Lori Fowler, Staff Writer
Posted: 02/05/2013 05:49:54 PM PST
SAN BERNARDINO – Four defendants remain in the case against a group of sheriff’s deputies accused in a decade-long pay scandal.
The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office originally charged seven people with felony charges tied to a scam involving the falsification of training documents for increased pay and retirement benefits.
But charges against two men have since been dropped, and a third man has accepted a plea bargain.
“Last Friday, (former Cpl.) David Pichotta accepted our plea offer and entered a plea of guilty to grand theft, as a misdemeanor,” said Chris Lee, a spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office.
Pichotta has since retired from the Sheriff’s Department.
Charges of perjury and conspiracy to commit a crime were dismissed as part of the plea bargain.
On Friday, prosecutors also dismissed charges against Lt. Russell Wilke of perjury, attempted grand theft of personal property and conspiracy to commit a crime.
“After a continuing investigation and receipt of additional evidence from Mr. Wilke and his attorney, we concluded that we no longer had enough evidence to continue forward with the prosecution of Russ Wilke.” Lee said. “Therefore, the counts against Mr. Wilke were dismissed.”
Wilke remains employed with the department.
To read entire story, click here.
When you talk about a circular firing squad you look at Wilke’s case to see that.
Wilke is charged after the Grand Jury hear’s testimony. Testimony offered up by WHO? SBSD investigators. SUPPORTED by a puppateer from the DA’s office.
Wilke is later cleared by investigators of the Internal Affairs Division of any administrative issues. Who did that? SBSD investigators.
So on it’s face you have SBSD investigators assisting the DA charging Wilke, then clearing him after the debacle is released to the world.
The question is, how is one charged criminally, but cleared of administrative issues when such circumstances go hand in hand?
You cannot commit crimes and not have violated internal policy.
Wilke was cleared by IA while his criminal charges remained for almost a year.
WHY did it take so long to drop charges against Maddox and Wilke? Why weren’t their lawyers SCREAMING bloody murder the MOMENT they smelled the STENCH of this case? HOW about AFTER the case was dismissed against their client?
And THE BIG plan was to allow ALL the others involved to ESCAPE prosecution by letting the Statue of Limitations run its course.
The obvious foot dragging and a FINAL plea by Pinchotta explains some of that.
NOW if Bart Gray calls BS on this case, well folks, DA Mikey and crew will say, we can’t prosecute others because the Statue of Limitations has expired.
This POST scandal is a decades old issue. It runs deeper than any Colonies scandal. Of course it does not involved millions of dollars, just hundreds of thousands or close to it.
Do you think such actions if brought forth could taint the integrity of the Colonies case?
Since both were orchestrated or assisted by DA Mike Ramos, I think so.
Of course one might suggest since Rod Hoops is gone, and McMahon is at the helm, SBSD liability is moot.
SBSD has been collecting POST benefits for putting on classes at the academy for decades, submitting paperwork to POST saying all classes attended were full, when most of the time they were not for one reason or another.
So SBSD personnel just added names to the list to ensure the rosters were full.
Who was the Captain at the academy when these issues were taking place, retired Captain Paul Capitelli, NOW the Director of POST himself.
Are their others who commanded the academy while this scam was taking place, YES!!!!
The lowest rank charged was Pinchotta a corporal, CONNECTED to Penrod. When you look at the higher ranks prosecuted, that tells a story.
This ENTIRE case once it was exposed, was ORCHESTRATED to cover up a bigger picture and protect others. EVERY person from the rank of Sergeant up is suspect, especially the older employees. The higher you go, the more the stench.
And if you think John McMahon has NO KNOWLEDGE of anything POST related, OKAY!!!!
Just remember ol John thought he’d scam the State of California for some vehicle registration fees and register his truck in the State of Idaho.
Same basic concept as the POST scandal, FRAUD!!!
But John will tell you about INTEGRITY and HONESTY under oath, and how concerned he is that one of his deputies tried to steal a cigarette lighter, or how another failed to report a fellow deputy having sex with a minor explorer and both lied about it.
Both deputies were found not guilty by a jury of their peers. Poor DDA’s could not offer up enough Kool-aid to the jury I guess.
Here is another question.
Those who were disciplined by the administrative rules of SBSD which is confidential, and not open to public scrutiny, WHERE is the money that should have been collected from them?
How much money has been recovered?
Has SBSD or the DA failed to collect the money obtained during this fraud, and put it back into the general fund?
Pinchotta was fined about $1,900 bucks, NO MENTION of restitution to the taxpayers?
I am just saying since Mike Ramos wants you all to believe he is going to get back that $102m from Burum, ok, what about the others involved in the POST scandal?
Will all that be a SECRET, so as not to let others find out how deep this issue is, and there are MANY others involved?
I only ask because it was reported Captain Bart Gray paid back somewhere around $16k before he RETIRED, then suddenly charged after the cat was out of the bag.
That alone suggests SOMEONE violated their agreement with Gray?
Brings back some memories of Erwin and Postmus in the assessors office debacle.
Just remember ol John thought he’d scam the State of California for some vehicle registration fees and register his truck in the State of Idaho.
#3
How much did he save? $50.00? Was he THAT underpaid? Was the hassle to go out of state worth the $50.00?
Number four, I wonder why he did that. It’s illegal and it shows someone getting around the law or breaking it. I don’t want a sheriff that breaks even the small laws like the plates. He comes off as an ass and followed Hoops so I say NO WAY in 2014.
#5
You wonder why? Maybe he thinks he is “special” lol.