Ex-Assistant Fire Chief Is Charged With Misdemeanor : Courts: James J. Mullen Jr. is accused of participating in a suspected prostitute’s attempt to make a cocaine purchase.

A criminal charge was filed Wednesday against the San Fernando Valley’s former top-ranking fire official for allegedly trying to help a suspected prostitute buy drugs from undercover police in Van Nuys.

Former Assistant Fire Chief James J. Mullen Jr., who retired Monday amid scandal after 31 years of service, was charged with one count of solicitation of another to commit an offense--a misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Mullen, a resident of Thousand Oaks, could not be reached for comment.

A spokesman for the city Fire Department, where Mullen rose from a rookie firefighter to become one of 17 assistant chiefs and three geographic division heads, declined comment Wednesday.

Mullen, 53, retired after revelations that he was under investigation by the department and the city attorney. During the off-duty incident Sept. 6, the couple rode in Mullen’s green Honda Accord with its DCHIF license plate.

A police complaint released Wednesday indicates that Mullen not only accompanied the woman as she tried to buy $20 worth of rock cocaine, but that he suggested where they could buy the illegal drug, participated in her conversation with undercover officers and supplied the drug money.

The report says Mullen pulled into a parking lot at the corner of Sepulveda and Roscoe boulevards--an area known for prostitution and drug dealing--made eye contact with an undercover officer and rolled down his window. His companion, identified as Lisa Andrews, 29, of Encino, then asked the officer, “You got a 20?”

“Of what?” the officer replied.

“Rock,” Andrews said, using the street term for rock cocaine.

“Yeah, rock,” interjected Mullen.

Andrews, who faces an unrelated prostitution charge, then displayed the money to a second officer and was immediately arrested.

Mullen--whom police identified at the scene as an assistant fire chief--was questioned and released, according to the police complaint. Police officials have said he received no special treatment but was let go because he did not offer any cash to the officers.

The arresting officer felt at the time “that she only had a violation on the passenger and not on the driver,” according to the complaint that police filed with the city attorney’s office.

Cmdr. Martin Pomeroy, who supervises narcotics investigations, said it is not unusual for officers working a fast-paced undercover sting operation to release one or more suspects and upon further investigation recommend that criminal charges be filed.

Andrews told police that Mullen had picked her up at the corner of Sepulveda Boulevard and Saticoy Street, where she said she had been working as a prostitute, and that “he seemed used to picking up girls,” the police complaint said.

Mullen was scheduled for arraignment Oct. 29 in Van Nuys Municipal Court.

When he retired, the Fire Department dropped an internal investigation of the incident, saying any disciplinary action would be moot. He is eligible to draw a pension equal to 70% of his 1990 salary, which the department said was between $84,500 and $94,500.