Cops gone BAD: Deputy who got fired for trying to get his ex busted wants his job back

A sheriff’s deputy who was fired in 2013 after he allegedly planted cocaine and meth in his ex-girlfriend’s car is now suing to get his job back, claiming he should be reinstated with back pay due to a lack of evidence. Brandon Klecker, a seven-year veteran of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, was fired in September 2013 after an internal investigation revealed that he encouraged at least five other officers to pull over his former girlfriend to make a “good arrest,” the Desert Sun reports.
“This would really help me out,” lecker allegedly told one officer, according to internal files from the sheriff’s department released this month only because Klecker sued the department in January to get his job back, along with back pay that would likely exceed $200,000.

Days after Klecker’s request, his ex-girlfriend found a baggie of cocaine beneath the passenger seat of her car on Christmas Day in 2012. The officers contacted by Klecker didn’t act on his purported tips, but his actions instead raised enough suspicion for the sheriff’s department to begin investigating him instead. Several claims were subsequently uncovered, including Klecker allegedly following his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend before challenging him to a fight in a city street and another instance during which the sheriff’s deputy allegedly searched the woman’s home for her new beau while holding a gun.

It was never proven, however, that Klecker planted the cocaine in the woman’s car – as well as a bag of meth four days later – but the sheriff’s department noted Klecker’s attempts to set his ex-girlfriend up in his termination letter.
“Although this investigation did not find clear evidence that you planted drugs in her vehicle, it did determine you were egregious in your attempts to have her pulled over and arrested,” the letter read. “You made several attempts to have other deputies conduct traffic enforcement stops of (your ex) and even told them there should be drugs in the vehicle.”

The letter also stated that Klecker still had keys to his ex-girlfriend’s car, as well as the woman’s fears that she was being followed by him.
“(She) expressed concern she was being followed and further alleged the drugs were possibly planted inside her vehicle by you because you still had the spare key to her vehicle and were trying to get her in trouble,” the letter read.

Klecker’s attorney declined to comment when reached by The Desert Sun, but Klecker disputed the story when reached by the newspaper.
“I can assure you one thing, your article could not be further from what happened,” Klecker said, without elaborating.

Klecker appealed his firing to an administrative arbitrator, who upheld his termination. He later filed a lawsuit against the sheriff’s department in Riverside County Court. Officials at the sheriff’s department declined to comment, citing Klecker’s ongoing litigation. Three other Riverside County deputies have recently filed similar lawsuits within the past year to get their jobs back, including one deputy fired in 2015 after he failed to call an ambulance for a man who spent at least 45 minutes trying to crawl into his apartment. None of the officers have been rehired, the newspaper notes.

The incidents had been previously kept out of public record due to California’s restrictive laws that keeps police misconduct records confidential in most cases unless officers are charged with a crime.

At least 38 other states make some form of police misconduct records available to the public, according to the Desert Sun. Meanwhile, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office said it considered criminal charges against Klecker but decided not to prosecute due to a “lack of sufficient evidence,” according to spokesman John Hall, who declined to indicate what charges were considered.


USA - NYP.