Prison let sergeant resign after he was arrested for allegedly meeting teen girl
SACRAMENTO >> A sergeant with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation was allowed to resign in lieu of being fired after his arrest for allegedly soliciting a minor for sex in an agreement that failed to include a “no rehire” clause, according to a report released Thursday by a state oversight agency.
The 39-year-old corrections sergeant, who isn’t named in the report, allegedly showed up to a hotel with a pocket full of condoms in August 2020 to meet someone he believed was a 16-year-old girl. In reality, it was an undercover police detective who’d been chatting with the sergeant on a dating app, the report says.
After the sergeant’s arrest, the state corrections department dismissed him, but he appealed the dismissal to the State Personnel Board. In a settlement reached before the appeal was taken up, the state allowed him to resign and technically left the door open for a rehiring. The Office of the Inspector General blasted both the settlement and the missing norehire clause, writing that “arguments in favor of dismissal were strong” and recommending no-rehire provisions be implemented in all similar cases.
“Because the department allowed the sergeant to resign, he will not have to seek permission from the board to take an examination or apply for a state job in the future,” the report says. “The OIG believes this sergeant, who was found to have attempted to solicit sex from a 16-year-old, should be prohibited from working not only as a peace officer, but also as a civil servant.”
The corrections department posted a response to the report on its website, calling it inaccurate and insisting that state law prohibited the use of no-rehire clauses starting in January 2020.
“While this incident was troubling, we followed proper protocols stipulated in the state’s no-rehire procedure with the State Personnel Board, reduced a likely lengthy litigation process and ensured there was proper communication and resolution. Ultimately, the case resulted in holding the sergeant accountable,” the response says.
Because of state laws that limit what the inspector general can disclose in its reports, neither the sergeant’s name nor the facility where he worked was listed in the report.
The sergeant wasn’t the only state corrections employee to be arrested in a sting of this type; also in August 2020, a 54-yearold information technology specialist at Wasco State Prison was arrested for allegedly engaging in illicit chats with a detective he believed to be a 15-yearold girl.
Last month, a 22-yearold corrections officer was arrested for allegedly sending sexually explicit material to two girls younger than 14, according to media reports.