Sheriff & DA Skirmish Over Suspected Pedophile Deputy
Under the leadership of Mike Carona—our N-word-tossing, fanny-slapping, vodka-slurping, money-hungry, FBI-indicted ex-sheriff—the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) sank into an ethical cesspool. It didn’t make a difference if a deputy was a hard-working public servant (and I know quite a few in this category) or a lazy degenerate. OCSD careers promised damn-good pay, lots of paid time off, no repercussions for wrongdoing and generously funded retirement at the spry age of 50, more than a decade and a half before the rest of us. But there’s apparently another unpublicized perk: If you happen to be a deputy and a pedophile, count on the department to shield you from justice, too.
Before you starched-jeans types at the deputies’ union hyperventilate, swallow the olives from your martinis, drop your glossy vacation brochures and spout off about me, know that this is not me saying this.
The accusation was made by District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, a former superior-court judge.
On June 11—after reportedly unsatisfactory meetings with sheriff’s deputies, Rackauckas sent then-Acting Sheriff Jack Anderson a four-page letter detailing dereliction-of-duty concerns that, if half-true, should make OC residents vomit. According to Rackauckas, the OCSD appears to have attempted to protect a serial pedophile, Deputy Gerald F. Stenger III, from criminal prosecution. Ultimately, Stenger escaped prosecution by committing suicide in April. But at the top of a long list of blunders, according to Rackauckas, was the department assigning the investigation to Myrna Caballero, a deputy who was on a first-name basis with Stenger—and who the DA says repeatedly botched the probe in ways that made it tougher to win a conviction.
John McDonald, spokesman for the sheriff’s department, please tell us Rackauckas is wrong.
“That gets into a personnel matter, and we can’t talk about that,” McDonald says.
It’s against the law to tell the public if a deputy and the deputy she had been assigned to investigate were buddies?
“We investigate our own all the time,” he says.
In his letter, Rackauckas spelled out his concerns, including:
•Caballero failed to conduct separate interviews with potential key sex-crimes witnesses and victims, tainting the information.
•Caballero told one victim, a boy allegedly molested by the deputy beginning at the age of 8, to make what would have clearly been a suspicious call to the deputy at work (he’d never called the deputy at work before), and then failed to ensure the call was recorded.
•Despite the fact that Stenger attempted suicide two hours after Caballero officially revealed the investigation in November 2007, sheriff’s officials let him return to full duty without a single condition or any special oversight—and, get this, allowed him to monitor the investigation via department computers. (Five months later, he later fatally shot himself in the head in an unmarked patrol car in a parking lot near a South County shopping center where his alleged victim worked.)
•Twelve days after Stenger’s November suicide attempt, Caballero and colleague Sergeant Jim England were “oddly” chummy with the 41-year-old Stenger, soothing his fears by assuring him that charges wouldn’t be filed—a claim Rackauckas called “highly unusual” for deputies beginning to interrogate a suspect.
•Though Caballero knew the unmarried Stenger had an adopted son in his Aliso Viejo home, she never interviewed the child to see if he’d been molested; Stenger was under suspicion of molesting a boy he had befriended through local Little League baseball and the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County programs.
•Though it’s standard procedure to seek a search warrant in such cases because pedophiles often store images of their crimes on home computers, Caballero didn’t bother to get one. (Later, DA’s office investigators searched Stenger’s computer and, despite his efforts to erase images, were able to retrieve videos of the deputy molesting his own adopted young son, as well as “thousands” of other child-porn images, according to Rackauckas’ letter.)
•After the sloppy investigation, Caballero told Deputy District Attorney Tony Ferrentino in the sex-crimes unit that he should “reject” prosecuting Stenger because of her “feelings” that no crime had been committed.
Under Carona, the sheriff’s department would have responded to such a letter from Rackauckas with a stiff middle finger. But times have changed, right? After all, there’s a new sheriff in town. And Sandra Hutchens (pictured) won her mid-June appointment to replace Carona and Acting Sheriff Anderson by portraying herself as the Angel of Anti-Internal OCSD Corruption. Surely, Hutchens would be horrified to learn that the department may have protected a pedophile deputy.
Nope.
Hutchens was appointed to her post on June 10, the day before Rackauckas sent his letter; she was sworn in on June 19. Proving she’s not a novice bureaucrat, the newly minted sheriff fired off a defensive June 26 blame-the-messenger letter to Rackauckas. Hutchens wrote that Captain Tim Board, who oversees criminal investigations, “assumes full responsibility for failing to identify any deficiencies in the investigation,” and then, despite that admission, she got pompous.
“I am somewhat uncertain as to why you would question the way our respective offices handle internal investigations,” Hutchens wrote in her a letter—which the sheriff’s office refused to share with me even after I filed a formal California Public Records Act request. (I obtained the letter through other law-enforcement sources.)
Perhaps, Sandra, the answer to your wonderment is elementary: Rackauckas questioned this investigation because the conduct of the OCSD in this case was, well, questionable.
Hutchens, who recently told Cameron Jackson, host of KUCI’s The OC Show, that she will seek election to her office in 2010, declined to field my questions about Stenger or the DA’s complaints. If she had, my first would have been: After all we’ve learned about deputy corruption and incompetence in recent years, can the public have confidence when one Orange County sheriff’s deputy controls the criminal investigation of another deputy?
Instead, Hutchens issued a short written statement that “acknowledged and accepted responsibility for missteps that had taken place,” claimed unspecified “appropriate measures were subsequently taken to ensure that there would be no recurrence of those missteps,” and reiterated what she told Rackauckas: Deputies investigating criminal complaints against deputies in the same department “is the standard for law-enforcement agencies throughout California.”
While Hutchens seems to be hiding behind the status quo, Rackauckas appears to want to play—at least in this circumstance—the role of reformer. We’ll have to see how this plays out, but for now, the DA is saying the right things.
“The Stenger investigation reveals the classic problem when a law-enforcement agency investigates its own,” Rackauckas says. “The perception of bias, whether fact or fiction, is an impediment to public confidence in law enforcement.”
-- R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly
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JEH says:
Why am I not surprised by this?
Posted on Wednesday, Sep. 17 2008 @ 8:17PM
Debby Bodkin says:
As for DA Rackauckas, give him kudos for following up with the Stenger investigation. Afterall, Stenger is now deceased and that would be a good excuse to drop the ball on a bias iand bumbled nvestigation by Sheriffs investigating their own.
But, there are still many sexual predators in the OC that were protected by both the DA and the OC Sheriff.... some that will NEVER have to register as sex offenders and will never see a day in criminal court. Sheriff Hutchens has not won the confidence of the public.... hopefully, she will find the time to respond to letters relating to potential fraudulent evidence, etc. She knows the letter I am referring to.
The same attorney still represents the OC Sheriff and the Diocese of Orange simultaneously, years after the obvious conflict of interest was reported to law enforcement. To date, no one gives a rip!
Was Stenger Catholic or was there another reason why the Sheriff's Department protected him over the safety of children by looking away from the facts of a fair investigation? Maybe it was because Stenger lived in Aliso Viejo.... a convenient place to utilize information about the exploitation of children, especially if another individual was being set up, etc., etc. No need to explain the convenience of Aliso Viejo... those knowing the truth will fully understand.
Posted on Wednesday, Sep. 17 2008 @ 9:33PM
Told You So says:
Three words: Sheriff Paul Walters
Posted on Wednesday, Sep. 17 2008 @ 9:45PM
The Rev. says:
The Sheriffs Office puts employees on admin. leave for just about anything....why wouldn't they put Stenger out on leave until all of the investigations and decisions were completed??? On top of that he was suicidal and they still let him carry a gun, and remain on duty!!
England is the supervisor of Sex Crimes, and was promoted as a result of doing a good job for Carona investigating Hunt and his supporters....He is responsible for recommendations of what should have been done with Stenger from the beggining. Keep lying and denying England, you fat pos......
Posted on Wednesday, Sep. 17 2008 @ 10:05PM
Altoid says:
I would like to know just how many internal criminal cases the OCSD has referred to the OCDA's office over the years, only to have them rejected. That might be an interesting statistic. Me thinks that there is more to this story, and that the OCDA is not so innocent and righteous as he portrays himself and his people.
Posted on Thursday, Sep. 18 2008 @ 7:33AM
livinlargeinoc says:
A very strange case indeed that demands answers. I agree with "Altoid" that the DA is far from squeeky clean on this and a whole host of other issues. T-Rack is a grandstanding POS that has taken advantage of the turmoil at OCSD to promote his own self-serving agenda. There's an old saying: "Those that live in glass houses, shouldn't throw stones." Pay attention T-Rack, you idiot!
Posted on Thursday, Sep. 18 2008 @ 4:18PM
Corrupt DA says:
How about asking the DA's office to unseal their investigative file on this case. I will bet they refuse to do so. When they do someone needs to ask why. T Rack is a scary man and he has the media in the palm of his hand.
Posted on Thursday, Sep. 18 2008 @ 11:37PM
B and E says:
Hey isnt England the guy who was caught breaking into employee lockers?
Posted on Thursday, Sep. 18 2008 @ 11:43PM
Green Machine says:
This same corrupt mob, also headed by Tim "Yes man" Board and Jim "The fat cowboy" England had no problem investigating Lt. Bill Hunt, I bet they didn't pre-judge or jump to any conclusons there either! But lets give them the benfit of the doubt, Hunt isn't a child molester afterall, he was only trying to warn all of us about the corruption in the Sheriff's Department! I guess he got what he had coming to him.
Posted on Friday, Sep. 19 2008 @ 6:15AM
John Doe says:
So what is worse: the OCSD's crew-up on this case, or the fact that Rackauckas would never have made the skirmish public if it weren't for his office's DNA lab battle with OCSD?
Posted on Friday, Sep. 19 2008 @ 8:08AM
Joe Blow says:
So what is worse: the OCSD's screw-up on this case, or the fact that Rackauckas would never have made the skirmish public if it weren't for his office's DNA lab battle with OCSD?
Posted on Friday, Sep. 19 2008 @ 8:09AM
Flasher says:
Hey who is the cop that got caught flashing and being a peeping tom in Lake Forest 2 weeks ago? Now that has to be a good story.
Posted on Friday, Sep. 19 2008 @ 8:24AM
inquiring mind says:
I knew Stenger and I don't know if he was guilty or not. I do know he was not a stupid man and very computer savvy. If he had anything incriminating at all, he would of gotten rid of long ago. His computer and all. After all, he knew for months about this investigation of this incident that possibly happened over 12 years ago..
I do I wonder why the DA waited to search Stenger's residence AFTER his death. And that is when they discovered all this evidence??
Could it be possible the DA planted this evidence?
Could the DA be covering his ass because he leaked the impending arrest to the media so he could be seen on TV?
Could it be that the DA wanted a conviction so bad he could taste it?
Well Mr. T-Rack, you can't convict a dead man, but you can sure toot your own horn by criticizing the Sheriff's Dept and trying to place the blame on others.
The DA records on this case need to be unsealed for everyone's sake (friends and family alike)
Posted on Friday, Sep. 19 2008 @ 1:15PM
Amazed says:
Hutchens is clueless. She's making of all people Rackauckas look good. I feel for this county.
Posted on Saturday, Sep. 20 2008 @ 2:55PM
MSLGWCEO says:
A little off topic but California must spend $50,287,816 in order to save $721,935 And that's just for starters. See the article, "Federal Domestic Spending Bill Cuts Crime Funding Program by 67 Percent." at www.cfcoklahoma.org
Posted on Sunday, Sep. 21 2008 @ 2:08PM
MSLGWCEO says:
A little off topic but California must spend $50,287,816 in order to save $721,935 And that's just for starters. See the article, "Federal Domestic Spending Bill Cuts Crime Funding Program by 67 Percent." at www.cfcoklahoma.org
Posted on Sunday, Sep. 21 2008 @ 2:09PM
Anonymous says:
Dear "Inquiring Mind".
You knew Jerry, eh? Me too.
He was intelligent, had a great sense of humor, and was good at his job. Great around the house for fixing things, too.
Yes, he was very good with computers,too.Although he DID erase numerous Kiddie porn images off of his computer in an effort to hide the evidence one difficulty remained.
Just one problem, he did not know VISTA well enough to know that even after one deletes a file, VISTA saves a thumbnail image.
Jerry had so much kiddie porn, he may have forgotten about the movies in his safe.
About the investigators "planting evidence"... oh please, get real! There were DVDs in Jerry's safe of his adopted son being molested at a younger age than he is now. Highly unlikely that the DA or anyone else framed him.
Are you still trying to convince the public he wasn't a pedophile? Surprise! None of us who knew Jerry or thought he was our good friend want to believe that Jerry molested little boys.
Jerry was intelligent enough to put up a terrific front. But Jerry was , without a doubt, a pedophile. Yes, a child molester...plain and simple.
He screwed up my son's life royally. Our family will never get those years back.
Posted on Monday, Sep. 22 2008 @ 11:46AM
You know who I am says:
Oh come on Tony-you have known about this corruption for a long time.Part of the problem is that the D.A.'s office is in the same union! These are only two high profile crines that you have addressed. What about the stealers, wife beaters and the stalkers?These people have been reported and you did nothing. You residents are so clueless! Wise up Orange County-OCSD has been a cesspool for a very long long time. It's more than a code of silence. It's covering up another's transgessions, terrorizing those who whistle blow against the department. As I have said before it's organized crime with a badge.
This cesspool (OCSD) has ruined a lot of people's lives-and there is not a damned thing we can do about it.
Posted on Friday, Sep. 26 2008 @ 9:57PM
Mike says:
Interestimg, coming from a DA who fires his attorneys who vote against him. He fires his workforce for not agreeign with him. He's as much a joke as Carona was.
Posted on Friday, Oct. 10 2008 @ 9:06AM
Terry Wagar says:
The authority's frame people as pedophiles all the time,
they call it "pedofied" and they do it because they can
get away with murder by pedofying someone they want
dead.
I am a witness as well as a victim of these tactics and
I have them admitting to it on a audio file.
It's the easiest thing in the world for authority's to
frame someone as a pedophile.
They can hack your computer and upload you know what on
your computer and the next day the sheriff's are kicking
down your door and charging you as a pedo, and it's your
word against there's.
It's there faverite way to kill people because they die
as the bad guy's and the authority's that framed them
look like the good guy's.
If someone in authority has it out for you they will
give you a criminal record without you ever being
charged or going to court.
They will put something like "under investigation for
child porn" on your record.
Good luck getting a job now, and a prospective employer
will not tell you that's on your record, they simply
wont hire you.
If you find out about it and complain to authority they
will simply pretend error.
If they want you dead, then they will "investigate" you
by going to your neighborhood and go door to door giving
your description but not your name claiming there
looking for a pedophile in the neighborhood.
They do this KNOWING it will give you a reputation, the
kind of reputation that will get you shot.
Sometimes they pedofy people already behind prison walls
by simply telling other prisoners behind your back that
your a pedophile.
Don't you think the prisoners will kill someone which
they believe is a pedophile?
Don't you think the accusation by a prison guard behind
your back is good enough for someone in the shower to
stab you?
The authority's don't have to formally charge you as a
pedophile to frame you as one, the accusation alone is
good enough in this country to get you killed and
authority's hands are clean.
I already have authority's on an audio file admitting
they pedofy people they want dead for the purpose of
getting away with murder.
They don't even care if I tell any one about it because
when it comes down to it, who's going to arrest them?
No one.
Think about it, how easy it is to turn hundreds or
thousands of people against someone with just that
acusation.
That's why the authority's privatly call it pedofied.
They will never admit to it because it is premeditated
murder and they KNOW it, they KNOW it gets people
killed.
Posted on Monday, Jul. 20 2009 @ 3:59PM