Attorney ought to be penalized for exposing police officer's confidential identity, city advocates.
The urban center of Fontana is demanding that legal representative Jerry Steering be penalized for disobedience, several months following his disclosure of a nearly $900,000 settlement. According to the city, Steering violated a restraining order by disseminating confidential images of officers, which were obtained during a lawsuit that accused detectives of coercing a murder confession from an innocent man after 17 hours of interrogation, which they insist, did not infringe any laws.
Following its publication in the San Bernardino Sun at the end of May, various media outlets in the US and Europe ran the story, utilizing video and still photographs from the interrogation of Tom Perez by Dets. David Janusz and Kyle Guthrie. At least one publication also utilized a photo of Janusz in his police uniform, and another image of Guthrie from a deposition in the case.
However, when CNN spoke to Perez for an in-depth feature and sought comments from Fontana officials, the city accused Steering of revealing the identity of a covert officer and releasing information in contravention of a court's protective order, which was intended to protect the "Fontana Police Department’s operations and safety" from potential jeopardy.
The city, through its attorney Shel Harrell, requested that Steering face sanctions and be held in contempt of court, stating that the alleged release of Guthrie's image damaged his "promising career" as the supervisor of undercover operations.
"FPD has now been forced to withdraw its key undercover officer from the field in order to protect him from the criminal underworld elements he had successfully infiltrated," the motion claimed.
"(D)ue to the threat of assassination following his exposure, Sgt. Guthrie’s utility as a field undercover officer has been destroyed. Sgt. Guthrie has been quickly removed from his undercover assignments, and his valuable undercover operations have accordingly disintegrated. The people of Fontana community will inevitably suffer as a result," it continued.
Guthrie was not a party to the civil suit in which Perez accused the police of false imprisonment and due process violations, among other charges, though he was a primary interrogator of Perez.
City releases photograph, but with 'completely different facial hair'
Steering, in response, argued that Guthrie's appearance was not a secret. The city itself had publicized Guthrie's image, featuring him in a photograph from the 2019 employee of the year award ceremony.
"(W)hen in 2020 Officer Kyle Guthrie received the Award for the Fontana Police Department Officer of the Year for 2019, he already sported that long beard," Steering wrote in his rebuttal to the charges against him.
He described Guthrie as "the most ruthless interrogator" of Perez.
The city countered in a September 13 filing: "But the image of Sgt. Guthrie which Steering released to the media is more current and bears his true likeness during FPD’s 2024 undercover work."
"Guthrie's photo from 2020 depicts a heavier man with completely different facial hair than is depicted in Steering's media release Guthrie photo," the city wrote.
In both images, Guthrie has a shaved head.
In 2020, Guthrie's beard was arguably thicker and shorter than it appeared in the February 14, 2023, deposition. By 2023, the sideburns were gone, and Guthrie's cheeks were clean-shaven down to his jawbone. A streak of gray down from the chin was more prominent in the ruddy-colored beard seen in later images.
Steering quipped in the deposition that he grew a beard to distract people from looking at the top of his head, to which Guthrie replied, "Same."
When asked if the beard was part of his job, Guthrie replied, "I work in an undercover assignment. So, I’m not a uniform personnel. So, I can choose to grow my hair out, a beard – obviously you can tell I don’t have much hair to grow out. So, this is the only thing I got."
The city complains that the deposition shows Guthrie's "current undercover likeness." And in a supporting document submitted to the court, FPD Capt. Brian Binks argued that images from the deposition "captured Sgt. Guthrie while he was dressed in his undercover attire."
However, the video shows Guthrie wearing a shirt with the logo of the Inland Valley Special Weapons Team – a regional SWAT squad.
Typically, undercover police officers never wear anything that could identify them as law enforcement, even when not conducting operations.
"Mr. Steering elected to publicize Guthrie’s current likeness and destroy his in-field undercover career," the city wrote.
City acknowledges its 'undercover' team in public meeting
The still image from the deposition was not covered by the restraining order, but the city argues that it should not have been released.
"(I)t would be difficult to conceive of more 'reckless' conduct than Mr. Steering’s decision to devastate valuable FPD undercover operations and valuable undercover careers by broadcasting FPD officer images to the City’s criminal underworld," it wrote.
However, just four hours after the deposition concluded on February 14, 2023, Guthrie, with his prominent beard, was thanked and honored publicly along with his team as the police department's employees of the year. He had changed into a suit and tie for the ceremony at a public city council meeting that was broadcast, and a subsequent article was published in the Fontana Herald News. The video from the city council showing Guthrie and his colleagues is still available online.
On behalf of our amazing community, we'd like to thank you for your dedication, said Fontana Mayor Acquanetta Warren. "I can't tell you enough, I love tuning into the TV and seeing Fontana's officers in action again, so thank you so much," she added.
In the meeting, Fontana Police Capt. Jim Burton honored Guthrie and his colleagues from the city's "Rapid Response Team" for their achievements in combat against illegal firearms, drugs, and other rising criminal trends.
He claimed that in just the first six weeks of 2023, the team had seized 127,000 fentanyl pills and 25 unauthorized firearms.
However, the city now disputes that such actions are secure.
The situation escalated
The city also maintains that the court's protective order did cover an extensive interrogation video in which police harshly questioned Perez, utilized his dog and friend to put pressure on him, and eventually watched him break down.
Steering declared he reviewed legal documents and was convinced the video was not sealed when he provided it to the local journalist who exposed the matter and "a few other media sources."
The attorneys are in disagreement over whether the video fell under the order's protection.
However, the court did not accuse Steering of contempt until CNN started reporting the story, after other media publications had already been published.
The city wrote: “Mr. Steering has now escalated matters by supplying Fontana’s officer videos to CNN, which broadcast them on September 5, 2024 – against the Fontana Defendants' strong objections. Thus, the distribution of Fontana’s protected video now reaches millions of new viewers, some of whom may potentially be criminal elements aiming harm towards Fontana’s law enforcement officers.”
CNN has not revealed its sources for the materials used in its report.
A hearing on the motion against Steering is requested for September 27.
The city of Fontana has demanded that Steering's share of the $898,000 settlement be returned and that they be compensated for at least $26,885 in legal fees spent examining his conduct.
Fontana also argued that all the materials they consider confidential, which were included in CNN’s story, should be considered in the contempt motion and criticized CNN for the publication.
CNN reached out to Steering and Harrell, the attorney representing the city of Fontana and its employee Guthrie, for comment on this story. There has been no response from either party.
The Fontana Police Department did not answer any of CNN’s questions before or after the story was released.
"I don't recall receiving your emails," Chief Michael Dorsey said when we spoke to him after a city council meeting earlier this month.
He then did not respond to questions about Perez's treatment, the actions of his officers, how they brought a dog into the interrogation room, and whether he supported his officers.
The Fontana PD allows and even seems to endorse its uniformed officers to appear on TV. Guthrie himself briefly appeared in uniform and was named in a "COPS" episode in 2018, before the Perez interrogation. The department also joined the "On Patrol: Live" show this year, broadcasting live footage of police officers responding to situations.
The city expressed concerns that Steering's release of a more recent photograph of Guthrie with his true likeness could potentially endanger Guthrie's career as a covert officer, stating that Guthrie's image in the new photograph was significantly different from the one previously used by the city.
Following the city's accusations, Steering argued that Guthrie's appearance was never a secret, as the city itself had publicly featured Guthrie in a photograph from the 2019 employee of the year award ceremony.
