YUBA COUNTY, Calif. —
Yuba County approved up to $200,000 to hire a legal team to fight the nearly $185,000 in Cal/OSHA citations issued last month following a drug trafficking bust that turned deadly.
Last week, the Yuba County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to allocate the money to hire Ogletree Deakins, a large labor and employment law firm.
“This agreement does not have a set end date as it is intended to cover a period that will allow us to navigate the Cal/OSHA matter. The amount of money in the agreement is not necessarily the amount of money we will spend on services. It is an amount that was selected that would allow us the flexibility to work through this issue and not repeatedly return to the board for approval,” said Tiffany Manuel, Director of Human Resources and Risk Management.
This stems from the Cal/OSHA investigation into a March drug trafficking operation involving Marysville Police and Yuba County Sheriff’s Office in Olivehurst that ended in a shootout.
Suspected drug dealer Rick Oliver and Marysville Police Officer Osmar Rodarte died.
Officer Rodarte had been a patrol officer for two years and was on the Yuba-Sutter Regional SWAT Team for just five months, according to a Yuba County District Attorney investigation.
Cal/OSHA determined Marysville Police and the Yuba County Sheriff's Office failed to provide employees with proper training and protective equipment, fining both departments.
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