The Westminster Police Department has given a termination notice to a sergeant accused of using law enforcement databases to meet women, investigate romantic rivals and keep tabs on ex-girlfriends.
The department announced this morning only that it has sent the District Attorney's Office a case against an unnamed sergeant for personal use of the CLETS system, which connects to DMV and state and federal law enforcement databases. The department did not disclose any details about the investigation of Sgt. Bill Arganda, 39, or other allegations against him.
Arganda has also been accused of domestic violence against two women.
The first accusation, which did not lead to criminal charges, resulted in an unpaid suspension in 2007.
Arganda has been on administrative leave since late May of this year, when the Orange Police Department went to Arganda's house on a domestic violence call.
In a follow-up interview with Orange police detectives the next day, Arganda's girlfriend "disclosed that her boyfriend placed a gun to her head on a different occasion," according to a restraining order issued by the Orange Police Department.
The Orange Police Department has finished its investigation and sent the case to the District Attorney's office for review, said Sgt. Matt Miller.
Arganda, an 18-year veteran of the Westminster Police Department, was already under investigation by his own department when he was recently suspended.
The internal investigation, which started April 4 with a citizen complaint, found that Arganda used the CLETS system to look up thousands of names and license plates for his personal use.
Among the more than 4,000 names searched are a blond Fox news correspondent, a woman from a gym class, a mother from his daughter's kindergarten class, his ex-wife and ex-girlfriends as well as the new men in their lives.
None of the people that investigators contacted had given Arganda permission to conduct the searches, according to a search warrant.
In the period of April 2007 to May 2009, Arganda ran 1,020 searches on CLETS, according to a warrant. By comparison, of the eight other sergeants the department employed during the time, five conducted no searches, and the other three averaged around 100 searches each.
The district attorney has not yet filed charges.
Arganda is still employed and paid by the Westminster Police Department; the "intent to terminate" notice he received is the start of a disciplinary procedure required by law for his dismissal.
Contacted Thursday morning, Arganda declined to comment for this report.
Arganda joined the department in January 1991 and was promoted to sergeant in April 2004, but his career started to hit the rocks late in 2006. He often argued with his wife - Cyndie Sanders-Arganda, who is the risk manager for the city of Westminster - while at work, to the point that they were told to avoid contact during work hours.
In October 2006, his sister-in-law accused him of beating his wife. Sanders-Arganda denied the claims at the time, taking her husband's side.
Then in December, Arganda abandoned his post as watch commander to drive home in the middle of the night.
That incident led to the first black mark on his resume; Arganda was denied an annual pay raise and given an unpaid week off.
Around the same time, a dispatcher that had been fired - in part because of Arganda -accused him of propositioning her for sex in exchange for giving her job back.
In Arganda's account to police officials, he writes of the accusation: "An investigation was initiated and to the best of my knowledge everything originally inquired upon has proven NOT to be true. I don't know the final outcome as of yet, but was told no violations were found on my part."
On May 14, amid a contentious divorce, Sanders-Arganda went to city officials, including the police chief, and said her sister had been telling the truth about the abuse.
The Westminster Police Department issued a restraining order against him, which states: "Family and friends have reported that Cindy (sic) has been victim of emotional and physical abuse over the past several months. Today, Cindy admitted to being victim of abuse…"
The department suspended him the next day.
Sanders-Arganda's accusation was supported by a letter sent May 19 by her doctor regarding a visit on Dec. 20, 2006: "… she had contusions on her left thoracic region, left rib region, left lateral wrist and right deltoid regions as well as her left scalp. These appeared to be caused by someone grabbing her tightly and squeezing these areas…. it was disclosed that these contusions were the result of an altercation with her husband and there had been many of these attacks."
Sanders-Arganda went to the police the day after a confrontation with Arganda on Mother's Day, 2007, when she went to pick up their two children. She gives her account in a request for a court protective order: "At that time, our children were coming down the stairs and the Respondent (Arganda) started telling our children that I had 'traded' them for other kids. He further said that 'there are other children calling me mommy, that they should not call me mommy and that I chose to be with other kids instead of them this weekend…'
"I immediately started to cry and said that I won't leave without my kids. The Respondent then went outside to his car, as though he was leaving, but returned to our home and said, 'No, I am not leaving, you need to leave.' The Respondent then told our son… that 'the reason that mommy and daddy are getting a divorce is because mommy sends naked pictures of herself to other men.' 'Do you want to see them?' He then opened his phone to show the pictures to (him). I said, 'No, no, I will leave.'"
After an argument at their daughter's school the following morning ended with Arganda chasing her in his car and throwing a can of soda at her car, she went to work in tears and told her supervisor what had been happening, according to the request for court order.
She accused Arganda of hitting, slapping, pushing, hair-pulling, threatening to rape her, threatening to kill her, and of manipulative and pyschologically abusive behavior.
Arganda denied the accusations of abuse in a court filing, saying that she and her mother were telling the children lies about him.
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