Azusa : Resignation Rescinded

Councilman Tony Naranjo has reversed his decision to resign as chairman of the city’s Drug and Gang Task Force and liaison to the Police Department, he said in a statement Thursday.

Naranjo said he changed his mind because of community pressure to remain in the posts. He had announced his resignation during last week’s City Council meeting after a shouting match with Councilman Stephen Alexander about Naranjo’s arrest record.

Naranjo, while working as a bail bond investigator in 1986, was arrested for impersonating a police officer. He later pleaded no contest and was fined $150 and sentenced to six months summary probation.

Alexander on Monday had proposed an ordinance that would prevent anyone convicted of impersonating a police officer--or of any other misdemeanor or felony--from participating police ride-alongs, an integral part of the liaison job.