Pomona has agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by two former ranking police officers who alleged they were relegated to manual labor and menial duties even after they were fully reinstated to the force following their acquittal in separate criminal trials.
Retired Cpl. Chad Jensen, 58, received $525,000 and retired Sgt. Michael Neaderbaomer, 57, received $725,000. Their lawyers received $1.2 million for their fees and other legal costs, according to the settlement agreement ratified April 16.
Jensen and Neaderbaomer were among several officers who became embroiled in a highly publicized police brutality and corruption case in 2015.
In their lawsuit, filed in May 2020, they claimed that now retired Police Chief Michael Olivieri retaliated by restricting them from official police work, including patrol duty and participating in investigations. Instead, he forced them to perform manual labor and menial housekeeping duties, including taking out the trash, moving furniture and cleaning offices.
Upon their reinstatement, Olivieri told Jensen and Neaderbaomer it was too soon to assign them to law enforcement duties given the negative publicity surrounding their cases and a pending internal affairs investigation, according to the lawsuit, He told them he did not want them interacting with the public because he didn’t want to be questioned as to why both were back at work, the lawsuit stated.
“My clients are grateful that justice prevailed after 5 years of litigating their mistreatment by the city of Pomona,” said Daniel Moussatche, the attorney for the two former officers, in a statement. “The rights of these officers were ultimately vindicated after the city literally spent millions to deny them their rights. The city’s own investigation showed they did nothing wrong, and there was never a reason to violate their rights and destroy their careers.”
Jensen, Neaderbaomer and Officer Prince Taylor Hutchinson were indicted in October 2017 on federal civil rights charges in connection with the assault of 16-year-old Christian Aguilar at the Pomona Fairplex and the attempted cover-up of the incident. Jensen was accused of the assault, and he and Hutchinson, his partner at the time, also were accused of preparing false reports that attempted to justify the use of force.
Additionally, Neaderbaomer was accused of making false statements to Aguilar and his family in an attempt to dissuade them from reporting the incident to law enforcement.
Aguilar filed a civil lawsuit against the city in connection with the encounter and later settled it for $500,000.
Jensen and Hutchinson, who were involved in the actual confrontation with Aguilar, were tried separately from Neaderbaomer. Their first trial ended with jurors deadlocked 11-1 in favor of guilt on all counts, but they were both acquitted in a retrial.
At Neaderbaomer’s trial in April 2019, a jury acquitted him of the charge of making false accusations to Aguilar and his family, and the government subsequently dropped two remaining charges of lying to the FBI.
Jensen retired in May 2021 and Neaderbaomer in August 2022. Hutchinson also was reinstated and remains on duty at the department, where he now holds the rank of detective, Pomona Assistant City Manager Mark J. Gluba said.
The civil case was scheduled to go to trial on April 14, but in a March 17 ruling Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Bradley S. Phillips granted a request by Moussatche to exclude certain evidence key to the city’s defense, including video footage and photographs taken by bystanders during the 2015 encounter at the Fairplex. Phillips also determined that evidence from Jensen’s and Neaderbaomer’s criminal trials was inadmissible in that it could prejudice and potentially confuse and/or mislead jurors.
In an email, Gluba said settling a case of such magnitude was a “very complex matter.” The mayor and City Council had a duty to protect taxpayer dollars, he said, and their decision to settle the case reflected that responsibility.
“It is the city’s position that there was no wrongdoing on our behalf in this matter. Court cases involve risk and are expensive to litigate,” Gluba said. “More importantly, in this case the trial judge issued certain pretrial rulings that stripped the city of its main defense and made going to trial extremely risky.”