2 Sergeants Linked to Duffy Story Win Penalty Reversals

Two San Diego-area law enforcement sergeants who were punished for helping The Times uncover information about Sheriff John Duffy’s unusual home security system have won reversals of the discipline imposed against them.

Sgt. Anne O’Dell, a 15-year veteran of the San Diego Police Department, had been suspended for two weeks without pay and moved from her job as an investigative sergeant to a desk job after she confirmed for the newspaper that Duffy’s alarm system at his home in San Diego is answered by sheriff’s deputies in Poway.

After first intending to file an appeal with the city Civil Service Commission, she and her attorney, James Gattey, convinced Deputy Chief Manny Guaderrama that she did not violate department policies by releasing the name of the agency that responds to the burglar alarm system.

O’Dell and Gattey declined to comment on the reversal of her discipline, and Guaderrama was on vacation this week and could not be reached.

But sources said this week that Guaderrama concluded she did not break department rules by merely giving out the identity of the responding law enforcement agency. Instead, an infraction would have occurred had she described how long the agency takes to arrive at the home, or other specifics directly pertaining to the sheriff’s personal safety.

O’Dell is expected to receive about $2,000 in pay that was withheld from her during her two-week suspension, which she served earlier this year. She also is awaiting a new assignment as an investigative sergeant, after being transferred to a staff job in the Northern Division.

In the second case, Sgt. Joe Lopez of the sheriff’s Lemon Grove station was ordered transferred to a much less-desirable post working inside the crowded South Bay jail in Chula Vista.

He said the sudden transfer came after he was identified as one of The Times’ sources who provided information about Poway sheriff’s deputies driving into San Diego to answer Duffy’s home alarm system.

Lopez, a 13-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Department, said he was never given a specific reason for the transfer and was never told why it was suddenly reversed late last week.

“I found out when I came to work,” he said Wednesday. “They said they had rescinded the transfer, and when I asked the lieutenant and the Personnel Department, they didn’t know.”

But Carlos Chacon, a San Diego police detective who is president of the local chapter of the Latino Peace Officers Assn., said he met with Assistant Sheriff Jack Drown last week to ask that Lopez’s transfer be stopped.

“I met with Mr. Drown, and he was very receptive to our concerns,” Chacon said. “I told him that we were concerned about the way things were looking, about the way the Sheriff’s Department appeared to be treating Sgt. Lopez. He agreed to look into the issue, and he did, and some issues were resolved.”

Chacon said his group votes today on whom to endorse in this year’s campaign for sheriff, adding that Drown, one of the leading candidates, is considered a favorite for the LPOA endorsement.

But Chacon said Drown did not give Lopez a break on the transfer in return for winning the LPOA support in the campaign.

“I’d like to make that perfectly clear,” Chacon said. “There was no capitulation on the part of Drown or us. These were real issues that were discussed, and a fair and equitable settlement was reached. I’d be the first one to step forward in defense of Jack Drown in that regard.”

Remaining unresolved is a written reprimand that Lopez received for making a copy of a memo making fun of Latinos that was posted on the bulletin board at the Poway sheriff’s station. He sent the copy to the LPOA, and then was transferred from Poway to the night shift in Lemon Grove.

His attorney, Everett Bobbitt, said he believes the reprimand is unjust because it impinged on Lopez’s right to free speech. He plans to file a lawsuit challenging the sheriff’s position that Lopez should have shown the memo to his superiors at sheriff’s headquarters.