Santa Ana Chief Finalist’s Suspension in ‘70s Bared

A finalist for the job of Santa Ana police chief was once suspended by the department for his “lack of honesty” in an incident involving a woman accused of prostitution, court records show.

Norwood E. (Woody) Williams, who is now police chief of Porterville and one of three men being considered for the Santa Ana chief’s job, acknowledged Tuesday that 13 years ago, when he was a Santa Ana police lieutenant, he was briefly suspended from the force because of conflicting statements he made in the arrest of a masseuse.

“It’s ancient history,” Williams said. “I would hope that the fact that someone might have made a mistake and paid the penalty for it 13 years ago, and since then has had no similar problems, would indicate that it was a one-time incident and not a pattern of behavior.”

Williams, in Santa Ana to interview for the position, said he discussed the incident Tuesday with Santa Ana City Manager David N. Ream because he thought there was a “place in our discussion where it seemed appropriate. . . . The city manager didn’t ask me about it; I brought it up.”

Ream, noting that Williams had served for 18 years in the Santa Ana police department, said he had “full knowledge of the circumstances” surrounding the incident, but declined to say how or if it would affect his decision.

“We have a fully independent civil service process, and we are fully satisfied with that process,” Ream said.

A board of four city and police administrators from outside Santa Ana submitted the names of the three finalists they had chosen from a group of seven semifinalists last week. More than 60 people applied for the job, which pays about $85,000 a year.

Williams said that he did not think the board asked him about the incident during two days of interviews Oct. 14 and 15.

The position became vacant when Raymond C. Davis retired in April after 14 years as chief.

The other two finalists are Santa Ana Police Capt. Paul Walters and retired Los Angeles Deputy Police Chief Clyde Cronkhite.

Ream will probably make his decision after interviewing the three candidates this week, he said.

Williams’ suspension for 15 days, along with the loss of 15 days vacation time and non-promotion from his rank of lieutenant, arose out of his arrest of the woman on charges of assault and battery and performing a lewd act at a massage parlor on Oct. 4, 1974, according to court records.

Those charges were later dropped and the woman filed suit against Williams and several other police officials. While that case was also dropped, testimony during the proceedings brought into question the accuracy of some of Williams’ statements.

In a letter dated June 24, 1975, Hansen wrote to the woman’s attorney, George Grove, advising him that the department had taken disciplinary action against Williams because of his “lack of honesty with us during the course of our investigation. Although the allegation set forth by your client lends itself to hyperbole, Lt. Williams did withhold the full extent of his actions.”

Hansen said the district attorney decided there was not sufficient cause to prosecute Williams for perjury.

Hansen was one of the four semifinalists passed over by the selection board last week. He declined to comment Tuesday.

Williams, who has lived in Santa Ana all but three of his 47 years, left the Santa Ana police department in 1980 to become a captain with the Tustin police department. In 1985, he took the job in Porterville in Tulare County, commanding 209 officers.

In Santa Ana, he would oversee about 370 police officers and 200 civilian employees.

“It’s an opportunity to lead one of the better police departments in the state,” Williams said.

Regarding the masseuse allegations, Williams maintains that he told “what I thought happened” throughout the proceedings, and did not change his story.

“It’s a very complex thing,” he said. “There’s a whole lot more to it than is on the surface. . . . I don’t want to redo the whole thing.”