Last week Fullerton’s contracted City Attorney Dick Jones announced during the Closed Session Report of a City Council meeting that financial settlements had been reached in two legal cases against the City of Fullerton. The Rag has been waiting for some news about the first case, Castaneda vs. the City of Fullerton, since we wrote about it last September.
The suit alleged that a now former Fullerton Police Detective named Ronald Bair had demanded sexual favors from a woman in exchange for favorable testimony in her child custody case. The details of the case were very disturbing. The plaintiff reportedly felt compelled to comply with demands for sex by Det. Bair, who had investigated a breach of restraining order against her, because he had also offered to testify on her behalf in her child custody case. She later filed an anonymous complaint with the FPD, but claimed that FPD officers mishandled it by inappropriately informing Det. Bair:
“Shortly thereafter, detective RONALD BAIR called the plaintiff and threatened her and said that she was going to die. It was obvious that he had been told, by the other defendants, about her ‘anonymous’ complaint about his conduct. He told the plaintiff that he knew that she had a court hearing coming up and that the plaintiff would never see my daughter again. He told the plaintiff that his police buddies would come after her.”
With a four vote majority, and one abstention, the Fullerton City Council agreed to pay the plaintiff $ 550,000.00. No details were offered about why one member of the Council chose to abstain from the vote, and since it occurred in Closed Session, there are no notes available to public to explain this strange action by a City Council member in a decision that involved over half a million dollars.
On July 23 the OC Register published a story about the case, written by reporter Lou Ponsi.
Fullerton is paying $550,000 to settle lawsuit involving cop accused of sex-for-testimony trade
In the article, Fullerton City Manager Joe Felz makes the claim that the “encounters” between Det. Bair and the plaintiff were “consensual,” and occurred while he was “off-duty.” Off duty or not, does it seem like a good idea for a police detective to be having sex with a crime victim whose case he had investigated and for whom he has provided testimony in a child custody case?
Mr. Ponsi then reports:
‘The police “fully investigated” Castaneda’s accusations against the former detective and then submitted a report to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, the city manager said.’ And then, ‘The District Attorney’s Office declined to file criminal charges because of insufficient evidence…’
Well, there you have it. The police, who are alleged to have improperly informed a detective about a serious complaint made against him, filed their own report with the DA, who couldn’t find any evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
In the next paragraph of the Register’s report, Mr. Felz first states that the ‘“alleged inappropriate relationship” between Castaneda and Bair involved “two mutually consenting adults,” before crossing an ocean sized gap in logic behind settling a case for over half a million dollars to “to minimize legal expenses.”
If there is no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, and the relationship was consensual, why is the city afraid to continue fighting the civil suit? Sure, lawyers cost money, and in the real world cities settle lawsuits to save taxpayers money all the time, but this time there is a $ 550,000.00 payout. That’s a large sum of money for what is effectively claimed to have been a non-issue.
$ 550,000.00 should also be more than enough to fund a Citizen’s Independent Police Commission. As we noted last September, an oversight board would have received the plaintiff’s disturbing complaints when they were filed, and investigated any alleged mishandling of it. Just having such a commission in place might alone discourage such behavior. Instead, a majority of the Fullerton City Council chose a periodic and incomplete independent audit model, citing the alleged cost of commission investigations.
https://fullertonrag.com/proposal-for-a-fullerton-police-commission/)
As it now stands, we have no independent civilian oversight, and we have to pay over half a million dollars to settle a lawsuit over acts between a crime victim and a Fullerton Police Detective the City Manager claims were consensual. I wonder how the members of the City Council whose campaigns were backed by the police union, and later voted against a Civilian Police Commission, will explain that one to the people of Fullerton?
At press time Police Chief Dan Hughes has yet to weigh in publicly on the case, and it doesn’t seem to have made Behind the Badge’s Fullerton page…
fullertonrag.com 
I remember when Lou Ponsi left a comment on this very website stating that the DA had assured him that there was absolutely no evidence whatsoever to support the alleged victim’s claims. A $550,000 payout and a tacit admission that Bair did have a sexual relationship with Castenada while he was investigating her criminal complaint against her ex husband would pretty much put to lie the DA’s claim of absolutely no evidence.
Also, this story would be disturbing even if this relationship was 100% consensual. Police officers have absolutely no business sleeping with victims (or defendants) while in the middle of an investigation – it puts their objectivity at issue and could lead to otherwise guilty suspects going free when the relationship is exposed. I am frankly stunned that this hasn’t turned out to be a bigger story by now.
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Yes, it should be a much bigger story. What I want to know is whether the DA’s office investigated anything at all or just relied on the FPD’s report.
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“What I want to know is whether the DA’s office investigated anything at all or just relied on the FPD’s report.”
. . . Oh, man. That’s good. I’m dying over here.
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Yes, this is the same DA whose office the Dean of UCI’s law school said should be investigated by the U.S. Dept. of Justice.
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Bairs riduculous accusations as seen in this video were probably the type of aggression that was used also against Castaneda . Somehow the city managers overlooking of his outrageous behavior seems to me equally disturbing.
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It’s beyond obvious that it’s business as usual for the FPD. Nothing will change until there is public oversight. This kind of corruption all stems from the advent of public unions. Public unions pit what used to be a public servant against the very people paying their checks and the very people they are supposed to serve. Instead of a sense of community and helping the people of Fullerton the people of Fullerton have become the enemy of many in the FPD and this all starts with the playing field brought to us by public employee unions!. It also accounts for the brazen behavior and attitudes by some of these union thugs! They have no fear because there is no accountability…they don’t even go to jail when they commit murder or rape on the citizen’s of Fullerton. This is ridiculous. Funny there is no mention of this in the FPD propaganda rag called Behind the Badge. There misguided PR plan for restoring good faith with the people they are supposed to serve. I would love to see a solution that doesn’t come from the pockets of the citizens of Fullerton!
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Another question: How is the OC DA not even investigating a perjury charge? The San Ramon article in the OC Weekly claimed Bair changed his testimony in family court (under oath) when the “relationship” ended and claimed the victim was affiliated with the mafia, a danger to her child and crazy. The Ponsi article doesn’t mention any of these charges and given the pro-FPD slant I would assume they would have mentioned if this allegation had Bair never made any such statements. So were the statements true? Did Bair have any factual basis to make the claims other than she didn’t want to sleep with him? I know the DA’s office has their hands full re-trying a guy for a misdemeanor failure to disperse, but you almost have to work harder to come up with a reason to NOT charge Bair than to actually charge him.
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I found it equally disturbing that the local media has chosen to ignore Defective Bair’s long time role as a DARE police officer within the Fullerton school system. Is this the guy that you would trust to question your daughter at her school unsupervised?
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Lets not forget that the victim spent almost 1 year in a domestic violence safe house in OC for severe domestic violence approved by the County and State to protect her in the year 2013 when these incidents took place. Bair was on duty and the DA told her to destroy the evidence that is why there is ‘lack of evidence’ and it was a huge cover up because they did not want to criminally charge Bair and they did not want to take a lot of the evidence she and the Rape and Sexual assault unit had in her favor. She did obtain her child back and proved that the false claims by Bair in court said about her were not true she also has a clear criminal record as a regular civilian. The victim Castaneda was able to cope with the help of Orange County Rape advocates and RAINN whom she got the help from when she suffered from Bair’s rape and sexual assault. Forcing something against your will is not consensual relationship that is what the city and Dept want you all to believe that it was a ‘relationship’ and that it was ‘consensual’ when it was not. Bair gets rewarded with an early retirement for harming a women and a child. More officers at FPD were involved with harassing the victim after she tried to complain about Bair but they were threatening her to keep her mouth shut. Way to go Fullerton PD and OC DA for protecting women and children whom are victims of abuse. No accountability at all for Fullerton police officers who harm people… Especially a former officer like Bair who used to specialize in the ‘children sex crimes unit’ at Fullerton PD. Disgusting.
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You may want to note that the Fullerton Observer’s article regarding Detective Bad little Bair’s lascivious actions not only cost the residents of Fullerton half a million dollars when , the article also fails to mention that this same Detective was allowed to retire before the age of 50 at the rate of $1,500 a week, $6,000 a month, or more than $72,000 a year for the rest of his miserable life.
But why would the Fullerton Observer bring the subject of more payouts for the residents of Fullerton up when it doesn’t serve the political agenda of the horses asses who write for them like Professor Emeritus Vince Buck?
That would be politically expedient would it?
http://transparentcalifornia.com/pensions/2013/calpers/ronald-a-bair/
Whoever said that crime never pays?
NOT the bleating sheep/residents of Fullerton eh?
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What do you have against Vince Buck to call him something like that? If he wrote something with which you disagree, then contest it specifically. This isn’t a blog for wholesale name calling.
The Observer’s last issue was published right after the Bair settlement was announced. They didn’t have much time for details.
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Since you asked Matt, I guess that this article is as good of place as any to begin to help explain to others unfamiliar with Vince Buck’s views, and why it is my PERSONAL opinion that this man is a person that ignores the good of others for political expedience that serves his own ilk.
I thought referring to him as a horse’s behind was being kind?
http://articles.latimes.com/1994-06-19/local/me-5779_1_recall-fullerton-resident-cal-state-fullerton
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In retrospect, maybe I should have used the vernacular that Vince Back himself refers to in the op-ed piece that he wrote for the LA Times when the residents of Fullerton didn’t agree with his ill held position.
It’s the part where Vince Buck refers to all of us as “poorly informed”, which to me implies that we’re not too bright.
Would that be more palatable or “politically correct” if I referred to Vince Buck as poorly informed instead of using the vernacular that I feel more comfortable using?
http://articles.latimes.com/1994-06-14/local/me-3832_1_city-government
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It would certainly be more polite, and in keeping with the intent of this blog, which is to foster a civil discussion about local issues. For example, I might characterize a decision made by someone as “boneheaded,” while not referring to that person as a “bonehead.”
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This is a digital copy of the Fullerton Observer’s coverage of the city council race before the election was held in November of 2012
Note the slanted coverage throughout the edition given towards city council candidates Travis Kiger and Bruce Whitaker, and note how the Editor infers that that Bruce Whitaker received the endorsement of the Republican party and that Travis KIger received an endorsement from the Republicans as well because, “he’s Bruce’s sidekick”.
Now ask yourselves if you consider the Fullerton Observer to be non-partisan in it’s coverage of the city council candidates who DO NOT blindly support the public employees unions here in Fullerton?
Click to access 50dca9_1450c20a37e166c87ff05187c493bdc0.pdf
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… I know that you opined that the reason that the Fullerton Observer didn’t have enough time to compile any details about Detective Bair’s because the 1/2 a million dollar settlement that he left all of us residents of Fullerton on the hook for, yet here we are a month later and still no further details forthcoming?
I’d stop holding my breath if I were you Matt if your truly expecting unbiased journalism from the Fullerton Observer.
Do you really believe that the Fullerton Observer truly serves the as residents of Fullerton as they espouse on page 2?
“Our purpose is to inform Fullerton residents
about the institutions and other societal
forces which most impact their lives, so
that they may be empowered to participate
in constructive ways to keep and make these
private and public entities serve all residents
in lawful, open, just, and socially-responsible
ways.”
In my honest opinion, it is only when it serves to further their agenda or is politically expedient.
Click to access 50dca9_066c2c33f73d442b905d32ad26db1a1e.pdf
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I don’t expect unbiased journalism from anyone because I don’t think it exists. Perhaps you should offer to cover the story for The Observer.
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Hi Matt, As a personal aside, I’ve asked Sharon to write this story, however when she stated to me that the victim was “severely disturbed”, and characterized the relationship as consensual,I knew it was another case of shooting the messenger, and have given up hope in the Observer as being unbiased and would characterize it as self serving propaganda. Best Regards, Mark
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Direct quote from a letter penned by Chief Hughes to the victim after she complained about Bair and other members of the Fullerton Police Department harassing her after she filed an initial complaint.
“I understand your frustration with former officer Ron Bair, but you have blamed him for your situation, the judge, and now three additional members of our department,” Hughes told Castaneda. “You may also want to consider the poor choices you have made to contribute to your current situation.”
It’s always easier to shoot the messenger than it is to be honest about shortcomings in the personnel your directly responsible for Supervising eh Chief Hughes?
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I was also astonished to read those comments in the OC Weekly. I’d like to see the letter in its entirety. This is just the reason we need a civilian police commission.
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Agreed.
I just don’t think it’ll ever happen until we have representatives on the city council who are beholden to the residents they represent, rather than the special interests that sponsor their city council and school district campaigns.
I further believe that district elections type of campaigns would scale the costs to get re-elected,provide better accountability to their neighbors who vote to elect them, as candidates will have to reside in the district they represent, which should help keep the lines of communication open, as residents will know the specific council person who represents them, so that they may specifically contact with their concerns.
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I just wanted to share one of the many reasons that I believe that our political process is skewed towards preserving the good name of Fullerton Police Department by sharing this Fullerton Police Officer’s Association’s union missive titled “The Value of Political Involvement”.
The Author is former FPOA President and FPD Public Information Officer, Andrew Goodrich.
Interestingly enough, I shared this same document with Doug Chaffee BEFORE he was sponsored/recruited by the FPOA to run for City Council.
Click to access The-Value-of-Political-Involvement.pdf
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