Man in Work Release Deal Hired Police Chief’s Son

A convicted drunk driver hired the son of the Claremont police chief before working out an arrangement to do remodeling work at the police station in lieu of going to jail, according to court testimony Thursday.

John Donald Barber also testified in Pomona Municipal Court that he briefly hired Chief Dexter Atkinson’s wife after he completed the 6-month work program.

The hearing was held to determine if the Claremont contractor satisfactorily served a mandatory 120-day sentence for his third drunk driving conviction. Municipal Court Judge Jack P. Hunt said he expects to reach a decision Friday when the hearing resumes.

Atkinson did not testify at the hearing. Neither he nor his lawyer could be reached for comment.

Atkinson has been on paid administrative leave since early August, when City Manager Glenn Southard asked the district attorney to investigate whether the chief broke the law by letting Barber do community service rather than serve the time in jail.

Then-Pomona Municipal Court Judge Robert Gustaveson gave Barber the state-mandated sentence of 120 days last September after his third conviction for drunk driving. That conviction also constituted a violation of Barber’s probation from an earlier conviction, causing a North Orange County Municipal Court judge to sentence Barber to an additional 60 days. A hearing will be held in Orange County on Nov. 14 to determine if Barber served that sentence properly.

Both judges allowed Barber, 43, to serve his time at the Claremont jail under Atkinson’s supervision. Barber said he spent the time doing free consulting work on remodeling projects at the police station and building a patio.

Atkinson later wrote letters to both courts, attesting that Barber “had fulfilled his community service.” The controversy surrounding Atkinson revolves around whether it was legal to permit Barber to perform community service when he had been sentenced to jail time.

At about the time Atkinson was relieved of his duties, Barber said they had met only once before last August. The two had played together on the Police Department’s basketball team 12 years earlier, he said. But in the months since he completed his work program, Barber said, he and Atkinson have socialized and played golf.

Barber said at Thursday’s hearing that he first hired Brian Atkinson, then 18, to work part time at $5 an hour for his construction firm in June, 1987, three months before Barber began his sentence. He soon fired the younger Atkinson because he had a bad “attendance record,” Barber testified. He briefly rehired the younger Atkinson during the time he performed his community service but fired him again for the same reason, Barber said in an interview after the hearing.

Wife Did Computer Work

Three months after his work at the jail ended, Barber testified, he paid Atkinson’s wife, Judy, $1,250 to program his company’s computer.

While he was working at the police station, Barber testified that Atkinson told him to keep his own records of the hours he worked, “and sometimes I forgot.”

Barber testified that he was not required to fill out any forms or to be fingerprinted when his sentence began at the Claremont police station. He said his agreement with Atkinson was oral and he worked an estimated 40 hours each week, including nights and on weekends, and sometimes worked in his own office to draw up plans. He was allowed to go home at night.

“I worked daily, sometimes more, sometimes less than eight hours,” he said. “I spent some time just standing by and waiting. The chief and his assistant were in charge. Chief Atkinson made 95% of the decisions.”

His work was mostly as a contractor and supervisor, Barber said. He hired subcontractors and coordinated their work, and occasionally performed some manual labor when it was needed.

No Records Kept

According to Claremont city employees who testified Thursday, the Police Department kept no records of Barber’s hours and no timetables of work completed.

Former City Manager Leonard Wood testified that he and Atkinson had an oral arrangement that allowed the chief to assign some convicts to community service in lieu of jail.

According to a transcript of Barber’s sentencing in the Pomona court, Judge Gustaveson told Barber’s attorney, Clark Shacklett, that state law permitted Claremont police some discretion over how he would serve his time, including the option to have him work during the day and go home at night.

“If they want to work him and let him go after eight hours, that’s fine with me, as long as it is 120 days in jail,” Gustaveson told Shacklett. “We didn’t discuss anything about how they were going to use him. I would want them to have him at least do enough time in jail so it is one day. . . . Sometimes they will work them all day and let them go home at night. That doesn’t concern me, as long as it’s 120 days in jail.”

Gustaveson, now a Pomona Superior Court judge, said last month he could not recall Barber’s case, one of thousands of drunk driving cases over which he presided in his 15 years on the Municipal Court bench. However, he said the Penal Code allows custodial agencies such as local police departments several methods under which a person in their custody may work off a jail sentence.

Manual Labor Allowed

One of the alternatives permitted by the Penal Code is for the prisoner to perform “labor on public works and ways,” which the law defines as “manual labor to improve or maintain public facilities.” Each day of such work equals one day of jail time, the code states.

“A day in jail is whatever the Legislature says it is,” Gustaveson said. “If the person who is the jailer interpreted the Penal Code right, that’s fine.”

In addition to the district attorney’s investigation, Claremont City Manager Southard has begun an administrative investigation into Atkinson’s management practices. As part of the inquiry--which, unlike the district attorney’s investigation, does not focus on suspected illegal activity--Southard has interviewed Atkinson about his administration of the Police Department.

Atkinson, a 17-year-veteran of the department, has been chief for the past two years. Southard became city manager in May after serving as assistant city manager of San Juan Capistrano. He replaced Wood, who retired in December after eight years as city manager.

On Aug. 16, the Claremont Police Officers Assn. voted 24 to 4, with six members absent and two abstaining, in support of a statement that Atkinson was “not able to efficiently administer” the department because of “unfair treatment of some employees, poor ethics and poor management.”