefit increases approved under Mayor Jennifer Fitzgerald in 2016 for subsequent years. I put the council on notice that I smelled a rat. Namely that the city in my opinion has been dealing with developers to make this mixed use project a reality in the near future. Why else would these landlords create vacant properties with the absence of valuable rents if they only had a hope that they could convert the shopping center to a concrete jungle of mixed use high-density housing units. I told them it was not zoned for that use and that the people of that neighborhood would fight to make sure it never ever came to fruition. You should have seen the faces of Bruce Whitaker and Jennifer Fitzgerald after I finished with my comments. They did not look pleased at all.
Of course, there was no response by any council members to these comments and the Interim Police Chief also was silent after he learned that his department would not take a simple police report by two members of the community. Gee silly me, I thought it was their job to take the statement and then go and investigate; not determine that no crime was committed so therefore no police report was necessary to be taken by them in the first place.
The first order of business has to be from the OCDA Office by filing obstruction of justice charges against Dan Hughes.
Like I said at the beginning of this post, the City of Fullerton and the Fullerton Police Department are corrupt and the Fullerton Police Department needs to clean house
#1 by Joe Imbriano on May 3, 2017 - 11:33 pm
According to our source, it is alleged that Sargeant Corbett had his axon camera turned OFF when he supposedly gave Felz the FCT test. In addition, it is alleged by our source that Corbett gave the orders to The CSI officer on scene to NOT photograph the crime scene, only the tree. According to Dan Hughes’ own admission, Felz smelled of alcohol and was involved in a hit and run and the breathalyzer was not administered because Dan Hughes told the four Fullerton officers on scene Boline, Haid, Gibert, Wilkerson to not do anything until Corbett arrived. Goodrich was the watch commander.
148.
(a) (1) Every person who willfully resists, delays, or obstructs any public officer, peace officer, or an emergency medical technician, as defined in Division 2.5 (commencing with Section 1797) of the Health and Safety Code, in the discharge or attempt to discharge any duty of his or her office or employment, when no other punishment is prescribed, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
The state legal system is set up to give police officers the ability to carry out their functions with minimal interference, and you will face arrest and prosecution if you are perceived to be interfering with the operation of law. In fact, you could be charged with the crime of obstructing justice for doing virtually anything that constitutes an attempt to prevent a police officer from performing their duties
In California, you could be prosecuted for obstructing justice if you:
Lie to a police officer during an investigation
Provide a police officer with misleading information
Try to prevent an arrest (your own or someone else’s)
Attempt to bar the free passage of a police officer
Offer or prepare false evidence in court proceedings
Destroy or attempt to conceal material evidence
Dissuade a witness or prevent them from testifying
OFFERING OR PREPARING FALSE EVIDENCE
Under California Penal Code Sections 132 and 134, it is a crime to knowingly present false written evidence during any kind of legal proceeding and/or prepare false evidence with the intent to use it in a legal proceeding. Both of these offenses are considered to be an obstruction of justice, and could lead to serious legal penalties if you are convicted. Offering or preparing false evidence is a felony offense in the state, which means that you could be sentenced to as much as three years in state prison.
DESTROYING OR CONCEALING EVIDENCE
Under California Penal Code Section 135, it is also a crime to knowingly destroy or conceal material evidence that is relevant to a court case or legal investigation. Most people assume that this is only relevant in criminal cases, but this is not necessarily true. You could still be charged with obstruction of justice if you knowingly destroy or conceal evidence that is relevant to non-criminal court proceedings—which could include, for example, destroying evidence in a divorce case or civil litigation case.
PREVENTING A WITNESS FROM TESTIFYING
Under California Penal Code Section 136.1, it is a crime to knowingly prevent a witness or the victim of a crime from testifying in court or even reporting the crime to the authorities. This could include making direct threats against the witness and/or members of their family, offering money in exchange for their silence or even leaving covert messages indicating that the witness could be harmed if they attempt to testify or report the crime. This offense could either be charged as a misdemeanor or felony.
NOW HOW MANY FULLERTON POLICE DEPARTMENT OFFICERS ARE POTENTIALLY GUILTY OF OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE?
It is alleged that Felz couldn’t stand, smelled of booze and was asking for Chief Danny Hughes. Sgt. Jeff CORBETT arrived and ordered Officer Boline to take Felz home. Fullerton CSI was told to only photograph the damaged tree. The officers were ordered not to arrest Felz or conduct a DUI investigation.
#2 by Anna on May 4, 2017 - 7:14 am
Thank God for people like you Joe. Someone has to stand up against these monsters.
#3 by Benjamin on May 4, 2017 - 7:58 am
It all stems from Pat Mckinley’s leadership. The baton was passed down to Hughes and from Hughes to the current band of so-called FPD “untouchables”. Looks like Imbriano and Levinson are finally gonna crack this mafia.