Just days after the one-year anniversary of what has been perhaps the most remarkable progression of his career, Barstow Police Chief Andrew Espinoza, Jr this week was placed on administrative leave from his interim city manager position.
On January 16, 2024, the Barstow City Council as it was then composed voted to appoint Espinoza, who held the title of police chief and public safety director, to the acting city manager position in the aftermath of Willie Hopkins’ departure to accept the position of city manager in Compton. At that point, Espinoza had been the police chief for two-and-a-half years and had been with the police department for 25 years, having begun his law enforcement career in Barstow in 1999 after graduating from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department 135th Academy Session.
In appointing Espinoza to what was generally thought would be a position of short duration, the city council bypassed Assistant City Manager Kody Tompkins.Barstow, like several other San Bernardino County municipalities such as the county seat of San Bernardino, Rialto and Upland, has experienced a lack of longevity and stability with its city managers in recent years, accompanied by less than stellar performance on the part of some of those holding the position, along with difficulty in filling the post on a continuous basis.
With the hiring of Hopkins in September of 2021, following a protracted executive recruitment effort by the retained headhunting firm of Andersen & Associates which had entailed considering the application of 41 candidates for the post, it was thought that the city’s managerial inconclusivity was behind it. But Hopkins’ unanticipated leaving had thrown City Hall once more into disarray, and there was a belief that what might occur is that Tompkins would in short order be tapped to ride herd on the city’s employees. For that reason, Espinoza was drafted into the temporary manager’s position so the city could screen either a short or long list of those to be considered as Hopkins’ replacement. Since Tompkins was to be among those considered, it was thought best that he not be moved into the acting city manager slot, lest this lead to the impression that the selection process was being tilted in his favor.
At the same time, Espinoza had a credible background to serve in a managerial capacity, and not merely on a temporary or interim basis. He holds an associate degree in social science from Barstow Community College, a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Chapman University, and a master’s degree in public administration from California State University, Long Beach.
In addition, Espinoza has impeccable law enforcement credentials, even though they were compiled with the relatively small-scale Barstow Police Department. In his quarter of a century as a cop, he was a patrol officer, street detective, major crimes detective, watch commander, range master, special response team operator and commander, patrol division commander and head of the administrative division.
In jumping him up the chain of command to being city manager, the authority of which entails being the police chief’s boss, the city council elected to keep him in the capacity of both public safety director and police chief.
It is of note that there has been a changeover on the city council since January 2024. In November 2024, Mayor Paul Courtney did not vie for reelection and neither did District 4 Councilwoman Marilyn Kruse. They were replaced, respectively, with Tim Silva, a former councilman, and John “Tex” Williams. Silva and Williams were sworn in in December.
Depending upon who is consulted with for an exposition, either Espinoza or Police Captain Daniel Arthur, who was the administrative division commander under Espinoza, has been the department’s de facto chief over most of the last 12 months.
Reportedly, it is not issues pertaining to the operation of the city and the purview of the city manager or Espinoza’a function as acting city manager that led to his suspension. Rather, according to information that is both publicly available and those made by confidential sources who sought out the Sentinel, it is controversy involving the police department which felled Espinoza this week.
In the course of statements made by Barstow residents E.T. Snell, Melody Walker, Gilbert Asa, Jim Brown and Marsha Weiseman, Espinoza was accused of covering up action or facts embarrassing to the department or demonstrating misfeasance or malfeasance on the part of officers by either himself writing false police reports or accepting police reports from officers he knows are false, misspending money entrusted to him in his capacity as either or both police chief and city manager, abusing his power and authority, overseeing investigations that were less than thorough, filing falsified police reports, seizing evidence of crimes and then either destroying it, hiding it or withholding it, and generally engaging in the covering up of wrongdoing.
After beginning its meeting at 5 p.m. on Tuesday January 21 at 5 p.m. and hearing comment from the public on issues to be discussed in closed session, the council adjourned into a private session held behind closed doors and beyond the scrutiny and earshot of the public for the discussion of seven specified subjects, one of which pertained to the “public employment” of the “interim city manager, police chief, public safety director.”
The closed session lasted for one hour. 41 minutes and 40 seconds, during which, according to City Attorney Matthew Summers, the council discussed two items, one being existing litigation and the other being the employment issues relating to Espinoza. After the council returned from that closed session, Matthews announced, “The council considered… public employment regarding the interim city manager/police chief and public safety director. There is reportable action on that item. The interim city manager/ police chief and public safety director, Mr. Espinoza, has been placed on paid administrative leave until further notice.”
-Mark Gutglueck