[July 4 UPDATE at end] Bill Hunt was one of the few Orange County Sheriff's Department (OCSD) deputies who had the cojones to publicly stand against the corruption of Mike Carona, our sheriff turned convicted felon and present day resident of a federal prison in Colorado.
For having ethics and common decency, Hunt saw Carona blatantly sabotage his career before FBI and IRS agents arrested him, a jury convicted him and U.S. District Court Judge Andrew J. Guilford sent him away as a scumbag who abused his public office.
But even after it was clear that Carona was a demented crook and Hunt–who served as the popular chief of police in San Clemente–had been wronged, our board of supervisors has strenuously fought a lawsuit the deputy brought against the OCSD for Carona's illegal retaliation.
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After Hunt left the department he launched a successful private
detective firm, but there's no doubt that the inability of Orange
County's leaders to do the right thing has cost him financially and
smeared his reputation.
There are rumors that justice may finally find Hunt.
In
June, Fullerton voters recalled a majority of their city council, three
members who'd let the police department run wild and showed callous
indifference to the gruesome July 2011 police killing of Kelly Thomas, a unarmed homeless man.
Next week, three new councilmen–Travis Kiger, Greg Sebourn and Doug Chaffee–will likely get sworn in and consider revamping the disgraced Fullerton Police Department.
I know from past interviews that Kiger, Sebourn and previously elected councilman Bruce Whitaker have been solid Hunt backers in other forums.
Yesterday, Kiger listed hiring a new police chief as one of his priorities.
Does
this mean Hunt will get the job? Who knows? Many entrenched OC
Republicans hate him because he's not a knee-jerk lemming to party leadership.
Local liberals fret over his ties to controversial Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
For his part, the conservative San Clemente resident tells me that he'd be honored to assume command of the department but declined an interview on the topic.
Stay tuned.
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CNN-featured investigative reporter R. Scott Moxley has won Journalist of the Year honors at the Los Angeles Press Club; been named Distinguished Journalist of the Year by the LA Society of Professional Journalists; obtained one of the last exclusive prison interviews with Charles Manson disciple Susan Atkins; won inclusion in Jeffrey Toobin’s The Best American Crime Reporting for his coverage of a white supremacist’s senseless murder of a beloved Vietnamese refugee; launched multi-year probes that resulted in the FBI arrests and convictions of the top three ranking members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; and gained praise from New York Times Magazine writers for his “herculean job” exposing entrenched Southern California law enforcement corruption.