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Police Chief Fired in Closed Door Session

City to pay out $400,000 in public funds to buy out Huntington Park Police Chief's contract.

February 23, 2006
Editor, WatchOurCity.com

Huntington Park, CA. – On Tuesday night, City Council voted in closed door session to fire long-time police
chief Randy Narramore and his top deputy Steve Peeler.

City council gave no reason for the firing, voting 3 to 2 in favor of the move. Mayor Ofelia Hernandez, John
Noguez and Elba Guerrero voted in favor of the abrupt dismissal and gave no reasons or cause.

City Attorney Francisco Leal is reportedly behind the action in order to bring in his friends to run the Police
Department. Francisco Leal was reportedly instrumental in recommending the person to audit the Police
Department.

Francisco Leal was a major campaign contributor to councilman John Noguez and Mayor Ofelia Hernandez.
Francisco Leal may recommend the ex-Maywood police chief or perhaps even the guy who did the audit.

Francisco Leal is the same guy who was awarded the city attorney contract in closed door session. The action
was spearheaded by the ex-mayor, now convicted felon, Edward Escareno who was a close friend and protege of
former Council member and ex-U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin.

The recently convicted felon and ex-council member in Huntington Park, Edward Escareno, was the campaign
manager for Ofelia Hernandez, John Noguez and Mario Gomez.

Mayor Ofelia Hernandez was quoted on Channel 34's Wednesday night's Spanish news broadcast that Chief
Narramore "did not serve the community well", as a reason for the firing.

Councilwoman Elba Romo was quoted as stating that the chief's firing was done "without cause".

The truth may lie somewhere in between, and its in the public record if someone does some research and
connect the dots.

A recent audit of the Police Department reportedly revealed only minor negative aspects.

Reportedly, the city manager and finance director found half a million dollars just lying around city hall to pay
off Chief Randy Narramore's contract.

The stupid way to fire someone in the city is to do it without cause and to pay half a million dollars in public
funds.

That is public money, folks.
Money that could be used to serve residents well. Perhaps pre-school can be paid for 40 children for up to 6
years.

Who knows what better use half a million dollars in public funds has?

John Noguez and Ofelia Hernandez evidently don't know. This is a stupid and wasteful way to manage city
resources. The wastefulness is quite cavalier and capricious.

Who's next to be fired? The city manager Gregory Korduner is Anglo. So is the Finance Director. So is the
acting redevelopment director Henry Gray. Latino cronies will be brought in next.

This is what happened in South Gate with Albert Robles, when he was in full control of 3 votes in city council
and corruption was in high gear.

Chief Narramore was fired with 30 days notice and put on administrative leave during the 30 days.

The firing of the chief is quite curious given that city council has obliged the chief and has voted in favor of
each of the chief's requests for funds for such questionable things as spending hundreds of thousands of
dollars, if not millions, on renovated police headquarters, and on converting a closed L.A. County Clinic into a
Police Musuem right next to city hall.

Mayor Ofelia Hernandez is right. The Police Museum truly does not serve the community well.

Ofelia failed to mention that she voted for public funds to be used for the police museum and other Police
Department requests for expenditures.

Mayor Ofelia Hernandez can claim she was ignorant of what she was voting for and approving.

That can be believable. The Mayor has no clothes: Ofelia has limited English skills and is unemployed outside
of her duties in city council.
But Ofelia and Elba Guerrero were simply taking orders, it seems, from their Padrino and Political Sugar
Daddy John Noguez. Afterall, Noguez paid for both their campaigns in full, including Council man Mario
Gomez's campaign.

Yes, there is a Police Musuem in a converted county clinic. It houses police caps. lots of them. The county
clinic was closed down for lack of funds, then was reborn as a Police Museum.

Now, what business does a city like Huntington Park have with a Police Museum in the first place?

Children, pregnant mothers and senior citizens taken ill need only to see police caps in a display case in a
museum that has no visitors hours to get well in case of illness. This is service to the residents in the hundreds
of thousands of dollars in public funds, courtesy of John Noguez and Ofelia Hernandez.

John Noguez and Ofelia Hernandez voted for all those questionable use of funds by the Police Department and
its embattled chief.

They even voted to give the chief a hefty $40,000 raise for a job well done in 2004. They even allowed the chief
to take over code enforcement duties for the Building and Safety department, making code enforcement
officers an arm of the police department. That is scary. John Noguez and Ofelia Hernandez allowed this and
more. Rosario Marin was fully complicit in this.

Heck, the police chief even endorsed the slate of Noguez, Hernandez, Gomez during their 2003 council race.
The Police Chief even helped John Noguez in his endorsement of Elba Guerrero during her successful 2005
council race. Even Ric Loya, ex-council member, was loyal to the chief..

It begs the question if the $40,000 raise the chief got was payment for the endorsements he gave the Noguez
team to help in getting elected. It's a subliminally powerful message when candidates for public office
prominently proclaim that they are endorsed by the "POLICE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION", or the
"POLICE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION", not that these groups are one and the same.

It is also curious that both Elba Guerrero and Ofelia Hernandez sided with John Noguez on the vote to oust the
chief and his top dog deputy. It is curious because Juan Noguez owns them both and they owe him.

Since Chief Narramore is accused of "not serving the community" as a reason for firing him, perhaps he can
do one final action to really help the residents of this city.

Chief Randy Narramore should go to the Department of Justice and spill the beans on councilman John Noguez
and city attorney Francisco Leal.

Ofcourse he wont do it because the "firing" wasn't a firing after all, but a very sweet deal for an old friend of
city council who was served well and served Escareno, Rosario Marin, Ofelia Hernandez and John Noguez very
well, indeed.

Folks, this was no "Firing", but rather a "Golden Parachute". Does Rosario Marin have anything to do with
this? The Chief and Marin are very close friends. And Nothing happens in Huntington Park without Marin's
intimate involvement.

Narramore knows a lot. For that matter, so do rank and file officers.

Perhaps ex-mayor Edward Escareno can share some thoughts with his close friends John Noguez and city
attorney Francisco Leal on how it feels to be a convicted felon.

Consider the following allegations:
- Edward Escareno was very close to chief Randy Narramore and Deputy Steven Peeler. Escareno noted on his
2001 campaign statement that he was a "Police Volunteer". Edward Escareno was endorsed by Rosario Marin in
2001 and was Marin's lackey in Huntington Park city hall.

- Rosario Marin mentions Escareno's wonderful Police volunteer record in her response to WatchOurCity.
com's story on the Escareno's arrest and convictions for "Grand Theft" late last year.

- The Racial Descrimitation law suit by city police officers againgst Narramore that has cost the City hundreds
of thousands of dollars in attorneys fees
(still pending).

- The two police wrongful termination suits, one of which has already cost the City around one hundred
thousand dollars.

- The numerous Police Officers that Narramore and Peeler have been paying to stay home (one for over four
years) at a combined cost of over $600,000 in public funds.

- The recent police audit which is supportive of the claims of the plaintifs.

- Escareno was able to steal from the City for so long without concern of punishment, either from the city
attorney or the chief.

- By the way, if you look at the plaque in front of the newly dedicated police station, it proudly displays the
names of Randy Narramore, Steve Peeler, Edward Escareno, and Robert Lein.

The next audit the city undertakes should be of the billing practices by city attorney Francisco Leal.

Again, this was no firing. It was staged event made to look like a dramatic firing of the chief, but in fact, the
chief was given a farewell gift of about half a million dollars by his good friends in city council.

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