(May 14)  Chad Mayes, the former Yucca Valley mayor and current chief of staff to San Bernardino County Second District Supervisor Janice Rutherford who is now vying for State Assembly in the 42nd district, has accepted at least $72,700 in substantial contributions from individuals or companies residing, based or operating well outside the confines of the 42nd District.
The sourcing and amounts of many of those contributions are of concern because of the influence they could have with regard to issues impacting the 42nd District if Mayes is elected as well as upon issues in San Bernardino County’s Second District, where Mayes is the primary advisor and policy formulator in Rutherford’s office.
Mayes has received $1,000 from Majestic Realty Co. of the city of Industry; $2,500 from Melissa Melendez For Assembly 2014 of Elk Grove;  $3,000 from the Mitsubishi Cement Corp. of Lucerne Valley; $1,000 from Pain Rehabilitation & Critical Care Medical Group, Inc. of Claremont; $1,000 from Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc. of New York;  $1,000 from Paul M Attyah of Los Angeles;  $6,000 from Prime Healthcare Services, Inc. of Ontario;  $2,000 from the Rancho Cucamonga Professional Firefighters Association Political Action Committee, which is based in Sacramento; $1,000 from Ravco Construction, Inc.  of Orange; $4,100 from Reggie King of  Rancho Cucamonga; $4,000 from Richard J. Gottlieb of Beverly Hills;  $2,000 from Robertson’s Ready Mix of Corona;  $1,000 from Rodney W Borger of Colton; $2,500 from Ronald Cunning of Montclair; $1,000 from Roy Tyra of Whittier; $4,100 from the political action committee of the San Manuel Band Of Mission Indians, based in Los Angeles; $4,100 from Vanir Construction Management, Inc. of Sacramento; $1,000 from Veneokumar Nathraj of Anaheim; $1,000 from Donald Rogers of San Bernardino; $500 from the Lilburn Corporation of San Bernardino; $500 from Fontana City Councilman Saleh Michael Tahan; $500 from Brickley Construction of San Bernardino;  $1,000 from Letitia White of Fort Washington, Maryland; $1,000 from the Law Offices of Fullerton, Lemann, Schaefer & Dominick of San Bernardino; $500 from a political action committee controlled by San Bernardino County Fifth District Supervisor Josie Gonzales, which is based in Santa Margarita; $4,100 from David Weiner of Beverly Hills; $500 from QMG Services of Ontario; $500 from Galaxy Investment Partners of West Hollywood; $1,000 from Derek Reinig of Newport Beach; $4,100 from Lloyd Fields of Beverly Hills; $500 from Vince Farhut of Pasadena; $500 from KCB Towers of Highland; $2,000 from Susan Patane of Biggs, Ca; $2,000 from Frontier Finance of Rancho Cucamonga; $500 from Environmental Logistics, Inc. of Bloomington; $1,000 from Cal Portland of Glendora; $500 from the Watson Land Company of Carson; $4,100 from the Committee To Elect Gary Ovitt, based in Santa Margarita; $4,100 from the Janice Rutherford For Supervisor Campaign Fund, based in Fontana; $1,000 from the Law Firm of Gresham, Savage, Nolan & Tilden of San Bernardino;  $1,000 from Valley Obstetrics & Gynecology of Colton; $1,000 from Pain Rehabilitation & Critical Care Medical Group of Claremont; and $500 from Phillip Waller of Upland.
Some of the donations may represent a degree of political complication for the Mayes campaign or for Rutherford, who is herself involved in a reelection campaign at present.
One of the donors, Letitia White, is a Washington, D.C. lobbyist who was targeted by the FBI in a four-year long probe that related to influence peddling on behalf of her clients.
The $4,100 Mayes received from Ovitt’s reelection committee could be questioned because of the potential conflict it presents, given his work for Rutherford, who represents the county’s Fourth District on the board of supervisors and Ovitt’s status as the supervisor for the county’s Fourth District.
Political purists may recognize a problem in Mayes receiving money from the supervisor, Rutherford, who employs him.
David Wiener, who has pursued development projects in Fontana, was widely portrayed as a corruption figure in that city in the 1980s and 1990s, largely on the basis of his involvement in the Trust 45 Scandal and his identification by former Fontana Mayor Nat Simon as a “pay to play” donor during the 1990 election. The $6,000 provide to Mayes by Prime Healthcare Services, Inc. exceeds the state’s $4,100 campaign donation limit by $1,900.

(May 13) The San Bernardino County Justice Center in downtown San Bernardino began operations on May 12, meeting an opening deadline that essentially ensures that the realignment of San Bernardino County courts will be effectuated, as Presiding Judge Marsha Slough intends, by the end of the month.
The 11-story San Bernardino County Justice Center located at 247 West Third Street in the county seat, plans for which were first set on paper more than seven years ago and which has been under construction for three years, is the linchpin in Slough’s realignment plan.
The realignment will entail transferring all civil cases countywide to the new San Bernardino Justice Center, which contains 35 courtrooms within its 11 floors. In addition, San Bernardino district criminal cases, now being heard in the San Bernardino Central Courthouse built in 1927, will be tried in the new San Bernardino Justice Center.
West Valley Superior Courthouse in Rancho Cucamonga, which currently is the venue for both civil and criminal cases originating on the west end of the county, will be devoted almost entirely to
criminal cases, including those arising on the county’s west end and other felony and misdemeanor cases from the county’s central district which are currently routed to the Fontana Courthouse.  A small portion of the criminal cases now heard in Fontana will be adjudicated in San Bernardino. At least temporarily, hearings on both civil and domestic violence restraining order matters will be heard at the Rancho Cucamonga Courthouse.
The historic San Bernardino Courthouse will remain as the forum for the family law cases it currently hosts and will soon serve as the venue for the family law cases presently heard in Rancho Cucamonga.
The Fontana Courthouse will become the stage for all small claims, landlord tenant disputes and traffic/non-traffic infractions from the San Bernardino, Fontana and Rancho Cucamonga districts. The lion’s share of criminal cases now being heard in Fontana will transfer to Rancho Cucamonga. A lesser number of the Fontana criminal cases will go to San Bernardino.
The Victorville Courthouse will remain a venue for High Desert family law cases.
Some have questioned the wisdom of Slough’s vision for the transformation of the county court system and the centralization of all civil courts in downtown San Bernardino.

Far flung San Bernardino County, which spans 20,105 square miles, is the largest county in the lower 48 states, with a land mass greater than the states of Delaware, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Connecticut combined. Slough’s change is imposing a tremendous logistical burden on many of the county’s citizens who need to access the courts. Driving distance from Needles to San Bernardino is 212 miles, with an average one-way traveling time of three hours and nine minutes.

As a consequence of the realignment, the city of Rancho Cucamonga is suffering the loss of the privilege of serving as host to a major portion of the county’s civil cases and simultaneously bracing for the influx of massive numbers of criminal defendants, as well as their associates and family members into its downtown district. The Rancho Cucamonga City Council was the first major public entity to register official opposition to the proposed realignment. On April 2 it adopted a resolution calling upon the managers of the court system in San Bernardino County to preserve its branch courts unless it can be demonstrated the closures will result in a savings of at least ten percent of the court system’s budget.
The city council unanimously endorsed the resolution and gave direction to city staff to carry the resolution to local members of the state legislature and insist on a response from them.  The council further directed Mayor Dennis Michael to take up the court realignment issue with the San Bernardino Association of Governments, the county’s transportation agency and regional planning board which has as its voting directors mayors or council members from each of the county’s 24 cities as well as all five members of the board of supervisors.
Michael did so and on May 7 all 29 members of the SANBAG board considered the resolution. A staff report by SANBAG Director of Legislative and Public Affairs Wendy Strack stated,  “For a county spanning 20,000 square miles, the proximity of courthouses to those with matters pending before the court carries significant cost and time pressures for impacted parties. San Bernardino County is already facing the largest shortage of judges in the state of California. According to the statewide judicial needs study released in October 2012, the San Bernardino Superior Court system should have 156 judges and more than 1,500 staff member, yet it operates with only 43 percent of that suggested staffing. The state has already closed the Chino, Needles, and Big Bear courthouses and shuttered courtrooms in Joshua Tree. The reduction in service and pending closure of courtrooms in Barstow will mean that crime victims, jurors, law enforcement officers, court personnel, and others are forced to drive many more miles to make court appearances. Our cash-strapped local governments are already struggling to provide basic services to residents. The overtime and fuel costs associated with longer court trips will create even more budget pain for our 24 cities and the county of San Bernardino.”
The resolution was endorsed by all 29 members of the SANBAG board.
City officials have met with State Senator Mike Morrell, who has indicated a willingness to seek a legislative resolution of the matter.
Slough’s critics maintain the shuttering of the county’s satellite courtrooms and the centralization of civil courtrooms in San Bernardino will not provide significant monetary savings and merely reduces the administrative burden of maintaining a geographically dispersed system. That administrative convenience will translate into far greater costs to be borne by the county’s governmental agencies and the county’s residents, they maintain.
Slough, however, in March told the Sentinel that the realignment was driven by fiscal necessity in that the court system in San Bernardino County had seen its 2008-09 budget of $110 million drop to $99.2 million in 2009-10, move up to $108 million in 2010-11, dip to $103 million in 2011-12, and then suffer a precipitous decline to $84 million in 2012-13.
“I know for those on the outside looking in and even for some of those on the inside it is very hard to get your arms around this,” Slough said. “The rationale behind this may not seem clear but… We are doing it this way because it allows us to focus our resources where we need to focus them.”

(May 16)  Ribbons were cut on historic Route 66’s new eastern entry this past week.  Marking the entry, a new rest area and information kiosk for travelers, was added to the historic byway.  Construction of the facility is credited to the Needles Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the City of Needles.  Dignitaries and honored guest cutting the ribbon and a cake in celebration included Dr. Edward Paget, Mayor of Needles, Mike Ahrens, BLM Needles Field Manager, Teri Raml, BLM California Desert District Manager and Randy Banis,  BLM’s Desert Advisory Council Chairman.  Approximately 35 people, many who were participating in the BLM’s  Desert Advisory Council meeting held in Needles on Friday and Saturday May 9 and 10, were in attendance.

While the rest area does not yet include “rest rooms” it does feature a covered sitting area and informational kiosk including a map of the route, location data and points of interest along the way.  The hallmark of the facility is the welded metal sculpture of the Route 66 iconic logo displayed at the pinnacle of the cover.

It is located at the “5 Mile Road” exit  (Exit 148) of Interstate 40 (I-40) between Needles and Park Moabi.   Though a section of the original Route 66 alignment exists nearer the bridge at the Colorado River, the section between it and the new rest stop was paved over by I-40.  The 5 Mile Road exit of the I-40 is a suitable location for a start point to tour Route 66 westward. West of the rest stop, Route 66 follows the historic alignment and is a two-lane road.

The Desert Advisory Council joined in the ribbon cutting as part of a scheduled field tour of a portion of Route 66. A Corridor Management Plan for Route 66 between Needles and Barstow is currently underway. Lardner-Klein Landscape Architects, the contractor preparing the CMP, will host the webcasts, which will be held from 10:30 a.m. to noon (Pacific Daylight Time) on May 22, 2014 to address the topic of “Visitor Experience,” on August 28, 2014 to address the topic of “Transportation” and on October 23, 2014 to address the topic of “Marketing and Heritage Tourism Development” regarding the CMP.  Route 66’s Intrinsic Qualities and their Stewardship were addressed on April 28, 2014.

Members of the public participating in the District Advisory Council meeting held on May 9-10 were also treated to cake in celebration of the rest area opening while visiting with government employees who participated in the construction of the facility. The District Advisory Council advises the BLM’s California Desert District management on issues important to the public including new applications for use of public land.

District Manager Raml informed the Sentinel that she “was busting with pride over the accomplishments of the Needles Field Office.  With limited resources, these dedicated employees used their ingenuity and $3000 to construct a useful and attractive facility to serve all of the people.  I hope that the visiting public can appreciate it and that they will treat it with respect.”

With reference to the very limited federal funding applied to this project, it should be noted that the lands managed by the BLM amounts to a major presence in San Bernardino County.  As a subagency of the United States Department of the Interior it administers 247,300,000 acres of American Public land.   San Bernardino County is the largest county in the United States outside of Alaska. The predominant acreage within the 20,105 square mile confines of San Bernardino County is desert, specifically the Mojave Desert.  The major landowner in the Mojave Desert is the BLM.
Whereas it was once said that “As General Motors goes, so goes the nation” it is at least as true that “As the BLM goes, so goes a major portion of San Bernardino County.”
In this way, the funding crunch for the BLM has a major impact on the quality of the environment, and life, in the place we call home.

Unlike the National Park Service, BLM operations including employee salaries are typically funded by project proponent payments of application fees and rent for use of public lands for private projects.   The reality is that the BLM must process land use applications or some of their costs including employee salaries go unpaid.  Staff cut backs, layoffs due to reductions in funding are not uncommon.

Traditionally, it has been a characteristic of BLM employees to be dedicated—they desire to serve the public well.   In the case of the lack luster funding for the rest area, the BLM employees have taken up the slack.  Any appearance of inability to steward an important asset like Route 66 or other public lands and facilities could be used as ammunition to argue for privatization which would leave the public out of the loop on how an asset is used.
One can see such scenarios clearly repeated in the public sector on the local level…the public pays for an asset, a failure is caused by lack of resources or funding to maintain the asset, blame for the failure is placed on the agency in control, control/ownership is sold to privatize the asset.  When a Congress is set on privatizing public assets, what we might expect to see is a refusal to properly fund agency management thus causing failure, blaming the failure on the agency, then using that failure as an excuse to privatizing the property.

Congress needs to fund the maintenance of Route 66 and improve its safety. The historic byway is scenic and a cultural treasure–a resource that deserves the careful scrutiny of public participation in its future use not only to guarantee its availability for public enjoyment but also as a very necessary public emergency transportation route out of southern California. That being said, the road is best in the hands of a public agency that allows for private concessions and entrepreneurial involvement.  The BLM is such an agency.   The paltry amount allowed for the new rest stop is an example of where priorities in federal funding need to be revisited and revised.
On the other hand, those employees involved in the construction of the helpful safety rest stop at 5 Mile Road deserve credit for what they accomplished on such a small budget, their careful planning and conservative use of public funds.

(May 11) Standard Pacific Corporation will be required to finance $2,634,000 worth of infrastructure as a condition of resuming the development of 98 lots in the unincorporated county area near Devore.
The Standard Pacific Corporation recently purchased the property, consisting of  Tract 16977-1 located northerly of Lytle Creek Wash and southerly of the intersection of  Glen Helen Parkway with State Highway Interstate, from Lennar Homes. Lennar initially obtained approval for the project in 2006 and committed to completing the required road and drainage, and water improvements by August 22, 2008. The board of supervisors granted Lennar five extensions on its completion date from September 9, 2008 to August 22, 2009;  January 12, 2010 to August 22, 2010; December 14, 2010 to August 22, 2011; from November 1, 2011 to August 22, 2012; and from December 18, 2012 to August 22, 2013. The county allowed those delays upon Lennar maintaining that “poor economic conditions” prevented it from proceeding with the project.
Standard Pacific has committed to take over from Lennar the promise to expend $1,033,000 on materials and $516,500 on labor for road and materials;  $402,000 on materials and $201,000 on labor for a water system;  $294,000 on materials and $147,000 on labor for a sewer system; and  $27,000 on materials and  $13,500 on labor for landscaping. It obtained a surety bond to satisfy the county that the work would be completed.

(May 12)  Lynn “Nay” Valbuena, who served as chairwoman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians two decades ago, has returned to head the tribe, having been reelected to the post last month.
“I am humbled by this election to lead the people of San Manuel,” said Valbuena. “The future of our tribe requires that we continue the work initiated by our ancestors generations ago to ensure not only our survival, but also to maintain our cultural strengths as well as a commitment to progress in an increasingly complex world. I am firmly committed to these principles.”
Valbuena has been active in guiding the tribe’s operations since 1974, when she was selected to a position on the San Manuel housing commission, which provided oversight for the housing program on the reservation, which is located near Highland in San Bernardino County.
For the last 19 years, Valbuena has served as chairwoman of the Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations (TASIN), a regional tribal organization in Southern California whose purpose is to advance tribal government issues with local, state and federal governments.
Among her current affiliations, she serves on the board of trustees for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC, as trustee for the Autry National Center based in Los Angeles, is serving in her 23rd year as delegate to the National Congress of American Indians, and has been a member of the Advisory Council for the American Indian Chamber of Commerce of California for 15 years.
Valbuena has been active with regard to several local agencies and charities. She was employed as a stenographer, court officer, resource officer and public spokeswoman with the San Bernardino Police Department for 16 years.  She previously served as a board member with the San Bernardino Valley Lighthouse for the Blind and the San Bernardino YMCA.
She has received numerous distinctions throughout her career, including the San Bernardino County Safety Employee’s Benefit Association Distinguished Benefactor Honoree in 2011, California Assemblyman Bill Emmerson’s California Woman of Distinction award in 2010, Women Empowering Women for Indian Nations (WEWIN) honoree and the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) Chairman’s Leadership Award.
Valubena and her husband Stephen have two children and three grandchildren.

(May 7) Glenborough, LLC, which has for the last five years been leasing 16,642 square feet of office space in San Bernardino to the county of San Bernardino for use by its workforce development department, will take in almost $2 million more for the extension of that lease for another five years.
On May 6 the board of supervisors approved exercising a five-year option to extend the term from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2019 for 16,642 square feet of office space at 658 E. Brier Street, Suite 100, in San Bernardino for a total of $1,997,040.
In approving the lease extension the board authorized the county’s real estate services department to negotiate keeping the Workforce Development Department in its current quarters as an alternative procedure to seeking bids from other owners of office space.
In a report to the board of supervisors, Terry Thompson, the director of the county’s real estate services department and Sandy Harmsen, the director of the county’s workforce development department, wrote “This item will amend an existing lease for the workforce development department  by extending the term five years from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2019 for office space in San Bernardino because of the continuing need to provide employment services to job seekers and employers in the San Bernardino area. The workforce development department  administers and operates programs under the Department of Labor’s Workforce Investment Act (WIA). These programs are often provided by other parties and institutions that partner with the workforce development department  and co-locate in the workforce development department  facilities.
The employment development department is co-located at the workforce development department’s facility at 658 E. Brier Street, Suite 100, in San Bernardino, and provides similar, but not identical services to job seekers and employers. The combined services offered to those seeking employment include career counseling, job search, assessment and occupational training services provided through employee resource centers. Business customers benefit from customized recruitment services and a large pool of pre-screened job applicants provided through business resource centers.”
For the 16,642 square feet, the county will pay $375,444 to lease the property from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015;  $387,420 from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016;  $399,408 from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017;  $411,396 from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018; $423,372 from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019.

(May 16)  Colton‘s city clerk and records manager, Eileen C. Gomez, will depart Colton on May 22 to accept the position of city clerk with the city of Laguna Niguel.
Gomez was first elected to the Colton city clerk position in 2008 and reelected in 2012. She was given the added duties of records manager in 2010. She was not scheduled to stand for reelection until 2016.  The Colton City Council will appoint an interim city clerk and seek to fill the position with a special election to correspond to the November election when the mayor and  council members from districts 1, 2 and 4 are up for voter selection.
Gomez was chosen for the Laguna Niguel post on the strength of her experience, which included her work in Colton as well as with the city of San Bernardino, where she previously worked in the public works, engineering and code enforcement departments.

(May 12) The cities of Upland and Montclair are ending their decades-long arrangement with the city of Ontario for the provision of fire and emergency medical dispatch service in favor of a new contract with the Consolidated Fire Agencies of San Bernardino County, known as CONFIRE.
CONFIRE is a joint powers authority composed of San Bernardino County, Rialto, Redlands, Colton, Loma Linda and Rancho Cucamonga. The cities and communities of Running Sprigs, Twentynine Palms, Apple Valley, Big Bear and Baker contract with CONFIRE for the provision of  fire and medical emergency dispatch.
Beginning in the 1970s, Ontario had the premier emergency dispatch system on the west side of San Bernardino County, which utilized computers to assist dispatchers in efficiently dispatching the most immediately available firetrucks and ambulances to scenes of emergency.
CONFIRE has acquired an even more advanced computer assisted dispatch system, and gradually cities on the west end of the county are switching to CONFIRE’s system.
Whereas many dispatch systems typically divide cities into quadrants and dispatch emergency vehicles and responders to emergencies based largely on those pre-set divisions, Brian Acosta, the interim communications director for CONFIRE, this week told the Upland City Council that his agency’s dispatch division “sends the closest avabile units to the incident.”
At present, most fire department calls are for medical assistance. “Emergency medical dispatch makes up 80 percent of our calls,” Accosta said.
Upland and Montclair merged their respective fire departments’ managment and administration divisions earlier this year.
Both department’s have given Ontario a 180-day notice of their intent to terminate their contracts with that city for emergency fire department dispatch.

By clicking on the portal below, you can access a PDF of the May 9 Edition of the San Bernardino County Sentinel.

Sentinel 05-09-14

(May 8)  Six inmates at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga were subjected to such horrific treatment at the hands of San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies that they should collectively recover a total of $180-million, according to a federal  lawsuit filed on their behalf.
Named as defendants in the suit are San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon, West Valley Detention Center commander captain Jeff Rose, six deputies identified by the last names of Teychea, Oakley, Copas, Escomilla, Morris, Snell, and Strifler, as well as two civilian jailers with the last names of Stockman and Neil, along with the county of San Bernardino and up to ten yet to be identified members of the department. The Sentinel has learned that the seven  deputies referenced in the suit, in some cases with variant spellings of their names, are Brock Teyechea, Nicholas Oakley, Russell Kopasz, Robert Escamilla,  Robert Morris, Eric Smale, and Daniel Stryffeler. An eighth deputy,  Andrew Cruz, was identified as one of the unnamed defendants. Brandon Stockman was identified as one of the unsworn civilian jailers.
The plaintiffs in the case are John Hanson, Lamar Graves, Brandon Schilling, Christopher J. Sly, Eddie Caldero and Michael Mesa, all of whom were housed at West Valley between January 1, 2013 and the end of March 2014. They are represented by attorney Stan Hodge, Jim Terrell and Sharon Bruner. Hodge, a former Superior Court judge, was a prosecutor with the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office before he was elevated to the bench.
“During the plaintiffs’ incarceration,” the lawsuit states, “the plaintiffs were subjected by defendants to beatings, torture including but not limited to extending the handcuffed arms behind the plaintiffs causing extraordinary pain to plaintiff’s body, electric shock, including electric shock to their genitalia, sleep deprivation, had shotguns placed to their heads and sodomy. All these actions were taken without any legitimate purpose. The defendants thereby deprived the plaintiffs the right to be free from punishment without due process of law pursuant to the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.”
The suit alleges that “As a direct and proximate result of the conduct of the defendants the plaintiffs have suffered extreme physical and emotional injury. The conduct of the defendants was willful, malicious and designed to inflict pain.”
The suit further alleges that the treatment the inmates underwent “were applications of unreasonable and unlawful force and deprived the plaintiffs of their right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures protected by the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the  Constitution of the United States.”
The treatment was institutionalized, the lawsuit states, in that both the sheriff and those supervising the jail had knowledge of the activity.
“The defendant John McMahon and the defendant Jeff rose and their subordinate administrators sued herein had knowledge that the abusive conduct by which the plaintiffs were deprived of their civil rights were taking place and were going to take place in the future and failed to take any action to cause the violation of plaintiffs’ rights to be prevented.”
The suit maintains the defendants conduct “was under the color of state law. Each of the individual defendants are being sued in their individual capacity as well as their official capacity.”
Language in the suit suggests that the mistreatment of the prisoners was documented by medical treatment subsequently provided to them.  “Those plaintiffs who were permitted by the defendants to obtain medical treatment had to receive such treatment due to the conduct of the defendants,” the lawsuit states.
The suit seeks $15 million in compensatory damages for physical, mental and emotional injury to each plaintiff and $15 million for exemplary and punitive damages for each defendant, in addition to attorney fees.
A spokeswoman for the department declined comment on the suit, which was filed on May 7, roughly two months after reports of abuse at the facility resulted in the FBI launching an investigation into the matter.  In early April, reliable sources told the Sentinel that during the early stages of that inquiry, three deputies were “walked off” the grounds of the facility by federal agents. Those three deputies, who have now been identified as Teyechea, Oakley and Cruz, were terminated on the strength of the FBI’s initial findings. Another deputy reportedly voluntarily resigned, according to one of the sources, who is knowledgeable about department operations. That source also reported that sheriff’s department personnel acting as guards at the recently opened Adelanto Detention Facility had used mace against inmates while they were in their cells.