Edhat Staff
[Disclaimer as of 2/28/22: At the request of LA Magazine, their articles have been retracted and any associated links have been removed. For further information read our latest update here. The original article is available in its entirety below.]
By edhat staff
The Santa Barbara Police Department has placed Anthony Wagner on administrative leave following the publication of a news article hinting at improper behavior.
Los Angeles Magazine published an article Friday focused on Wagner who arrived in 2017 from San Diego as the Public Information Officer (PIO) for the Santa Barbara Police Department. In addition to the PIO position, he later became the point person who awarded cannabis dispensary licenses for the city and did some public relations work for Mayor Cathy Murillo.
The article accused Wagner of flashing a badge and bullying an Eastside business owner, even though he is not a sworn police officer. It also pointed to a San Diego-based company with ties to Wagner that obtained one of the highly coveted cannabis dispensary licenses before promptly selling it to a Florida-based company, presumably at a profit.
Just after noon on Monday, interim Santa Barbara Police Chief Bernard Melekian issued a statement announcing Wagner being placed on leave and confirming an outside firm will conduct an investigation into the awarding of cannabis licenses.
“On March 12, Los Angeles Magazine published an article that raised a number of issues concerning an employee of the police department, Mr. Anthony Wagner. Most of these allegations have been previously investigated, either within the police department or by the city attorney’s office. In addition, the City prevailed in a federal lawsuit by one of the unsuccessful cannabis permit applicants, which was dismissed in December 2019,” the statement read.
“Nevertheless, the Los Angeles Magazine article makes new allegations concerning the nature of Mr. Wagner’s role in the process of the awarding cannabis licenses that support further investigation. To that end, the Department will be retaining an outside firm to conduct that investigation for the Police Department. I have placed Mr. Wagner on Administrative Leave pending the outcome of this inquiry. I should note that Mr. Wagner has been fully cooperative with this inquiry and welcomes the involvement of an outside reviewer.”
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Funny all the stuff that floats to the top during election years…
1. She definitely knew. That’s both obvious and indisputable.
2. Paid admin leave should be a thing because allegations are just that. BUT if you’re found to be at fault, you should have to forfeit the income made during admin leave. In Wagner’s case, I hope he’s indicted on corruption charges.
Maybe Chief Malekian can investigate Paul Casey and Cathy Murillo too? Could the DA? Or the state’s attorney general? FBI? Someone? A lot of $$$ changed hands for those cannabis permits. This thing really stinks, and it wasn’t just one guy that did it all. Top city leadership was in on it.
IF they put all of the bad apples on leave, city hall would be empty, but the same amount of work would get done.. darn it! I somehow feel cheated.
Yes, she is. She should go back there.
I cannot believe the award of that Cannabis license stands up to scrutiny. Come on they were friends in San Diego. We here in SB know none of these people. They (Wagner and Kudlow) had more authority than we do. Paul Casey how did you let this happen? Time for Paul to retire. He will make more in retirement than any of us did working 50 hours a week!
I thought that she was from New York. She’s certainly running the city like she is.
This isn’t an election year though. Too bad… If only we could vote all these thieves out of office.
It is more than mj. The bike lane, the desalination plant, zoning/planning are all suspect. We need a state AG investigation of our governance!
What’s the point of being a chief if you can’t toss your friends a cushy job with a high salary when you want? I hope their friends that made the quick $3.2M in profit by flipping the potshop license remember them on their birthdays and at Christmas.
Seems like the swamp is getting more and more exposed: First District Supervisor Das Williams, and the City Manager, former Police Chief, and SBPD Public Information Officer. Follow your noses and smell the cannabis. Follow the money and where it goes. Good investigative work by our independent media will insure justice prevails in the end.
Now we need an initiative to roll back the ridiculously inflated salaries / benefits of city and county employees.
Why did Paul Casey spend 100’s of thousand of dollars on head hunters looking for a police chief that lasted only 4 years(The city should get therie money back) sounds like Lori was part of this mess-Thanks Paul Casey once again
Can’t we hire a Chief that can speak for themselves or is that too much to ask at that salary level??
This Wagner and pot issues were written about in our local media months ago.
So it takes an LA rag to get our local government to do what’s right?
What’s up with that?
Unfortunately, Capps was our best chance at that, and she lost a close race. No way to rein Das in now. Just waiting for the next State Senate vacancy.