Claremont Chief on Spot, Allegedly Let Drunk Driver Avoid Jail Term

Claremont’s chief of police has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into allegations that he allowed a man convicted of drunk driving to do remodeling work at the Police Station instead of serving mandatory jail time.

Police Chief Dexter Atkinson was removed from active duty last week after an internal investigation by the city, said City Manager Glenn Southard, who referred the matter to the district attorney’s office for possible prosecution. Atkinson allegedly allowed John Barber, who had been sentenced last year to serve 120 days in Jail for his third drunk-driving conviction, to work at the station.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lawrence Mason said his office is investigating “an allegation of possible wrongdoing” involving Atkinson, but declined to comment further. Southard confirmed the accuracy of the allegations but would not comment specifically on them or say who informed city officials of the matter.

Atkinson, a 17-year veteran of the Police Department who has been chief since 1986, could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Henry Fenton, did not return calls.

Barber, a Claremont resident who owns a contracting business, said in an interview that he performed 180 days of community service for the Police Department, during which he was free to go home nights and weekends. Barber, 43, said he worked eight hours a day on such projects as constructing walls to partition offices and designing a patio for the station.

Earlier this year, Atkinson wrote a letter to the Pomona Municipal Court attesting that Barber had satisfactorily completed his term.

However, a court official said the sentence imposed last September by Judge Robert Gustaveson did not allow for community service or a work furlough program in lieu of jail. The jail sentence for a third drunk-driving conviction is mandated by state law.

“It’s very clear,” said Harriet Griffith, who supervises criminal cases for the Pomona Municipal Court. “It says he is to spend 120 days in custody.”

Because he apparently did not serve the required time, Barber must appear in Municipal Court on Aug. 31 to face charges of probation violation.

Barber was arrested in March, 1987, by Pomona police after he ran a stop sign at 65 m.p.h. He failed a field sobriety test and had a blood-alcohol level of 0.20, twice the legal limit under state law.

The prosecutor noted that Barber had been convicted of drunk driving in 1982 and 1985. Barber’s record also included a 1983 conviction on an alcohol-related reckless driving charge, said Ronald Gray, a commissioner with the Pomona Municipal Court.

Barber said he had known Atkinson briefly 12 years ago when the two played together on the Police Department’s basketball team. They did not meet again until last August, when he asked the police chief whether he could work off his sentence for the department, which has 41 officers.

In the months since he completed his work program, Barber said, he and Atkinson have socialized and played golf.

Barber said his work at the Police Station aided his rehabilitation from his past problems with alcohol. “Here’s a concerned chief who’s doing something important,” Barber said of Atkinson.

“What good would it do if there’s a brain surgeon sitting in a cell and an officer comes in with a head wound and they won’t let (the surgeon) help? If you have a deteriorating building, I’m the brain surgeon. I’m a general contractor.”