Baldwin Park Official Quits After Charges of Assault

Baldwin Park’s top redevelopment official has quit his job after being accused of assaulting a former resident and intimidating a city employee.

Steve Cervantes, the city’s community development director, resigned Thursday after a closed-door performance review in which city officials requested his departure.

Cervantes, whom one City Councilman publicly called a hothead, was recently stripped of his power to oversee the city’s planning and development staff after the assault allegation became public. As part of a separation agreement, Cervantes will get about $22,000, officials said.

Reached at his home Monday, Cervantes said he and the city had agreed to say favorable things about each other. He denied the allegations of assault and intimidation.

Council members refused to comment, calling it a personnel matter. “We parted with good feelings among us,” Councilwoman Linda Gair said. “I wish him the best.”

Arthur Daniel Steffen of Covina has filed a claim against the city, alleging that Cervantes roughed him up during an argument last February over efforts by the city to purchase Steffen’s home in Baldwin Park for redevelopment.

Steffen, in the Aug. 11 claim, said Cervantes hit him with the palm of his hand during an argument. He also filed a battery report with police. “He pushed me with his fingertips and then it became pretty aggressive with his hand on my shoulder,” Steffen said in an interview. “He was screaming at me and it totally caught me off guard.”

Cervantes said Steffen’s claim “is about money” and that he apologized for losing his temper that same day. “I touched him on the shoulder,” he added, “I pulled myself away immediately after he said something.”

The city suspended Cervantes for five days in June after an internal review, said a person familiar with the investigation.

The incident came less than a year after administrative clerk Gloria Romo filed a complaint against Cervantes, alleging that he yelled at her and intimidated her in front of fellow employees, according to city officials.

Azusa fired Cervantes from a similar position in 1996 in the wake of a failed relocation of a car dealership that cost the city $2.1 million.