Riverside County battalion chief retires before guilty plea to sexual battery

A former Cal Fire/riverside County battalion chief with three previous convictions is enrolling in a substance abuse program before sentencing on a battery charge, a move that will allow him to avoid having to register as a sex offender, Superior Court records show.

Terran Mark League, 51, had been charged with misdemeanor sexual battery. League was cited at 12:07 a.m. on Nov. 27, 2021, at the intersection of Santiago and Ynez roads in Temecula, according to the citation. The criminal complaint written by the District Attorney’s Office listed the victim as a man, John Doe, and said prosecutors planned to “admit evidence of prior sexual acts.”

Information on the exact nature of the alleged offense was not available.

But on May 31, 2023, the day after League retired, he accepted a DA’S Office offer to plead guilty to the simple battery charge, also a misdemeanor.

If League completes the inpatient alcohol rehabilitation program with Deer Hollow, a facility that specializes in treating firefighters and police officers, he will be sentenced to one year of summary probation and no jail time, according to the plea agreement. League faces four months in jail if he does not complete the rehab by the scheduled Sept. 29 sentencing.

League’s attorney, John Pozza, has not responded to requests for comment.

League’s guilty plea represents his fourth criminal conviction — all misdemeanors — since joining Cal Fire League in 2006 as an engineer in the San Mateo-santa Cruz Unit.

He was convicted of public intoxication after getting in a confrontation with police in which they used a stun gun to detain him, convicted of reckless driving after being accused of trying to strike a woman with a car in a domestic violence case and convicted of battery.

Although League was twice ordered by judges to enroll in anger management classes, League kept his job and was allowed to respond to emergency calls. Cal Fire has no firm policy on which minor convictions and how many could result in the loss of a position.

League was not alone in being allowed by Cal Fire to keep a job after being accused of a violent run-in.

Division Chief Jodie Lynn Gray was in charge of firefighting operations in Temecula in 2019 when she was accused of brandishing. Prosecutors say she pulled a gun on her boyfriend. She pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace in 2022 and has retired.