John Chiv: "I submit this to you, John, in the hopes that your diligence as a reporter and truth-seeker will bring some of this to light. "

May 27, 2021

"I submit this to you, John, in the hopes that your diligence as a reporter and truth-seeker will bring some of this to light. "

I write this letter needing anonymity, as I am a current Eureka Police employee and do not desire to have my life upended in the manner that other officers have had recently.

I - and pretty much every other Eureka officer - am grossly disappointed in the Sac Bee's several recent articles impugning the integrity of the department and the integrity of the officers involved in the (Bee's self-proclaimed) "texting scandal". More upsetting to me though, is the fact that Bee clearly did zero due diligence in investigating the claims reported to them by this so called "anonymous source", who was using the Bee to generate publicity to distract from his own grievous and criminal wrongdoings. That source, incidentally, is Eureka Police Officer Matthew White - this is known to everyone here, and it's no surprise given his history.

White was a lateral officer (meaning "pre-trained") who came to EPD seven years ago. He came here from Los Angeles Police, from where he had been fired. I believe he was terminated for possession of drug paraphernalia on duty. Please, verify same with LAPD's personnel.

Since his employment at EPD, he has been embroiled in numerous internal investigations for excessive force, discourtesy, alleged sexual deviance / recruitment of prostitutes, and the like. Verify same with EPD personnel.

Why he has not been terminated prior to now is anyone's guess; as he is universally disliked by the rank and file officers. He has shown himself to be untrustworthy and there have been documented incidents of his stealing the property of other officers, engaging in deceitful behavior, lying to co-workers and supervisors, and engaging in patterns (plural) of harassment of citizens who he has had "run ins" with. He is the kind of cop that "good cops" want to see dismissed from the force. Again, please verify same with EPD to validate.

Of specific relevance to this "texting scandal": Officer White was recently involved in a significant use of force against a handcuffed suspect; and that suspect was injured as a result. Refer to a local news story (which was authored just after the event, and before the extent of the use of force was known). Inquiring about this event and this arrested person with EPD should net you the confirmation of my information:

Further, I believe that Officer White lied or at the very least embellished his testimony in a preliminary hearing to make himself out to be more of a victim, and to obfuscate the force he used on the man after the man was already handcuffed and no longer resisting.

Officer White was made aware that an internal investigation was about to launched, and the supervisor who communicated this to him was Sgt Reyna-Sanchez. Sgt Reyna-Sanchez reportedly told Officer White that the excessive force investigation was very serious and the department would be pushing for his termination and for his prosecution for assault under color of authority.

It was at this point that Officer White had communication with reporter Jason Pohl of the Sac Bee and communicated to him a text exchange that he had been privy to between Sgt Reyna-Sanchez and other officers of the patrol shift he had most recently worked. There is no doubt in anyone's mind that the reason Officer White chose to do this is not because he wanted to "do the right thing" and turn in these other officers, but because he was desperate to find something to distract the department and the public from his upcoming investigation, termination, and prosecution. The very timing of it should arouse the suspicion of anyone purporting to be an investigative journalist - valid questions to be asked are why wait 16 months to report something, and why report it now, and why report it to the media and not to your superiors?

Ironically, since the Bee seems to want to "clean up" and hold accountable government agencies, this report by the Bee had the opposite effect of scrambling the EPD to hold the officers who had texted each other accountable for various administrative issues, while putting the Officer White assault investigation on the "back burner". This allowed Officer White to keep working patrol - in fact, as it stands today, White remains on patrol, in uniform, carrying a gun, making arrests; despite the fact that some of the officers who are accused of nothing more than making some rude comments in a private setting are on administrative leave, disarmed, and without arrest powers. This seems to be the opposite of cleaning up a "toxic" (Sac Bee's word) department; instead giving violent and abusive officers a shield to hide behind.

This above information may be a little harder to verify with EPD, since internal investigations are "internal" unless there are certain criteria met. Two of those criteria include "dishonesty" and "force causing significant injury", both of which should apply here. I would encourage you to try and delve into this and obtain the investigation from EPD.

Additionally, the Sac Bee's follow up article also penned by Pohl was hardly more than a smear piece which anyone reading clearly could see was biased against Sgt Reyna-Sanchez, EPD, and many officers. I think that the failure of that second article to get picked up in the national news like the first one did validates my thoughts about that - even in this anti-police climate other journalists reading it were like: "ok, what?" In many ways that second article was almost an exoneration of the involved parties as it demonstrated such a grotesque anti-police / anti-EPD bias on the part of Pohl... starting the article with an event from 15 years ago seemed like a good summary of the slanderous reporting that was to follow.

Please pull public record personnel files on Sgt Reyna Sanchez and Officer Meftah, and whatever other officer involved in the "texting scandal" that you can identify (it seems you have at least two other officer's names). You'll note that contrary to White's checkered past detailed above, these men and women are decent, good people who put community first and have scores of awards, commendations, and accolades from the public; and few, if any, disciplinary actions on their record.

Truly, as a news source, the Bee should be ashamed of itself. Printing one person's say so with no further investigation into the "why" of it is disgraceful. I submit this to you, John, in the hopes that your diligence as a reporter and truth-seeker will bring some of this to light. I highly doubt the city attorney, mayor, city manager, or council are aware of the "backstory" and most likely aren't even aware that White is a subject of a significant internal investigation with an eye on terminating and prosecuting him - but boy, oh boy, they were all over some private text messages!

The city government most likely also is unaware that a sexual harassment complaint was just made against one of the two EPD captains, and that he is currently on administrative leave while that is being investigated. Rumors abound, and I'm not one for willy-nilly spreading of them, but the scuttlebutt is that he won't be returning to work. I happen to like and respect this captain, so I don't desire to do him any further damage; but this information seems relevant in painting an overall picture of the department and its recent employment-related failures. I doubt inquires about this allegation on your part with the chief's office will get you very far, but it's worth a shot.

Also relevant is that fact that numerous officers and non-sworn staff are planning to leave employment with the department. The agency has always had a hard time recruiting and retaining officers, but the above issues and the issues raised, to some extent, in the other letters you have received are causing many employees to look for the exit door. The department in six months will likely be a shell of itself, and the remaining officers will be compelled to work mandated overtime in dismal conditions, further diminishing morale and reducing the effectiveness of the police department, and thus compromising community safety.

I'm not big on the whole "anonymous letters" thing, but some misinformation has seeped its way into the public and I'd like to make the while story known, since it appears the department is taking exactly zero steps to move along any internal investigations.

I was the one to identify the third and fourth officer first. I was the one who reported about Officer Matt White. And in fairness, since all the other police officers names are known, the sixth officer is Porambo Young.

Since, that initial "EPD texts" hit piece by Sacramento Bee, which was regurgitated by other local and national media based on two selective screenshots without questioning the content, what has the rest of media done?

I am the only one that has followed up, researched and investigated this matter.

Long before these letters, if you read my previous posts and my initial post, I raised questions. I surmised and I was correct.

The City paid big bucks to this firm to investigate what? Reaction from a bunch of agenda driven anti police "media" and activists.

EPD is a very stressful job. COVID 19 made it worse. What mental health resources and options are given to the officers? The department has many good officers and had many decent officers. They and the department are scapegoated for a bunch of worthless politicians, overpaid bureaucrats and weak community that bails on the very men and women in blue that protect them daily.

According to different sources, EPD Captain O'Neill is on admin leave. I have emailed EPD.

EPD Chief Watson's responded shortly after 5 p.m.

"John, in answer to your question, “Yes” he is currently is on leave. However, I cannot discuss why or in relation to what matter. Please remember the penal code and evidence code prohibit the City from publicly discussing any police officer’s performance or discipline. Therefore it is the City’s policy and legal requirement not to comment regarding on-going investigations or identify officers who may be subject to disciplinary investigations.

Chief Watson

The City of Eureka has been silent after the initial article. No timeline, no status when I follow up. After the last two letters, no response from EPD Chief Steve Watson. I was planning on following up with EPD or the City before this letter. Requesting verification is complicated even with a recent SB1421. This blog is read by the City and law enforcement, including the brass.

I have made a formal request to the City of Eureka with specific questions about the firm's investigation and incidents.

1. Any communication, status update from

Sacks, Rickets and Case since they were hired to investigate after the Sac Bee article about the "EPD texts."

2. Any disciplinary records about Matt White, including his arrest and alleged excessive use of force used against Daniel Aubrey, specifically October 2020

3. Any Complaint and name of officer who sent inappropriate texts to the animal control officer

4. Any Complaint and name of officer who sent texts to female employees of his testicles/poison oak

5. Any Complaint and name of officer who showed his testicles to female dispatchers

6. Are Sgt. Liles and Officer Andrew Endsley involved in the incidents mentioned in request 3, 4 and 5.

The City of Eureka has responded that they received my PRA request.

I doubt the City of Eureka or EPD brass will respond. Their failure to keep the public informed is enabled by the complete lack of accountability and selective coverage by other local and regional "media." Don't call yourself a reporter or journalist if you don't do your job.

The Sacramento Bee has ignored several attempts by me on Twitter to respond since the initial piece and the letter writer makes the same points. I have try once more. I have information that the Sacramento Bee and Pohl were contacted in May and did not respond or follow up.

Daniel Aubrey post (local news story related to referred to about Matt White):

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2020/10/daniel-aubrey-arrested-for-carjacking.html?m=1#more

Previous posts:

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-recent-text-messages-leaked-to-sac.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/05/this-is-second-tip-i-have-received.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/04/city-of-eureka-has-no-update-yet-on-epd.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/04/epd-officer-pat-bishop-fired-few-days.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/03/fifth-officer-in-text-chain-broke-up.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/03/is-this-petition-about-racism-mental.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/03/former-sacramento-police-officer.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/03/ts-and-loco-besides-ripping-off-my-work.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/03/however-i-can-tell-you-that-given.html?m=1