For the second time in three years, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Aviation Division is under investigation by a grand jury for alleged improper flight logging, as well as unauthorized flight training and using aircraft to travel to concerts at the Glen Helen Amphitheater.
The allegations surfaced in a letter to the county grand jury dated Nov. 17, 2017. The anonymous author, identified only as a former member of the division, said the following was “personally observed by deputies and staff”:
- Within weeks of transferring to the Aviation Division and taking command, Capt. Jeff Rose had Lt. Al Daniel teach him to fly helicopters and assist him with acquiring his private helicopter pilot license. “This was accomplished at no personal expense to Captain Rose, but was funded through the Sheriff’s Aviation Division at County tax payer’s [sic] expense,” the author wrote, noting that Rose’s assignment as Aviation Division commander does not require him to know how to fly aircraft. Additionally, deputies interested in acquiring pilot licenses are required to attend flight school at their own expense, the letter stated.
- On Sept. 10, 2017, Rose, Daniel and Lt. Mitch Dattilo, on their personal time, flew a department Astar helicopter to the Glen Helen Amphitheater to attend a Sammy Hagar concert. The three shot photos of themselves with Sammy Hagar and posted them on Twitter.
- On Oct. 4, 2017, Rose and Daniel flew a helicopter to the Ozzfest concert at Glen Helen, where they met singer Ozzy Osbourne backstage.
- On Oct. 27, 2017, an Aviation Division pilot was given a “special assignment,” on overtime, to fly Rose to Glen Helen for a Luke Bryan concert, where Rose met Bryan backstage and had his photo taken with the country music singer.
- On Nov. 10, 2017, Rose and Daniel took Rose’s wife and daughter on a four-hour flight to an unknown destination.
“There have been no flight logs recorded … for any of these flights,” stated the letter to the grand jury.
Sheriff John McMahon declined to comment on the allegations. Sheriff’s Lt. Sarkis Ohannessian said his department conducted an administrative investigation that wrapped up two weeks ago. The findings were turned over to the grand jury but remain confidential.
Every year on July 1, the San Bernardino County Grand Jury releases its annual report. Whether the findings from the most recent Aviation Division investigation will appear in its 2017-18 report remains to be seen.
Three years ago, the grand jury investigated the Aviation Division’s policies and procedures for logging flights and coordinating civilian ride-alongs. A review of two years worth of flight logs revealed that not all flights were recorded, including 28 civilian ride-alongs. The 2014-15 grand jury also found that only 39 of 200 ride-along waivers were completed and approved as required by department policy, while the remaining 161 waivers were incomplete.
In its September 2015 response, the Sheriff’s Department agreed with the grand jury’s findings, and insisted the Aviation Division’s policies and procedures had been updated to reflect the grand jury’s concerns. The division’s computerized flight log system, it said, had been modified to permit entry of all flights — scheduled and unscheduled — with an exception only for “routine maintenance flights.”
“Even after going through a previous grand jury investigation where abuses were uncovered, and safeguards put in place to prevent future abuses of this kind, it is astonishing that the safeguards have been ignored and the abuses continue by the new Commander, Jeff Rose,” the Nov. 17 letter states.
Rose, a Sheriff’s Department veteran of 31 years, is the former commander of the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, where dozens of inmates filed federal lawsuits alleging a pattern of brutality by deputies under Rose’s command, prompting an FBI investigation that began in 2014. Last July, the county settled seven of the federal lawsuits for $2.75 million. Since then, the county has settled lawsuits with five other current or former inmates for more than $1.2 million.
Rose transferred to the Aviation Division in July 2016, succeeding Capt. Dale Gregory, who had commanded the division since January 2013, sheriff’s spokeswoman Jodi Miller said.
Rose and Daniel remain on duty in the Aviation Division. Dattilo has been promoted to captain and will take command at the Big Bear City station on April 28, Ohannessian said.
In 2017, the Aviation Division responded to 14,260 calls for service, conducted 249 search-and-rescue operations and logged nearly 5,000 flight hours, said Miles Kowalski, the Sheriff’s Department’s general counsel. More than 30 people work in the Aviation Division as pilots, tactical flight officers and mechanics, he said. The department’s fleet consists of 13 helicopters and six airplanes.
Public scrutiny of the Aviation Division dates back more than 30 years. Former Sheriff Floyd Tidwell, who served from 1983 to 1991, was the subject of a 1987 expose by this news organization for using his fleet of helicopters as a personal air taxi service. He would use department helicopters to fly to a second home he was having built at the time in Big Bear Lake.
Additionally, Tidwell and his wife would fly to Lake Tahoe for annual meetings of the California State Sheriffs’ Association, and to Catalina Island to visit a YMCA youth camp. In August 1987, Tidwell had a Sheriff’s Department airplane flown to Durango, Colorado, where he was vacationing, to pick him up and fly him back to San Bernardino County to attend a Board of Supervisors budget meeting. After the meeting, Tidwell was flown back to Colorado.
Tidwell maintained at the time that all the flights were strictly business and for the benefit of the county.
April 18, 2018
San Bernardino Sun
By Joe Nelson
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