mono_courthouse_10-08.jpgAfter two and a half years, an arbitration and a court hearing, the Mono County Counsel now claims that Deputy Jon Madrid was never effectively fired. Madrid’s controversial termination was documented in a letter from then Sheriff Rick Scholl on November 7, 2011. Madrid appealed his termination and Mono County fought to uphold Madrid’s firing in an arbitration and then a recent Superior Court petition. Now the County Counsel says the termination Mono County tried to uphold never became effective. Mono County did lose both efforts to maintain Madrid’s firing. An arbitrator and a judge ordered Madrid’s reinstatement. Mono County Counsel Marshall Rudolph did not respond about what all this means to the Madrid case. He did say, “No final decisions have been made by the County” on what to do now.  He said he could not say anything more publically at this time.

Judge James Garbolino was sure about his position on the case. He basically stated that the Mono Sheriff’s Department harassed Madrid who, said the Judge, was the victim of unsupported evidence or at worst the victim of “a deliberate scheme to terminate him for inappropriate reasons.” Judge Garbolino ordered reinstatement of Madrid and denied any delays.

The County Counsel did not say if the County will obey the Judge’s order. Rudolph did say the decision to terminate Madrid “actually never became effective because of Madrid’s timely administrative appeal of that decision.” Rudolph alleges that since the arbitrator did not uphold Madrid’s termination, he’s not fired. Rudolph did not respond to the question of what all of this means to Madrid, who has waited two and a half years for final disposition of his case.

It was in the 2011 letter from Sheriff Scholl that the final action on Madrid was stated. The letter says of Madrid, “Termination from employment with the Mono County Sheriff’s Office. This action will be imposed immediately.” It was six months after that termination that Madrid was ordered to return to the Sheriff’s Department to sit in a chair all day long with no gun, badge or uniform. Judge Garbolino called the chair duty “further punishment.” Said the Judge, “His assigned duties were lesser than those of a WalMart greeter.” The Judge called treatment of Madrid by the Sheriff’s Administration “serious abuse of discretion.”

Madrid has filed a federal civil rights case against Mono County and Sheriff Ralph Obenberger relating to matters surrounding his termination.

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