County Sheriff Bill Gore’s Role in Gun Scandal: Business As Usual?
The Urban League of San Diego’s annual diversity awards dinner at the US Grant Hotel later this week will include Sheriff Bill Gore as one of its nine 2019 honorees. As is true with many non-profit organizations, their annual awards dinner serves as a fundraiser and opportunity to interface with the many individuals and organizations central to its mission.
I guess you could say that Gore has somewhat of a diverse track record, though damning editorials in the local daily, lawsuits galore, recognition for having California’s highest jail death rate, and a near miss in a gun trafficking bust aren’t the usual things one would think of as being honored at a banquet.
But on second thought, what’s really going on is just yet another example of how some people are more equal than others in America’s Finest City.
Let’s take a look at the latest scandal, involving a high ranking officer brought down after a tip involving a law enforcement officer assisting illegal marijuana operations in evading crackdowns.
San Diego Sheriff Capt. Marco Garmo was arrested for selling “off roster” guns available only to law enforcement after a 23 count indictment was unsealed in federal court on the Friday before Thanksgiving.
From the Union-Tribune story on the arrests::
The operation was to turn a profit, prosecutors said, but also “to build good will with future potential donors or benefactors would could advance his career or support anticipated political campaigns, including Garmo’s expressed intention to run for San Diego County sheriff,” according to the indictment.
The indictment says Garmo would regularly transfer guns, high-capacity magazines and ammunition — including Sheriff’s Department-issued ammunition that he was not authorized to distribute — to Hamel, friends and acquaintances in what are known as “straw purchases,” falsely claiming the items were for Garmo when they were not.
Prosecutors said the veteran lawman bought approximately 146 guns between March 2013 and this past February. But over the same period, he transferred approximately 93 of those firearms to third parties through federal firearms licenses and transferred other weapons without going through the federal licensing process, the indictment states.
Garmo had at least four collaborators who were also indicted, including sheriff’s Lt. Fred Magana and prominent San Diego jeweler Leo Hamel, who have already pled guilty. A story by Union-Tribune columnist Michael Smolens suggests Hamel could end up testifying against his former partner.
Prosecutors said there also was an illegal scheme to help buyers get concealed weapon permits quickly from the Sheriff’s Department.
Named in the indictment for aiding and abetting the illegal sales were firearms dealer Giovanni Tilotta and El Cajon resident Waiel Anton.
Hamel and Garmo go back awhile, having been active in the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association of San Diego County, a labor group that operates a store in Poway where members can purchase guns and other law enforcement tools.
The group is also active in local politics; its endorsements are actively sought by candidates. And word is they’ll plaster the county with campaign road signs if you ask nicely.
In 2016 the two men sought and won seats on the local Republican Central Committee. Tony Krvaric, chairman of the Republican Party of San Diego County, told the Union-Tribune their seats were vacated in 2017 for failing to attend meetings.
Here’s the thing about this gun sales case: Sheriff Gore and then-District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis knew what was going on three years ago and --notwithstanding denials-- let it pass.
Despite learning from the California Department of Justice that Capt Garmo had participated in more than 150 sales transactions (anything more than 10 is considered cause for alarm), the investigation was referred to human resources to be handled administratively.
Former SDSO Commander Dave Myers, who ran for Sheriff in the last election and lost, said internal emails between him and his superior Mike Barnett, now the Undersheriff, prove the administration was aware Garmo was involved in more than 150 firearms transactions as early as August of 2016.
"I was essentially shot down and was told the Sheriff said it was a human resources matter and was no longer my business," Myers said.
Myers was in charge of sensitive criminal investigations within the department at the time, so he found the response from his superiors odd.
SDSO Spokesperson Lieutenant Justin White told NBC7 Barnett didn't think it would be appropriate to have Myers investigate Garmo since the two were both running for Sheriff.
But Myers said Garmo was never a candidate.
"Never announced, never formed a committee, nothing along this timeline. So it wasn't Dave against Marco. It was Dave against Bill Gore," Myers said.
Gore formally reprimanded Garmo in 2017 for buying and selling sold dozens of guns without securing a federal firearms license. A referral to the District Attorney’s Office for possible criminal charges went nowhere. Instead, the then-District Attorney sent Garmo a letter warning him not to continue violating the law.
Garmo was quoted in media claiming he was a gun hobbyist who overlooked the legal implications of what he was doing.
And, despite being warned, he continued. At times he was running the gun operation out of his office in the Sheriff Department’s Rancho San Diego Station.
From Smolen’s column:
Cozy relationships abound in this case. Hamel had been an honorary deputy sheriff and contributed to the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association of San Diego County, a labor organization representing deputies. Garmo served as a director of the association.
Hamel has said he was not just a political supporter of Gore, but a friend. He once posted a photo of himself with the sheriff at one of his jewelry stores on his Instagram account. “San Diego County Sheriff Gore doing some Christmas shopping with his BFF Leo Hamel,” Hamel wrote.
Another one of those indicted on Friday, Waiel “Will” Anton, also was a Gore backer. He put a photo of himself with Gore on social media with the comment “supporting the re-election of our great sheriff, Sheriff Bill Gore. How lucky we are to have him.”
Capt. Garmo was placed on paid administrative leave in February after federal agents executed search warrants at his home, the Rancho San Diego sheriff’s substation he supervised and at other San Diego area locations. In September he formally resigned his post.
***
Here’s an excerpt from the Union-Tribune’s editorial from last week:
In 2017, Gore said Garmo had “played by all the rules” but done “too many” transactions. In 2018, after it was disclosed Garmo had been disciplined for illegally selling 44 handguns, Gore added there was “nothing under the counter or sleazy” about what Garmo had done. Tell that to the feds.
On Sunday The San Diego Union-Tribune looked at Gore’s claim that county jail deaths were more common per capita than in other large counties in California “because San Diego County has no city-run jails” where deaths occur in other counties. A Union-Tribune Watchdog report documented that even if such deaths are added to county totals, San Diego County still has at least a 40% higher rate of jail deaths than any other large county in the state.
Gore’s ongoing refusal to accept that the county jails’ problems start with his mismanagement and not Union-Tribune coverage should outrage every local whether they have loved ones in his care or not.
Gore needs control of both his deputies and his jails to do his job effectively. Or he needs a new job.
***
I’m glad the Union-Tribune has caught on to just how bad Bill Gore is as Sheriff.
The County has appropriated $150,000 for yet another (there were three prior) study how inmates are treated in local jails in California and the United States.
Again, the UT:
Will this study meet the same fate as three prior independent reviews of county jails in the last three years? Perhaps, but it’s still worth the expense.
If nothing else, the study is needed to jolt Sheriff Bill Gore out of his present denial. While Gore has devoted considerable new resources to inmates’ physical and mental health, he has rejected some of the “best practices” recommendations from earlier studies. He also downplays the effect of “actions or inactions” of his staff, putting the blame for fatalities in his jails instead on mental illness, self-destructive behavior and “major societal changes” like criminal justice realignment and the opioid crisis.
Meanwhile, the Sheriff’s Department stopped announcing in-custody deaths, forcing the media to file public information records requests to learn of new deaths. And in September, in an essay published in the Union-Tribune, Gore responded to the Union-Tribune Watchdog series by making the false claim that the increase in jail deaths was related to a change in state law that forced county jails to accept older, sicker inmates from state prisons. Not a single one of the 140 jail deaths that the Watchdog series analyzed involved such an inmate.
Now let’s talk about the “honorary” sheriff’s badges handed out to prominent supporters and the expedited service some applicants for concealed carry permits receive.
These special people were allowed to purchase ‘off-roster’ handguns, which under California law could only be sold to law enforcement officers, not members of the general public.
This loophole for buying banned weapons exists because supposedly police are the “Only Ones” who can be trusted with guns. By the way, that term originated with a DEA agent who told a classroom full of schoolchildren he was “the only one professional enough” to carry a weapon in their presence and then shot himself in the leg trying to holster his Glock.
Let us not forget the citizen complaints filed against deputies that seem to just disappear.
Perhaps we should learn more about the results of an internal affairs investigation into allegations about a Deputy sexually assaulting a nine months pregnant inmate.
From NBC7 News:
The lawsuit claims the plaintiff’s civil rights were violated. Assault, gender violence, and emotional distress are among the accusations.
"Seemed like nobody was listening to me so I kept making reports,” she said.
The woman says other inmates in the jail experienced similar treatment but were too afraid to speak up.
Speaking of lawsuits, the amount of taxpayer cash awards (the county is self insured) to plaintiffs has zoomed upwards since Gore became Sheriff. We’re talking millions of dollars paid out because of misconduct by the people we’re supposed to trust to keep us safe.
Heard enough?
Not quite yet, I think.
There is simply no way in hell for all this malfeasance in the Sheriff’s Department to have occurred without the acquiescence of the District Attorney’s office.
Whether or not you think they were good candidates or not, the reform-oriented candidacies of Dave Myers for Sheriff and Genevieve Jones-Wright for DA, did seem to trigger a disproportionate response from the local powers-that-be.
The County was plastered with an outrageous number of illegally posted campaign signs for the establishment approved candidates. TV and social media ads dipped into the well of antisemitism to make the case against change.
Perhaps, just perhaps, there was a reason for all that fear and loathing.
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