Westmorland PD and others target of lawsuit
WESTMORLAND — One former and one current officer of the Westmorland Police Department filed a lawsuit against the department and others last month related to alleged work-related harassment and retaliation that they say ultimately ended in the termination of one and the reversal of promotion for another.
Maximus Barabino, who was terminated in December, and Officer Alfonso Martinez filed a lawsuit at the Imperial County Superior Court with a total of 12 different complaints against the department, current Police Chief Perry Monita and Police Commissioner and Councilman Henry Graham.
The complaints include retaliation, defamation of character, wrongful termination, failure to pay overtime and failure to timely pay wages, among others.
El Centro attorney Ryan Childers, who represents the city’s police department, Graham and Monita, said he has documents to disprove most of the allegations made by the two officers in the lawsuit.
Those allegations date back to 2014. The officers state in their suit that from 2014 through 2017 they were not fully compensated for all the hours they worked and were prohibited from claiming overtime when they worked more than 40 hours per week. By contrast, the men say while former Police Chief Fred Beltran and others in the department accrued large amounts of overtime.
Barabino and Martinez allege they were “treated differently and unfavorably” compared to the rest of the officers.
Although former Chief Beltran retired a year ago, the lawsuit alleges the work hostility remained after current Chief Monita was appointed by the council last summer. Though most of their complaints relate to the time Beltran led the department, Barabino and Martinez also allege the council didn’t follow proper protocols in the hiring process for a new chief of police.
Specifically they claim that when candidate qualifications for the position were being reviewed, Morita initially didn’t meet the requirements and yet was listed as a finalist anyway. By contrast, Barabino said he did meet those qualifications himself and yet wasn’t considered for an interview for the position.
Childers said both claims are false. He said he has documents signed by City Clerk Sally Traylor in which she declared Morita had the required qualifications. Childers also said Barabino was interviewed by a panel that which included law enforcement officials from multiple agencies and that they can corroborate that.
“Unfortunately there are many facts in their case that are provably untrue and false,” Childers said.
In their suit, both officers described a work environment of hostility primarily after they brought some of their concerns to the council in the spring of 2017, including the “non-payment of officer’s wages, misappropriation of public funds, falsification of paperwork, officer safety issues, nepotism, favoritism and hostile treatment of plaintiffs.”
Childers said as soon as the two officers approached the council with their concerns about the management of the police department under Beltran, the council forwarded the pertinent documents to the Sheriff’s Office and the FBI for review. Since then, the case has been referred to the Department of Homeland Security, which is now handling the case.
Childers said allegations the council had covered up misdeeds in the department are moot because it has cooperated with the investigation from the start.
Barabino and Martinez also allege that since the new police chief took over, “Monita continued the hostile, unlawful, and retaliatory work environment at the (police department),” the lawsuit alleges.
Barabino has claimed former Chief of Police Beltran destroyed certifications and training documents in his file. The fired cop said this was done in retaliation for speaking out about some of the activities he deemed to be inappropriate. This, he said, was used months later as grounds for his termination.
Childers responded to the allegation by stating he has evidence Barabino submitted falsified documents related to qualifications he didn’t have.
“This is extremely weak and flimsy lawsuit, which tells me this was filed not for a legal purpose but as a political attack on city council,” Childers said.