Sheriff’s officer sues Carona

A sheriff’s lieutenant filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona, alleging Carona retaliated against him for supporting a rival in last year’s race to be the county’s top lawman.

In his 22 years in the department, Jeff Bardzik rose steadily, the lawsuit says, until he announced his support for sheriff’s Lt. Bill Hunt’s effort to unseat Carona.

As a result, the lawsuit alleges, Bardzik, 53, was transferred to an undesirable post far from his Mission Viejo home at the Fullerton courthouse -- a treatment known among deputies as “freeway therapy.”

Additionally, Bardzik alleges that Carona reneged on a promise to promote him to captain and later refused to consider him for jobs leading the sheriff’s operations in San Clemente or Dana Point.

“This lawsuit,” Bardzik said in a telephone interview, “is about holding Carona accountable and preventing him from putting his interests above his department, his personnel and the public.”

Bardzik is seeking an unspecified amount of money for earnings he would have received from a promotion, and for the emotional distress and humiliation he has allegedly suffered as a result of Carona’s “unlawful actions.”

Sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino declined to comment, saying officials at the department hadn’t read the lawsuit.

Bardzik alleges in his suit filed in federal court in Orange County that he supported Hunt after Carona engaged in actions that challenged the ethical and statutory guidelines of the department.

In 2003, Bardzik took command of the sheriff’s reserve division. He said he found that significant numbers of reserve officers received their appointments, gun permits and honorary badges as rewards for the political and financial support they had given the sheriff’s election effort. Bardzik said he was blocked in his efforts to clean up the division.

Bardzik said the department investigated him for allegedly providing confidential information to the Los Angeles Times. Bardzik said the claim was untrue but that the investigation tainted him within the department.

Bardzik says that in May 2005 a superior pressured him to donate $100 to Carona’s reelection campaign. He said he reported to Assistant Sheriff Pete Gannon that the pressure was “unseemly.”

Shorty afterward, Bardzik alleges, he announced his support for Hunt, and Carona sent a message through an intermediary that Bardzik should resign. In August 2005, Bardzik said, he met with Carona, who told him “the Bill Hunt thing didn’t help” and again requested his resignation. “Remember, Lieutenant, you brought this on,” Bardzik said Carona told him.

The 2006 election divided the department, with the deputies union endorsing Hunt.

Hunt lost the election to Carona. He resigned from the department in December, after he said he was to be demoted to patrolman because of his criticism of the sheriff during the campaign. In an interview Tuesday, Hunt said he would be bringing his own lawsuit against Carona shortly.

Hunt said Bardzik is “known as a guy of honor and integrity. He’s going to have a tough fight in front of him.”

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garrett.therolf@latimes.com