County Officer Fails in His Attempt to Get Former Job Back : Law enforcement: Sheriff’s lieutenant was demoted for taking home suspected LSD that was to be turned in as evidence.

A former Ventura County sheriff’s lieutenant, demoted to sergeant six years ago for taking three pellets of suspected LSD home to show to his family and friends instead of booking it immediately into evidence, has lost a bid to win back his job.

M. Cole McDaniel, a 28-year law-enforcement officer now working as a watch commander at Ventura County Jail, was denied reinstatement and more than $100,000 in back pay by a Superior Court judge who said the 1987 demotion was an appropriate penalty for ignoring department policy.

“Lt. McDaniel abused the chain of custody and the integrity of the LSD evidence, resulting in discredit to the Sheriff’s Department,” Judge Barbara A. Lane ruled in a decision released Thursday.

McDaniel did not deny breaking policy, but instead argued that his punishment was too severe. But Lane noted in her decision that there was no guarantee that McDaniel would not mishandle evidence in the future.

“The evidence supports the Sheriff’s Department’s conclusion that there was a likelihood of recurrence of Lt. McDaniel’s managerial misjudgment and disregard of general orders if he remained as a lieutenant,” Lane wrote.

A sheriff’s lieutenant with 15 years of management experience at the time, McDaniel admitted taking three pellets of suspected LSD from a deputy who had arrested two Thousand Oaks High School students for possession and sale of the drug.

In requesting the LSD before it was booked into evidence, McDaniel told Deputy Steven Wade that he wanted to show his children and others what LSD looked like.

Preliminary tests indicated the pellets were not LSD, but McDaniel took them anyway, the decision notes.

McDaniel kept the supposed drugs for more than 24 hours on the pretext of showing them to his children’s schoolmates and members of his church, but never did so, according to court papers.

He booked the pellets into evidence the following day, but was demoted for his action a month later.

McDaniel appealed the demotion to the county Civil Service Commission on the grounds that the penalty did not fit the offense. But the commission upheld the penalty in a 1988 ruling.

McDaniel then filed a Superior Court lawsuit, which took five years to reach trial.

Assistant County Counsel Lori A. Nemiroff, who represented the Civil Service Commission in the lawsuit, said the sheriff had no choice but to demote or fire McDaniel.

“This was not an isolated incident of bad judgment,” she said. “He had prior disciplinary problems, including two suspensions and one reprimand.

“That kind of behavior really cannot be tolerated from a frontline manager,” she said. “It has the potential of putting cases in jeopardy, and it has the potential for destroying the sheriff’s credibility.”

McDaniel could not be reached for comment Thursday. His attorney, Charles A. Goldwasser of Los Angeles, said he and his client had not seen Lane’s ruling.

“I’m aware of what it says, but I haven’t had a chance to read it,” Goldwasser said. The demotion was the result of more than the one breach of conduct, Goldwasser said.

“Cole felt very strongly that the discipline was excessive under the circumstances,” he said. “The magnitude of it was more a reflection of his past dealings with the Sheriff’s Department rather than his action in this particular incident.”

County litigation supervisor Frank Sieh said there was no alternative to taking away McDaniel’s authority.