South Pasadena Seeks to Fire Police Chief in Effort to Improve Image

The city of South Pasadena has notified its embattled police chief that it plans to fire him at month’s end, saying “new leadership may enhance the department’s public image,” according an attorney for Police Chief Thomas Mahoney.

Mahoney has been on paid leave since he and the department came under fire last summer, with reports of on-duty sex by some officers and allegations that others covered up a car crash involving one of their own.

Capping months of speculation over Mahoney’s status, his attorney, Patrick Thistle, confirmed Wednesday that the city sent its chief a letter last week saying he would be terminated effective Jan. 28.

City officials would not comment on the termination notice. But just last week, the City Council voted to alter its policy and procedures for firing any chief of police. The next day, the letter to Mahoney was in the mail, Thistle said.

“It’s the ruination of a guy’s career if it’s permitted to go through,” Thistle said.

Although City Hall has buzzed for months with rumors of Mahoney’s departure, city officials were silent Wednesday, alluding to fears of a lawsuit from the chief.

“My singular interest is to do everything possible to ensure our police department is top-notch,” was all City Manager Sean Joyce would say. No City Council members would comment.

Mahoney’s troubles began last summer, when 27-year-old Theresa Goldston filed a claim against South Pasadena, alleging that lax management of the Police Department led to her sexual exploitation by two officers who had on-duty sex with her.

Both of those officers left the force--one voluntarily; one was fired--but internal police documents showed the case was more involved. Goldston claimed a total of seven police lovers, said she learned how to shoot a gun on the department’s firing range and that she even talked to Mahoney about her love life.

The chief took no action in her case until she fired a pistol while standing in the the police station lobby last winter, authorities said. Her claim against the city was recently settled for an undisclosed sum.

At the same time the Goldston case became public, The Times reported that a traffic accident involving Officer Scott D. Ziegler had not been fully reported by South Pasadena police. Ziegler, the son-in-law of former city Mayor Ted Shaw, had clipped a parked car while off-duty one night in 1995. But his name was not on police reports of the case.

Ziegler was fired after the crash, but rehired two weeks later by Mahoney, who told city officials that he would make Ziegler pay the woman whose car he damaged, officials said. Mahoney also promised to present the case to prosecutors. Neither was done, according to allegations in a suit filed against the city by Marisa Colatriano, the owner of the damaged car.

Mahoney, 49, went on paid leave in August and filed a stress claim against the city, claiming gastrointestinal illness as a cumulative result of his 23 years on the Culver City and South Pasadena forces.

The same day, the city manager began a personnel review of Mahoney and soon afterward, the city hired a private investigative agency to examine the department. That report is due at the end of this month. The district attorney’s office and FBI have also begun probes.

Ziegler was fired again in November after pleading no contest to misdemeanor hit-and-run charges.

Thistle said the letter from the city offers little explanation for Mahoney’s pending dismissal. “The only reason given was ‘new leadership may enhance the department’s public image,’ ” he said.

Debra Bray, South Pasadena’s personnel attorney, said a police chief is an at-will employee, which means he can be terminated without cause. “He and other permanent department heads serve at the pleasure of the city manager,” Bray said.

Under South Pasadena’s new policy, Mahoney has five days from receiving the letter of intent to terminate to ask for a meeting with the city manager. After that meeting, the city manager can either fire Mahoney or reconsider the action.

If the city manager follows through with the termination, Mahoney has five days to ask for a hearing, headed by an arbitrator chosen by the city manager. The hearing officer is required to issue an advisory decision within 30 days. The city manager is not bound by that decision.

But even this process may not silence questions surrounding Mahoney and the Police Department.

Paul Hoffman, who filed the suit against the city for the Ziegler crash, said: “I think that what happened in this situation shows a Police Department that was in need of complete reform. This is obviously a step toward that goal but it shouldn’t be the last step. Obviously a lot more people were involved in this problem and they need to come clean on that.”