Apparently Sgt Bill Arganda of the Westminster, California, Police Department found a new twist for online date searches. He has allegedly been using CLETS to research not only potential dates, but also his exes and the new men in their lives. If you don’t know what CLETS is, it is a law enforcement computer system that connects to DMV, state and federal law enforcement databases. Basically Bill was acting like sort of a Big Brother, and in a really bad way. During his more than 4,000 name searches using CLETS he dug up information on a local FOX News correspondent, a woman from his gym, a mother from his daughter’s kindergarten class and his ex-wife and ex-girlfriends. Fucking creepy is what it is. Obviously none of the people involved gave him permission to do the searches and they weren’t for any kind of valid law enforcement need.
The Westminster Police have turned the case over to the Orange County DA’s Office, which as of right now has not filed any charges, which seems to be par for the course in stuff involving Arganda, an 18-year-veteran of the Westminster Police, as you’ll see below. As a matter of fact, Arganda is still employed (and being paid) by the Westminster Police Department but they have given him a notice of “intent to terminate” which is the start of the disciplinary procedure required by law in order to fire this creepy cop.
From what little I can find things were going great for Bill and his family up until about 2006. He and his wife (the city Risk Manager for Westminster) argued often, even in public. As a matter of fact it got so bad that they were asked to avoid contact with each other during work hours. In October of that year his wife ended up having to go see the doctor for injuries she had sustained and his sister-in-law accused him of beating his wife. He denied the claims and his wife backed him up. Things got worse though. In December of 2006 Arganda abandoned his post as Watch Commander to go home. Because of that incident he was denied a promotion and was suspended for a week without pay.
Things must have gotten really ugly in the intervening couple of years. The Argandas went through an ugly divorce earlier this year and his wife back-tracked her earlier statements and admitted to the abuse that Bill Arganda had been dishing out at home. A restraining order was issued against Arganda for that one. In late May of this year police were called to Arganda’s house on another domestic violence call. Arganda had allegedly placed his gun against his girlfriend’s head, threatening her. He has been on paid suspension since then while it was being investigated.
One thing I found interesting is that the Westminster Police have been investigating Arganda’s illegal misuse of CLETS since early April because of a citizen complaint, not because of any internal audit or watchdogs in place. Had one of the people he was stalking not come forward to tell the police about Sgt Creepy he still might be using it.
Updated 9/26/09 – According to a story at the Orange County Register an Orange County Grand Jury has indicted Bill Arganda on three counts of Felony Domestic Battery, Four misdemeanor counts of Battery, Introducing False Testimony and Illegally Disclosing DMV Records. Wednesday and Thursday there were hearings in the case and Arganda should be arraigned on the charges on October 16th.
He is currently out on $100,000 bond, having posted bail on Thursday.
Updated 10/16/09 – Bill Arganda pleaded not guilty this morning to all of the charges during his arraignment. From Jon Cassidy at the Orange County Register:
SANTA ANA – A former sergeant for the Westminster Police Department
pleaded not guilty this morning to seven counts of domestic violence
and two other criminal counts.Sgt. Bill Arganda, 39, was charged
last month with three felony counts of domestic battery on his
then-wife, four misdemeanor counts of battery on a girlfriend, one
misdemeanor count of inducing false testimony, and one misdemeanor
count of illegally disclosing DMV records.Arganda posted
$100,000 bail last month. If convicted, he faces a maximum of four
years and four months in state prison, prosecutors said.
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