The city of Parlier is off the hook after its police chief won a $1 million wrongful termination lawsuit.
Last week, the Fresno-based California 5th District Court of Appeal reversed a 2024 jury award for former Parlier Police Chief Jose Garza. Filed in 2021, Garza alleged the city fired him after he refused to halt an embezzlement investigation. He sued for wrongful termination, retaliating for whistleblowing activity.
Garza served as Parlier’s police chief from 2017 to 2021, and received praise from the city manager, according to court records. In 2020, Garza investigated an alleged embezzlement by a city employee. He used a third-party investigator, testifying at his trial that he wanted to preserve transparency and integrity.
Then-City Manager Sonia Hall sent a memo to the investigator, ordering a halt into the investigation, and that the results thus far be forwarded to her. When the message was relayed to Garza, he complained that Hall and Mayor Alma Beltran were interfering in the investigation. His attorney said Beltran was protecting a friend.
Already working without a contract, the city voted 3-2 on April 5, 2021, to terminate Garza’s contract, citing “incompatibility of management styles,” according to the appeal court’s opinion.
Beltran, still the city’s mayor and running for re-election this November, called the reversal “an important victory for Parlier and for our taxpayers.”
“I am proud we pursued the appeal and stood firm to protect the interests of our...
Three family members who have accused a man of sexual assault have denied putting their "heads together" to make "false allegations," a jury has heard.