Fired OC district attorney investigator who accused Todd Spitzer of bribery gets job back in arbitration – Orange County Register

A fired Orange County District Attorney’s Office investigator who accused District Attorney Todd Spitzer of “pay-to-play” schemes has won back his job in arbitration.

Former surveillance investigator Damon Tucker must be reinstated, according to referee Michael Leb, who concluded the firing process “was tainted. The allegations were not substantiated, and Tucker’s termination was not for good cause. “

Tucker will get payback over a year. Transparency California, a public salary database, lists his salary and benefits for 2020 as $329,489.

“He was completely vindicated,” said attorney Neda Roshanian, who represented Tucker with attorney Keith Bruno. Tucker wrongful termination lawsuit against the county will continue to proceed.

30 year veteran

Tucker, a nearly 30-year veteran, was fired in December 2020 amid allegations that he unilaterally began investigating his suspicions that Spitzer was favoring donors. Tucker also accused Spitzer – then newly elected – of colluding with chief investigator Paul Walters to bury Tucker’s findings.

The arbitration award concluded that Walters, Spitzer and his top adviser, Shawn Nelson, decided to fire Tucker in an “impromptu” meeting outside of normal termination procedures, Roshanian said. Spitzer argued that the decision was made by the county human resources office, not him.

The story begins in 2016 with investigator Tom Conklin’s assignment to look into the dealings of then-district attorney and Tony Rackauckas’ political rival, Spitzer. Conklin later authored an 11-page report, obtained by the Orange County Registry, which said he found no wrongdoing by Spitzer. Spitzer won the election and took the seat in January 2019.

Conklin was placed on administrative leave on suspicion that he had leaked the Spitzer investigation. The referee said Tucker had been appointed before Spitzer took office to investigate Conklin. Spitzer’s office said Tucker assigned himself.

Tucker believes Conklin circumvented his report to whitewash Spitzer, accusing the investigation of being incomplete, unprofessional and unethical. For example, Conklin omitted bank records that showed Spitzer was capable of laundering money, Tucker said in the ongoing lawsuit against the county.

Particles remove their own rules

Following Spitzer’s election, Tucker assigned himself to continue the investigation of the new district attorney, officials from the prosecutor’s office said. However, the referee stressed the district had not played by its own rules.

“In short, the County justified the termination by pointing to allegations of bias, conflict, violations of ethics and policy, and general aggressive behavior by Tucker in pursuit of certain conduct. against Spitzer,” the ruling said. “However, the County does not offer much assent to the conflicts of interest, inconsistencies and departures on the part of decision makers that pervade the entire issue.”

The referee went on to say that Tucker should never have been tasked with investigating.

“This whole affair would have been avoided if the Bureau had simply reused itself from any investigation involving Spitzer in any way after July 10, 2017, when Spitzer announced that Mr. is running for the office of Orange County District Attorney,” the ruling said. “Having decided not to reuse itself, the Bureau should have been particularly sensitive to avoid anything remotely that could question anyone’s ability to be fair.”

Spitzer’s office released a statement alleging that Tucker’s investigation was political in nature.

Spitzer spokeswoman Kimberly Edds said: “This was nothing more than political espionage right after Rackauckas showed a tragic performance in the preliminaries. “After Rackauckas’ lousy performance… Tucker engaged in unauthorized and self-directed activities in a desperate attempt to unearth Spitzer ahead of the November general election and prevent Rackauckas from being exposed. .”

What work back?

The next step is for Tucker and the county to negotiate his return.

Roshanian said the county is offering Tucker a less prestigious position than the one he has.

“He has a right to where he has been. He earned it,” she said. “The referee said he did what any reasonable person would do by withholding evidence of Spitzer’s suspected offense.”