After two and a half years, an arbitration and a court hearing, the Mono County Counsel now claims that Deputy Jon Madrid was never effectively fired. Madrid’s controversial termination was documented in a letter from then Sheriff Rick Scholl on November 7, 2011. Madrid appealed his termination and Mono County fought to uphold Madrid’s firing in an arbitration and then a recent Superior Court petition. Now the County Counsel says the termination Mono County tried to uphold never became effective. Mono County did lose both efforts to maintain Madrid’s firing. An arbitrator and a judge ordered Madrid’s reinstatement. Mono County Counsel Marshall Rudolph did not respond about what all this means to the Madrid case. He did say, “No final decisions have been made by the County” on what to do now. He said he could not say anything more publically at this time.
Judge James Garbolino was sure about his position on the case. He basically stated that the Mono Sheriff’s Department harassed Madrid who, said the Judge, was the victim of unsupported evidence or at worst the victim of “a deliberate scheme to terminate him for inappropriate reasons.” Judge Garbolino ordered reinstatement of Madrid and denied any delays.
The County Counsel did not say if the County will obey the Judge’s order. Rudolph did say the decision to terminate Madrid “actually never became effective because of Madrid’s timely administrative appeal of that decision.” Rudolph alleges that since the arbitrator did not uphold Madrid’s termination, he’s not fired. Rudolph did not respond to the question of what all of this means to Madrid, who has waited two and a half years for final disposition of his case.
It was in the 2011 letter from Sheriff Scholl that the final action on Madrid was stated. The letter says of Madrid, “Termination from employment with the Mono County Sheriff’s Office. This action will be imposed immediately.” It was six months after that termination that Madrid was ordered to return to the Sheriff’s Department to sit in a chair all day long with no gun, badge or uniform. Judge Garbolino called the chair duty “further punishment.” Said the Judge, “His assigned duties were lesser than those of a WalMart greeter.” The Judge called treatment of Madrid by the Sheriff’s Administration “serious abuse of discretion.”
Madrid has filed a federal civil rights case against Mono County and Sheriff Ralph Obenberger relating to matters surrounding his termination.
One last note! The county code and the government code clearly spell out the appeal process! Clearly, the county accepted this policy as well as the sheriffs administration! Why go to all of this effort to establish an agreed upon process, if your just going to ignore it and do… Read more »
Hey Bennett, is there anyway the public could find out how much tax payer money has been spent so far on this obviously expensive wrongful termination case? For a county that has publicly reported that they are in financial distress, how can they afford this?
We have begun an inquiry on that. Will let you know.
BK
How do you think they are going to pay for it. On the backs of the employees that DO NOT make six figures a year, on the backs of the employees that do all of the hard labor, on the backs of the employees that truly serve the public. THAT,… Read more »
Is it just me or is there some other major issues here??? When they put Deputy Madrid in the chair in the lobby without a gun, vest, his badge or uniform they basically put his life in jeopardy for two months. Everyone that has ever been around LE offices know… Read more »
Given the contradictory nature of the county’s assertions, and the fact that the matter is being handled by the courts, is it possible that someone committed perjury? Or is lying in a court brief not a crime? And if he was not in fact terminated, has he been getting paid… Read more »
Yes JaneE perjury is a crime and if you read the hearing of Deputy Jon Madrid you can read multiple examples of it. It is very obvious when you hear someone speak in public. It was was not what he testified to. Conspiracy is also a crime and there are… Read more »
Please don’t forget the actions of this administration of the MCSO when you vote June 3rd. If anything this whole fiasco has taught us it is how far they will actually take things just to get their way. They do not abide by laws, rules, MOU’s, POBAR,,,, nothing. All they… Read more »
I’m personally happy that O’l Burger has competition. As a BORN and raised kid of Mammoth Lakes, now Man of Mono County for 34 years… I’m personally grateful that Ingrid is running this D-Bag out. I’m sick and tired of being stereo-typed, harassed, and embarrassed for Bullshi* traffic stops by… Read more »
I love to fish, I feel your pain! The current Mcso administration supports this kind of grey area law enforcement! Constitution, what constitution? It is clear the big Mac attack on mono county needs to be stopped! And god forbid if you happen to have a burning man bike on… Read more »
So what’s the story with the dunce chair caper. Was that Dan Paranick’s brainchild?
John, as testified by RESIGNED sheriff Rick Scholl and now APPOINTED sheriff Ralph obenberger! They stated that the punish chair position was initiated previously by an unknown sheriff to an unknown deputy as a form of punishment! Regardless, it is illegal to do so and a direct violation of the… Read more »
Will Mono now claim that he quit his job or some other line of BS? Makes me think that the “Hazzard County” moniker is better than Mono County deserves. Don’t they realize that Luman and Madrid are human beings? This is really sick and evil stuff! You can forget TRUTHFUL… Read more »
Can you imagine what Judge Garbolino is going to think when he reads that now Mono County is claiming Deputy Madrid was never terminated? Mono County is the one that asked for the WRIT that brought him to Mono County in the first place. He makes a ruling against them… Read more »
County counsel isn’t setting strategy, so who is? Seriously, if job of counsel is to represent the county, then others in the county are setting the policy. Makes me feel bad for counsel. Maybe the current supervisors need to explain this and the Luman case. Not trying to get Obenberger… Read more »
Wow the Nose Grows! County Counsel is claiming it was all Scholl after Ralph Obenberger just told the crowd in Lee Vining that County Counsel is the who made the decision to terminate Deputy Madrid.
Funny they never mentioned any of this before… Guess this is just another example of that “colorful” law that Mono County follows. Lol
Actually Judge Garbalino stated what Mono County did was illegal, because you can’t call a terminated employee back and make them sit in a chair. It is obvious that Judge Garblino believed Deputy Madrid was terminated,,, he probably believed that from all the court documents, testimony, the WRIT that county… Read more »
Grasping at straws…the timing is excellent for Ingrid…Obie, not so much. Less than a month to go, people.
@ Big Rick O’Brien thanks for the laugh of the day!
He can always go back to being a manager at McDonalds!