LAKE COUNTY ? A helicopter pilot said Lake County Sheriff”s Office Sgt. Dave Garzoli told him the sheriff not only authorized marijuana reconnaissance but also his pilot training.
“Dave said the sheriff knew about it and the DEA knew about it,” now co-owner Joe Ryan of Cutting Edge Helicopters said.
The Drug Enforcement Administration grant money for Garzoli”s helicopter use did not allow for pilot training and certification before 2009, just marijuana reconnaissance and eradication.
Garzoli”s pilot log from September 1995 to November 2008 shows 21 hours at a cost of $8,500 that do not list marijuana reconnaissance or law enforcement in the remarks section, according to Matt Perry, chief deputy administrative officer who prepared the county audit. The board learned of Garzoli”s flight training after June 25 when the then lieutenant crashed a Cutting Edge Helicopter while training.
Garzoli did not return multiple phone calls asking for comment.
Sheriff Rod Mitchell said he knew Garzoli was “logging flight time” but not when, where and for what.
The Board of Supervisors unanimously voted Tuesday to send letters informing the California Attorney General, the DEA and the Federal Aviation Administration of misappropriation of public funds. Chairman Anthony Farrington said staff is drafting the letters and may get board approval Jan. 19 to send them.
Ryan thinks it would be impossible to determine how much time Garzoli spent on marijuana reconnaissance and time he spent solely on flight training ? except for night flights and practicing maneuvers.
“There were times he was only doing flight training,” Ryan said. “There”s no doubt about that.”
Ryan said Garzoli made flights during off-season for marijuana in order to mark gardens coordinates so that he could return later in the season.
“It made sense to me what he was doing because in the long run it would have saved the county money,” Ryan said.
Once Garzoli had his pilot license the sheriff”s department could have leased a helicopter at a lower cost because he wouldn”t need a training pilot, which is why the training didn”t “raise up any red flags,” Ryan said. Many law enforcement agencies train officers as pilots, Ryan said.
Ryan said he”s flown with Garzoli about five times ? “enough to know him.”
Ryan did not set up the contract with Garzoli or the LCSO but said the invoices Cutting Edge Helicopters sends to the LCSO list flight time broken down by day and hours.
Mitchell said he would like to know exactly what was said to give Cutting Edge Helicopters” employees the impression he had given his OK for flight training.
Supervisor Denise Rushing thinks the most important thing is that investigators determine the amount of public money that was spent on unauthorized private flight training, she said.
“The public deserves a thorough look at this and we also need to act justly,” Rushing said. “I”m glad the board acted as it did.”
Rushing thinks the issue needs more investigation and interviews to find out whether Garzoli believed he had authorization and whether he or those who authorized training should pay, she said.
“I”ll leave it to investigators to determine responsibility,” Rushing said.
She wants to make sure misuse of public money doesn”t happen in the future in order to restore the public”s trust, she said.
Gary Meredith, owner of Cutting Edge Helicopters until about a month after the crash, said he never worked with Garzoli as a pilot but met him twice.
Meredith”s contract with LCSO said, “The purpose will include but not be limited to reconnaissance and eradication of illegal marijuana gardens.”
The company talked with Garzoli about flight issues, not the sheriff, Meredith said.
Meredith said with his permission Garzoli took his son up on a marijuana reconnaissance flight with another pilot.
Meredith said even good pilots crash.
“I don”t think he”s responsible for the crash,” Meredith said of Garzoli. “I believe it was a mechanical failure in a practice training maneuver.”
Supervisor Jeff Smith said county employees and department heads have a responsibility to report budget items to the Board of Supervisors, which is ultimately responsible for spending.
“Any employee using taxpayer funds in a way they should not be used needs to pay the consequences,” Smith said.
“Elected officials have to answer to the people for their actions and have to answer to us for budgetary items and where the money goes,” Smith said.
District Attorney Jon Hopkins said he hasn”t kept track of Garzoli”s helicopter use and has not filed a case on the issue.
On Sept. 2, Garzoli sent Mitchell an e-mail apologizing for his use of the helicopter. On the same day the county discussed an audit of Garzoli”s helicopter use, someone released the sergeant”s e-mail to the Board of Supervisors.
“I took that e-mail from Dave as he was accepting responsibility related to his operation of the helicopter,” Mitchell said. “Anyone who has context who sees anything other than that is devoid of logic.”
The supervisors would not say where they got the e-mail.
Mitchell said he didn”t know what warnings Garzoli was referencing to in his e-mail.
“It”s not often that people accept responsibility after they”ve been disciplined,” Mitchell said. “Some people start to malign the department.”
“I also see Dave”s e-mail from September as a clear indication that his intention was not criminal,” Mitchell said. “It shows his motives were a professionally driven thing.”
Mitchell said during an internal investigation he didn”t find anything to suggest Garzoli acted criminally ? otherwise he wouldn”t have simply demoted the then lieutenant.
“If I thought there was a criminal act, I would have referred it to a separate entity,” Mitchell said. “But nothing of the circumstances, even today, have led me to think there was criminal activity. I think an independent review will yield that.”
Supervisor Rob Brown said he didn”t want to compromise the county, taxpayers or a criminal or civil case by expressing his opinion of the e-mail.
“Garzoli and the sheriff need to let everybody know what role they had and to what extent,” Brown said.
Brown thinks an Attorney General investigation will answer his questions, he said.
Smith did not want to comment on the e-mail without expressed consent from Garzoli, he said.
“I have no intent in forming opinion of the content of the e-mail. I will recommend to the board that this e-mail accompany the letter and audit to bring forward to the Attorney General”s Office,” Farrington said. “I have no intention of influencing or hindering the ongoing investigation.”
Below is the e-mail referenced in the article.
“Sheriff,
“As you know due to the recent events, I feel like I have compromised any usefulness I could offer the you or the sheriff”s department because of what I became involved in. This was a profession I loved and felt I was pretty good at and was always proud of the work I did and things I had accomplished. Because my choices over the past year relative to the helicopter issue were mine and I should have been more clear on what I was doing, I have caused you, the department and myself a great deal of trouble.
“What I had (wrongly) envisioned as being one of my greatest accomplishments for me you and the department ended up being my greatest failure.
“Following my demotion I was told by new peers that as Lt. I was “SMUG” and an asshole; that I micromanaged people, that (name redacted by RKM) hated me because of how I handled his transfer back to patrol etc.. Despite always trying to instill in others that what people think of you doesn”t matter as long as your doing the right thing, I found that for me it does matter and it hurt to hear these things. I care what others think of me, especially you , my boss. Add to that weekly BOS meetings where I am the topic of discussions that often times include blatant misrepresentations of things such as commercial drivers licenses & special flight suits etc. severely impact my character and ability to do my job. It is hard enough to face the problems you did cause and even harder to accept criticism for things that are patently incorrect. Saturday nite at the fair I had an encounter with (name redacted by RKM) where he treated me exceptionally rude & disrespectful followed by another person referring to the publicity surrounding me and saying he could pull a gun on me right now and if I defended myself I”d be the one to go to jail.
“…Sunday nite following my shift at Pillsbury I was listening to talk radio and the host was a career coach. I have been dwelling on my situation for months now and decided to call in and ask what a person with my skills could do outside law enforcement. Rather than the host simply answering my question he unexpectedly dug into my job status. Because of my embarrassment and inability to accept responsibility for the fact that this was all my own doing my knee jerk reaction was to place blame elsewhere, causing you further problems.
“…If I am ever to find my way again in law enforcement I need to learn why I handled things the way I did and why I got so wrapped up in “blind ambition” despite plenty of warnings that this could happen.
“In closing I want to sincerely apologize for everything I have done to you and put you through. None of it was intended to hurt you or your position yet it did and I am sorry for that. I assure you I will not address this issue further with anyone for any reason and I will continue to try and do the best I can.
“You can feel free to provide this email or any portions thereof to the press or BOS if it would help…
David Garzoli”
Contact Katy Sweeny at ksweeny@record-bee.com or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
