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SUNDAY, JULY 15, 2018 • SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA • PRESSDEMOCRAT.COM

Officials mum on asset seizures

ROHNERT PARK » Police
drug stops far north on 101
netted $2.4M in 3 years
By JULIE JOHNSON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Rohnert Park city leaders said they
had little to no knowledge of their
public safety department’s aggres-
sive efforts to intercept black-mar-
ket drugs and cash by sending police
officers far outside the city.
None of the five elected City
Council members would say last
week whether they believed those
operations were an effective use of
city resources, but one called for a
closed-door meeting to discuss an
investigation into a controversial
former sergeant in the Rohnert Park
Department of Public Safety who led
the seizures.
The operations focused in large
part on the heavy flow of marijuana
and cash down Highway 101 between
the North Coast’s famed Emerald
Triangle cannabis growing region
and the San Francisco Bay Area and
beyond.
Targeting motorists on that route,
Rohnert Park officers seized $2.4
million in cash and valuable assets
in the past three years — more than
any other law enforcement agency in
Sonoma County claimed under civil
forfeiture laws. Many of the seizures
were near the Sonoma-Mendocino
county line — more than 40 miles
north of Rohnert Park — and their
peak came during a period when the
city was struggling to fully staff its
public safety department of cross-
trained police officers and firefight-
ers.
The city’s top enforcer in those
missions, former Sgt. Brendon
“Jacy” Tatum, left the force in June
amid a city investigation into the
complaints of a driver who said he
was the victim of a drug robbery by
unidentified officers on Highway 101.
Tatum’s departure also coincided
with mounting complaints about his
on-duty conduct.
Mayor Pam Stafford said she re-
Brendon
mains “extremely proud” of Rohnert
Tatum
Park’s public safety department and
Ex-police sergeant
said she doesn’t have the facts that
for Rohnert Park
would allow her to comment on the
is under scrutiny
city’s policy for highway traffic stops
over traffic stops
and asset seizures
TURN TO SEIZURES » PAGE A12

OCTOBER WILDFIRES » EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM

Early backlash
Donald Trump

Trump’s
defiant
embrace
of Russia
over warnings
ANALYSIS » President Records reveal county officials scrambled amid scrutiny
appears nearly untethered
By J.D. MORRIS
from his administration

T
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

By MARK LANDLER he wildfires were

AND JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS still raging out of
NEW YORK TIMES
control early Oct. 12
WASHINGTON — It was a when a top Sonoma Coun-
jarring moment, even for an ty official warned elected
American leader whose curious
attraction to Russia has often re- leaders of a simmering
sulted in mixed messages from controversy that was
the United States. about to become a public
Just a few hours after Pres-
ident Donald Trump doused relations nightmare.
expectations of extracting any Journalists were be-
confession from President Vlad-
imir Putin on Russia’s election
ginning to scrutinize the
meddling when they meet Mon- county’s failure to send
day, his own Justice Department mass cellphone alerts
issued a sweeping indictment Sonoma County Supervisors Susan
of 12 Russian
during the first hours of Gorin, clockwise from top left,
INSIDE intelligence the Oct. 8 firestorm. James Gore, Lynda Hopkins, Shirlee
■ Trump returns agents for Peter Rumble, then a Zane and David Rabbitt were
to Scotland ahead hacking the scrambling over mounting scrutiny
of Monday talks Democratic deputy county adminis- about the county’s emergency alert
with Vladimir National Com- trator who was helping system as the October wildfires
Putin in Finland. mittee and the run the county’s civilian raged across the region.
Clinton pres-
■ President
idential cam- emergency command
blames Barack
Obama for Rus- paign. center, told the Board of about “what they see as in- dia attention on warnings
Trump’s ac- Supervisors in a 5:26 a.m. adequate notice of evacua- as a “consistent theme”
sian meddling in
tions demon-
2016 election.
strated how email that at least one tion” as the fires spread. during emergencies.
■ Brewer issues he is almost Bay Area news outlet was Rumble wasn’t wor-
limited release wholly un-
beer with Trump, tethered from preparing a critical story ried, describing the me- TURN TO WARNINGS » PAGE A14
Putin in mind. his adminis-
Stories, B8 tration when
it comes to
“You think you made the right choice. You made no choice, and now
dealing with Moscow. Wheth-
er it is Russia’s interference in
the thousands of lives that are shattered can never be replaced.”
the election, its annexation of PAM RUMBERG, Mark West Springs area resident expressing her disappointment about the county’s fire alerts
Crimea or its intervention in
Syria, Trump’s statements ei-
ther undercut, or flatly contra-
dict, those of his lieutenants.
The disconnect is so profound
that it often seems Trump is
pursuing one Russia policy, set
on ushering in a gauzy new era
of cooperation with Putin, while
the rest of his administration is
pursuing another, set on coun-
tering a revanchist power that
the White House has labeled one
of the greatest threats to U.S. se-
curity and prosperity.
As Trump prepares to meet
with Putin in Finland, diplo-
mats and former government
officials said these contradic-
tions would undermine both the
president’s efforts to cultivate
a relationship with Putin and
his government’s efforts to halt
Russia’s campaigns to damage
U.S. democratic institutions and
bully its neighbors.
“The president has hobbled
his own executive branch, Winds with gusts of up to 68 mph pushed flames over hillsides into several neighborhoods in and around Santa Rosa
and the executive branch has during October’s Tubbs fire. Sonoma County’s emergency alert system during the fires has remained a source of criticism.

TURN TO TRUMP » PAGE A2 CHRISTOPHER CHUNG / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

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Community B10 Golis B1 Nevius C1 Smith A3 rides amid $100 million upgrade project / D1 THE WEATHER, C8
A12
SEIZURES
CONTINUED FROM A1
seeking illegal drugs and
cash. The council oversees
city department budgets
but has no say in how they
are run, Stafford said.
“Yes, we are in charge of
the budget, but we aren’t in
charge of how public works
people are dispatched or
how recreation people do
their jobs,” Stafford said.
Councilman Jake Mack-
enzie said it is the job of the
city manager, Darrin Jen-
kins, and the public safety
department’s director, Bri-
an Masterson, to oversee
the agency’s operations.
Masterson has repeatedly
declined to answer ques-
tions about the Highway
101 stops or about Tatum, a
decorated 15-year veteran
he promoted to sergeant in
2015.
Mackenzie said he could
not recall any discussion
by the council about the
city’s asset seizure poli-
cies, or the employee time
involved in such missions.
He could not remember
any discussion about the
amount of money the sei-
zures contributed to the
city budget. In the fiscal
year that ended June, the
public safety department’s
$20 million budget includ-
ed about $200,000 of asset
forfeiture funds allocated
to spend on public safety
vehicles.
“I do not remember at
any time any of us engag-
ing in a debate, on the City
Council level, on the de-
ployment of our resources
on this particular issue,”
Mackenzie said.
Masterson said he would
speak with a reporter last
week then failed to return
repeated phone calls and
an email requesting an in-
terview.
Jenkins, the city man-
ager, on Friday afternoon
declined to answer most
questions about the pub-
lic safety department’s
seizures or the policy be-
hind them, saying he was
prevented from doing so
because it relates to “an
open investigation,” and
he needed to “preserve the
rights of the involved par-
ties.”
The asset seizures and
Tatum’s lead role in them
were detailed in a pair of
stories published over two
days last week in The Press
Democrat. Those stories
and other recent media re-
ports spotlighted a number
of troubling run-ins with
Tatum described by defen-
dants and lawyers who’ve
criticized his police work,
pointing to what they said
were questionable traffic
stops, searches and sei-
zures.
Tatum, who was honored
in 2015 by the City Council
for his work seizing sus-
pected illegal drugs and
cash on Highway 101, was
placed on leave in April,
at the outset of the city’s
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THE PRESS DEMOCRAT • SUNDAY, JULY 15, 2018
over wrongly seized his
marijuana, a total of about
three pounds. The officers
wore generic “police” vests
but no uniforms or visible
badges, and when asked
what agency they repre-
sented, one claimed to be
with the U.S. Bureau of Al-
cohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives, according
to Flatten. A spokeswom-
an with the ATF said her
agency’s officers were not
involved.
Flatten has contacted
and submitted complaints
to multiple law enforce-
ment agencies, including
the FBI, but no law enforce-
ment agency has come for-
ward to say its officers de-
tained him.
Two months after the
stop, Flatten’s name ap-
peared on a Rohnert Park
police report written by
Tatum. In an interview,
Tatum said he had mis-
takenly included Flatten’s
name on his report and he
said he doesn’t remember
ever pulling him over. He
said he had mistakenly in-
cluded Flatten’s name on
JOHN BURGESS / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT his report, based on infor-
The Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety in 2016 seized a record $1.4 million in assets, 25 times more than what was mation from the Mendoci-
confiscated by Santa Rosa, the county’s largest police force. no County Sheriff’s Office,
because he had not record-
internal resources. does not seem to concern in the statement. ed the name of a man he
investi- He said he our citizens is the public City Councilman Amy pulled over in December.
g ation believed safety department,” Mack- Ahanotu declined to dis- The case has publicly
involving Rohner t enzie said. “I know that cuss anything related to spotlighted Tatum’s rep-
him and Park of- they’re exercised by traffic the city’s asset forfeiture utation as a controversial
another ten col- problems in the city, but policies. Councilman Jo- law enforcement figure
officer. laborated they don’t seem to be exer- seph Callinan agreed to who made his name with
B u t with other cised by the way in which talk but failed to return aggressive patrolling of
Macken- law en- we provide police and fire phone calls seeking com- Highway 101 along the
zie said he Pam Jake forcement protection.” ment. Sonoma-Mendocino coun-
could not Stafford MacKenzie agencies But veteran Council- In 2015, the council rec- ty line. Multiple people
recall any Mayor of City councilman on what woman Gina Belforte ognized Tatum as “officer who had property taken
discussion Rohnert Park for Rohnert Park had been thinks the City Council of the year” for his work on from them during encoun-
about the a common now must wrestle with drug interdiction cases in a ters with Tatum have since
topic of policing those questions, albeit be- ceremony led by Ahanotu, come forward to claim the
the city’s tactic. hind closed doors. During who was mayor at the time. sergeant violated their
h i g h way Howev- the final minutes of Tues- Tatum thanked the city rights. One man is suing
seizure er, most day night’s City Council “for giving me the oppor- Rohnert Park, accusing
opera- law en- meeting, she asked that the tunity to work the highway Tatum of being respon-
tions. forcement clerk schedule a time for a to fight the war on drugs,” sible for $10,000 that he
“I do agencies closed-session discussion according to a recording of said remains missing after
not be- e n d e d about the administrative the council meeting. Tatum and another offi-
lieve there Gina Amy their oper- investigation into Tatum Rohnert Park resident cer seized in a traffic stop
was, from Belforte Ahanotu ations sev- as well as the city’s inter- Jim Duffy, who played a $132,000 in cash that had
my recol- City councilwoman City councilman eral years diction efforts. key role in helping Sonoma been stored in sealed con-
lection, a for Rohnert Park for Rohnert Park ago amid “I understand it’s a per- County establish its first tainers in his girlfriend’s
conscious staff short- sonnel issue, but it’s a pol- civilian-law enforcement car. Only $121,920 ended
decision ages. Santa Rosa’s last mis- icy issue at hand as well,” oversight program — for up in evidence at the police
on the sion was in 2014. Belforte said during the the Sheriff’s Office — said he department, court docu-
part of Rohnert Park officials council meeting. “We are has spoken at dozens of City ments show. Tatum denied
the City said its officers were in- elected officials and we Council meetings urging the allegation.
Council structed to stop conduct- answer to the community. Rohnert Park to do the same. Council members Staf-
to say, ing missions after a Janu- And I’m requesting we have He said he wasn’t sure ford, Ahanotu, Belforte
‘Yea, de- ary 2017 meeting with the a closed session in the very what to make of revela- and Mackenzie declined to
partment Sonoma County District near future to discuss this.” tions about the city’s as- discuss the investigation
of public Attorney’s Office. But re- That discussion, off-lim- set seizures at this point. into Tatum, saying they
s a f e t y , Joe cords show Tatum was its to the public, is ten- “Without oversight and a were barred from speak-
carry out Callinan making traffic stops as late tatively scheduled for way to look into it, I don’t ing publicly about police
this pro- City councilman as December on Highway July 24. know,” he said. personnel matters by state
gram to for Rohnert Park 101 near the Sonoma-Men- In a statement sent to Tatum said he resigned law.
the max,’ Mackenzie said. docino county line, more The Press Democrat before in June because he want- Stafford said she thinks
Yet those operations than 40 miles north of the meeting, Belforte said ed a career change. He the city’s dual police and
were ratcheted up amid the city. In an interview, she believes most public was taken off duty in April firefighters “do an out-
recent struggles to fully Tatum said he was con- safety personnel act “eth- when the city began inves- standing job” and the city’s
staff the department of ducting surveillance and ically and compassionate- tigating him and another leadership will address
71-sworn officers and fire- happened to come across ly,” and added “there is no still-employed officer, Jo- any problems directly.
fighters. They increased a motorist with what ap- circumstance that entitles seph Huffaker. The probe “The city is doing an in-
even as other local law en- peared to be an unlawful officers to break the law, was launched in response vestigation, and we did that
forcement agencies curbed amount of cannabis in the use their authority to in- to a man’s complaints right away when we heard
or stopped their efforts, vehicle. timidate or coerce, or to about a December traffic about anything that looked
reflecting changes in state Questions raised about play judge and jury. stop and drug seizure in funny,” Stafford said.
marijuana laws and a shift Rohnert Park’s police force “I’m absolutely commit- Mendocino County. “We’re investigating it.”
by local prosecutors away and Tatum, Mackenzie ted to supporting the full The driver in that case,
from taking lower-level said, have not affected pub- investigation and making a former Texas school dis- You can reach Staff Writer
marijuana cases to trial. lic confidence in the city’s sure that any culture that trict police officer named Julie Johnson at 707-521-
Mackenzie declined to public safety department, may have accepted this Zeke Flatten, said he be- 5220 or julie.johnson@
say whether he believed it in his opinion. behavior, is identified and lieves the unidentified pressdemocrat.com. On
was an effective use of city “One of the things that rooted out,” Belforte said officers who pulled him Twitter @jjpressdem.
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