4 SB officials cleared
DA's report: They knew only of abuse rumors
Andrew Edwards and Robert Rogers, Staff Writers
Article Launched: 07/25/2008 10:00:06 PM PDT
SAN BERNARDINO - Prosecutors will not file charges against four city officials who knew of rumors that Operation Phoenix community center manager Mike Miller had sexual contact with a minor before police were alerted to Miller's alleged crimes. Authorities determined the four officials knew only rumors, not concrete information, that could lead them to reasonably suspect Miller was abusing children.
An eight-page district attorney's memo released Friday found that "it cannot be established that this rumor and conjecture alone constituted facts sufficient to establish reasonable suspicion and therefore require a mandated report."
State law requires several classes of government employees to report suspected cases of child molestation to authorities. Miller has been charged with more than 20 counts of child molestation.
During a weeklong probe, district attorney's personnel and San Bernardino police investigated four city employees: former Operation Phoenix Director Glenn Baude, Parks Director Kevin Hawkins, Parks Division Manager Curtis Brown and Community Recreation Manager Glenda Martin-Robinson.
"The bottom line is that a violation of law did not occur," Mayor Pat Morris said.
In a news release issued after the DA's report, Morris praised the report and vowed to continue taking "full responsibility" for investigating and correcting problems in Operation Phoenix and the parks and recreation department.
Attorney James F. Penman was less pleased, noting that the DA ruled only that conduct was not criminal but not necessarily beyond question. "I'm relieved to learn that the DA has determined that the fact that four city management employees did not report the information they had does not rise to the level of criminal conduct," Penman said.
"However, I wish they had taken the extra steps to report the rumor to the Police Department. I think the children entrusted in our care deserved at least that."
Investigators reached conclusions in the face of sometimes contradictory information gleaned from interviews with those four officials and other witnesses.
Foremost among the contradictory accounts, Baude and City Manager Fred Wilson provided investigators with starkly different versions of their interaction in the days between the June 27 e-mail exchange regarding Miller's "possible sexual involvement with a minor during work hours" and Miller's arrest on July 3.
Baude told investigators that on June 30, three days after the sexual-abuse allegation, Miller asked him to lunch. Baude declined, but later that afternoon Miller stopped by Baude's office. Baude then asked about the rumors, and Miller denied sexual misconduct.
The memo shows that Baude told investigators he spoke with Wilson later on June 30 and informed him of rumors of a "sexual incident," to which Wilson reportedly replied: "OK, we'll take care of it."
Police were alerted on July 1. Baude told investigators that Wilson then advised him that police were handling the case and he should not talk about it.
Wilson directly contradicted Baude's account, the DA report shows, telling investigators that he did not remember talking to Baude on June 30 and was unaware of the e-mails until July 1.
Denise Trager Dvorak, a supervising deputy district attorney, said she would not characterize either Baude's or Wilson's statements as lies.
When told of the clear disparity between his comments and those Baude made to the DA's investigators, Wilson didn't budge, reiterating that he never discussed e-mail about sexual rumors nor told Baude he would "take care of it."
"What I told the DA was what happened," Wilson said. "I stand by what I told the DA investigators about these comments and the dates.
"I was notified that the police investigation was under way on July 1," Wilson added. "That's also when I first became aware of the e-mail; on July 1, when the police chief informed me about both.
Baude referred questions to his attorney, James Curtis.
Curtis applauded the DA's report and stopped short of questioning Wilson's motives in directly refuting his client's version.
"The decision speaks for itself," Curtis said. "Clearly, the idea of wrongdoing on the part of Mr. Baude was ill-founded."
Morris declined to side with either person.
"I'm obviously concerned about that disparity in their memories," Morris said. "It is inconsistent, and we will drill down with further investigation to examine the problems that exist with regard to leadership in our city departments."
The prosecutors' memo also reports the minor referred to in the July 27 e-mails was a 16-year-old girl who was a recreation center employee.
A woman identified only as "Witness No. 2" said she saw Miller tickle a teenage girl who worked for the city's central area Operation Phoenix center and light a cigarette for her.
Martin-Robinson reported that another person, called "Witness No. 1," relayed the woman's concerns to her. However, Witness No. 1 said he didn't speak with Martin-Robinson about Miller and the teen girl until July 1.
The DA memo reports that Martin-Robinson - who initiated the June 27 e-mail exchange - was never presented with evidence of molestation but "surmised" Miller engaged in sexual activity with a minor.
However, police and prosecutors report that Miller is not charged with molesting girls after April 30, which is the last day any alleged victims were at the central Operation Phoenix center.