LF: Police Chief Leaves Gun in Bathroom, Cops Blame Innocent Man for Stealing it

Title: Police Chief Leaves Gun in Bathroom, Cops Blame Innocent Man for Stealing it
Source: News Maven
URL Source: https://newsmaven.io/pinacnews/cops ... ing-it-Dd1ep0Jj80SIbe4W3tgP2Q/
Published: Jul 25, 2019
Author: Carlos Miller
Post Date: 2019-07-28 09:33:54 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 1482
Comments: 11

An innocent man was arrested and his children seized by the government after he was falsely accused of stealing the gun.

A California police chief who left a loaded gun inside a bathroom stall of a fast food restaurant ordered police to search the home of a man who not only did not have the gun, he was nowhere near the El Pollo Loco where she had left it.

But he was arrested anyway along with his wife on unrelated charges after San Luis Obispo police searched his home without a warrant and determined his house was messy. His kids were also seized by the county.

San Luis Obispo Police Chief Deanna Cantrell also violated city policy by waiting two hours to report her gun stolen, resulting in her having to pay a $1,600 fine.

Nevertheless, San Luis Obispo City Manager Derek Johnson praised Cantrell for her "integrity throughout the incident," according to Cal Coast Times.

But the facts reveal incompetency more than anything.

San Luis Obispo Police Chief Deanna Cantrell

Chief Cantrell left the loaded Glock in the bathroom of the El Pollo Loco around noon on July 10. When she realized had left the gun behind, she returned to the restaurant and reviewed surveillance video, determining three people had entered the bathroom after her.

The chief said two of people were still in the restaurant and did not have the gun so apparently they were unlawfully searched.

That left the third man who was obviously clean-shaven in the video which somehow led police to the home of a man with a full beard and mustache.

According to the Cal Coast Times:

The last person, who was the first to enter the restroom after Cantrell left, was not in the restaurant when the chief returned to look for her firearm. The man, later identified as 30-year-old Skeeter Carlos Mangan of Los Osos, was shown in the video – clean-shaven, balding and wearing a black jacket and shorts.

Shortly before 7 p.m., a group of five detectives were dispatched to a home on O’Connor Way after an officer said a man who lived in the home resembled the man in the video. Even so, the dispatch log shows the officer were sent to El Pollo Loco on Los Osos Valley Road for a lost property report.

The group of police drew the attention of a man living in the house with his wife and two children.

The man, who is not being identified by CalCoastNews, came out to ask the officers what was going on. The man had a full beard and mustache.

Even so, detectives Jason Dickel and Suzie Walsh told the man that they knew he had stolen the chief’s pistol and ordered him to tell them where it was, the man said. He told the officers he had been in Atascadero with his wife and two children at a medical appointment and that he had not been at El Pollo Loco in SLO.

Police asked the man for consent to search his home but he asked for a warrant. Police then informed him he was on probation so they didn't need a warrant. The man told them it was not him but a relative who was on probation. He even had the documentation to prove it.

But police refused to see the court documents.

"You have the gun and we are going in to get it," San Luis Obispo police officer Jason Dickel told him, according to his interview with the Cal Coast Times.

The cops entered the home and kicked his bedroom down and after finding no gun, they arrested the couple on child neglect charges, taking the kids into county custody because the "house was unclean."

A county social worker named Carrie Bailey voiced her agreement with the decision to remove the kids from the home, telling the Cal Coast Times that a photograph taken by the deputies proves the parents were allowing drug paraphernalia in the children's bedroom but that turned out to be a lie.

In support of removing the children from their parents’ custody Carrie Bailey, a county social worker, claimed a photograph taken in the parents’ bedroom of paraphernalia was taken in the children’s bedroom. When asked about the misstatement, Debra Barriger, a deputy county counsel, said the county is not permitted to disclose child custody issues.

Seven hours after she had left the gun in the bathroom, police received a call from the brother-in-law of the clean-shaven man in the video who told them to swing by and pick up the gun. The Cal Coast Times did not identify the couple who were arrested.

Check out the chief's explanation below.

SLOPD chief responds to allegations of “coverup” after leaving gun in restroom

San Luis Obispo Police Chief Deanna Cantrell is responding to allegations that she did not immediately report that someone walked off with her gun after she left it in a restaurant earlier this month.

Local publication Cal Coast News cites anonymous police officers accusing the chief, among other things, of taking too long to report the missing weapon to dispatch.

Cantrell reportedly arrived at noon at El Pollo Loco for lunch. After using the restaurant’s restroom, she realized she had left her gun inside.

She asked an El Pollo Loco employee to check surveillance video to see who went into the bathroom after her. It’s then she notified her captain about what happened.

Cantrell says within a half-hour, she determined one of the customers, later identified by police as Skeeter Mangan, took the weapon but he was gone.

Around 1:07 p.m., the chief says she called dispatch and asked to be connected to the supervisor on duty.

Chief Cantrell says the call was dropped and she called back on her cell phone, but Cal Coast News asserts Cantrell used her cell so the call would not be recorded.

Later that evening, the chief said the department got a tip a Morro Bay man, who’s on probation, might have her gun.

Contrary to the Cal Coast News report, Chief Cantrell says officers performed a lawful search of his home.

Officers say the home was filthy and the children were put in protective custody as a result.

She denies Cal Coast News’ report that a door was kicked in and the children were kept overnight at the police department.

The next day, detectives say Skeeter Mangan was found to be in possession of the gun.

Chief Cantrell says there was a delay in issuing a “be on the lookout alert” to law enforcement, as stated in the article, because of a miscommunication. She also said it is not a requirement.

Cantrell said she believes it’s a former police officer who “takes issue with her” who is questioning her actions that day.

The City of San Luis Obispo released the following statement Friday in response to KSBY’s inquiries: