Simi Police Lieutenant Suspended Pending an Internal Investigation

A high-ranking Simi Valley police officer who has served as the department’s spokesman and as supervisor of detectives was suspended Thursday pending an internal investigation, city officials said.

Police Chief Lindsey P. Miller declined to say why Lt. Robert Klamser, 39, was placed on paid leave. But the move was made shortly after Miller received a written complaint from a Ventura County deputy public defender, concerning the department’s handling of a recent case involving a former police officer who was accused of raping a woman.

Miller said that Klamser’s removal from duty was a confidential personnel matter and that he could not discuss whether it was linked to the investigation--supervised by Klamser--of the reported rape, or to an unrelated matter.

Klamser could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Miller, however, insisted that the lieutenant was not accused of illegal conduct. “We have no criminal investigation regarding anyone in this department,” the chief said.

Klamser, an international consultant on hostage negotiations, joined the department as an officer in August, 1975. Later, as supervisor of administrative services, he served as the chief spokesman for the department. About 18 months ago, he was placed in charge of detectives.

In recent months, Klamser oversaw several cases that received wide attention.

In one of several “home alone” incidents that surfaced last month, Klamser asked that criminal charges be filed against a Simi Valley couple who left their four children unattended for four days.

Last week, in a bid to find the mother of an abandoned newborn baby, Klamser conducted a news conference in which television stations and newspaper reporters were allowed to take pictures of the child.

In November, after an investigation supervised by Klamser, the Ventura County district attorney’s office filed a rape charge against Paul Anthony Nolan, 31, who was then a Simi Valley traffic officer.

The charge stemmed from a 33-year-old woman’s allegation that Nolan, while off duty three years earlier, had raped her after she turned down his request for a date. Nolan was fired in December for undisclosed reasons that the department said were not related to the rape charge.

Last week a judge dismissed the rape charge after a prosecutor said new information indicated that the woman had a sexual relationship with Nolan before the alleged incident and that she had later exchanged gifts and Christmas cards with him.

After the charge was dropped, Nolan’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Todd Howeth, told reporters that Simi Valley police had conducted “a slipshod investigation.”

He expressed more specific concerns in a letter sent early this week to Miller.

Howeth said Thursday that he did not know whether Klamser’s suspension was linked to his letter.

He said the document was “a formal complaint against certain improprieties I perceived in the investigation against Officer Nolan. . . . I had certain concerns about a particular officer. It was Robert Klamser.”

Howeth said Nolan spent 14 days in jail after the rape charge was filed.

“Clearly, these charges were unfounded, and there was a miscarriage of justice,” the defense attorney said. “I felt there was a rush to judgment in the case of Officer Nolan. I now believe there was a hidden agenda.”

Howeth declined to discuss the alleged improprieties cited in his letter, saying Simi Valley police should first be allowed to complete their internal review.

Miller said Thursday that he had received Howeth’s letter and would begin looking into its allegations next week.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lela Henke-Dobroth, supervisor of the district attorney’s sexual assault unit, said Thursday that she did not believe that Simi Valley police handled the Nolan investigation improperly.

“I certainly would not term it shoddy,” she said. “We have no intention of sending a letter to the chief that I’m aware of.”

Simi Valley officials said that after the internal investigation is finished, police supervisors could recommend disciplinary action or return Klamser to active duty if they believe that no misconduct took place.

Meanwhile, Nolan is seeking reinstatement to his job as a police officer. The city will conduct a hearing on his request March 24 and 25 before an independent arbitrator, said Stuart D. Adams, his attorney in the personnel case.