Deputy’s Suspension Reduced

By:  Anthony M. Snodgrass
Lackie & Dammeier LLP

             Inyo County Sheriff’s Deputy Lewis Roberts performed a task many law enforcement officers do daily – he conducted a probation search at a residence.  Despite this search being legally conducted, Deputy Roberts received a two-day suspension. 

            This chain of events began when Deputy Roberts’ wife went into a small video store / coffee shop in Bishop on January 6, 2004.  Few, if any, customers were in the shop.  After getting her coffee, she inadvertently left a wallet containing three checks made out to her, credit cards, cash, and identification on the coffee condiment counter.  She then left the shop, returned between ten and thirty minutes later, and asked the clerk if her wallet had been turned in.  She was told no.  She then filed a report with the Bishop Police Department, who chose to take the report as a lost property only.

            Over the following six days, after having told her husband of the loss, Deputy Roberts conducted a preliminary inquiry into the circumstances.  He soon discovered that the female clerk in the store was on probation and had search terms for drugs, was an 11590 H&S registrant, and had a stay away order naming other individuals.  Further, among this female’s restrictions and conditions of probation were that she was not to posses or use any drug, be subjected to a test for drugs, not associate with any convicted or known drug users, not to possess a pager or cellular phone, and, not to possess any blank checks or open or maintain a checking account or write any portion of any check.  This female was also subject to search for documents associated with checking accounts, and she was restricted from leaving the state of California.  Additionally, Deputy Roberts discovered that the female’s husband was also a 11590 registrant, on probation, and subject to search not only for drugs but also for stolen property. 

            Reasonably believing that his wife’s purse had been stolen, he approached a senior officer at the Bishop Police Department approximately six days after the theft, and advised this officer of the situation and the results of his inquiry.  The senior officer agreed to conduct a probation search of the residence based on the information given to him by Deputy Roberts.

            The two then proceeded to a small travel trailer where the two individuals lived, and did in fact conduct a probation search. Nothing was found at the residence.

About fifteen days later, the two probationers checked in with their probation officer and related the circumstances of the search to him.  Incredibly, this probation officer solicited a formal complaint to the Department by the two probationers. 

            Deputy Roberts was charged with numerous violations, including performance of duty, conduct unbecoming an officer and failure to maintain an impartial attitude.  He was chastised for his actions because, according to the Department, he could not be impartial in the case where his wife was a possible victim.  The Department also alleged Deputy Roberts could not investigate crimes in the incorporated City of Bishop, which lies within Inyo County, because the city has its own police department.

            Following the Department’s logic, no officer would be able to give a statement or write a report for any incident in which he or she was involved, including officer involved shootings, cases where the officer is the victim (assaults on officers), and any case in which a relative is involved.

After a full day of hearing, during which the Department alleged that Deputy Roberts had violated most of the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics, settlement discussions were conducted, and the County withdrew the two-day suspension and instead imposed a letter of reprimand.  Roberts was very thankful to the Legal Defense Fund and his attorneys at Lackie & Dammeier who made his appeal possible.