The Clarion is continuing to report this story. When new information is provided, the story will be updated.
An administrative assistant for the Citrus College Foundation was arrested on campus on Oct.10 on allegations of a sex offense.
Clarence Cernal was arrested by the Glendora Police Department. His charges were not made publicly available by Glendora Police Department or the Pomona Municipal Court.
The Citrus College Campus Safety online crime log said the incident happened at 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 27 in the Center for Innovation.
Cernal’s name is listed on the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Inmate Information Center online. The arrest time and date matched information in the Campus Safety crime log.
A records specialist working the front desk at the Glendora Police Department on Oct. 17 told a Clarion editor that records that would normally be public are being kept private, in this case, to protect the alleged victim’s identity. Releasing such information could hurt the ongoing investigation, she said.
The record of Cernal’s arrest was removed from the Glendora Police Department’s arrest log. Arrest logs, which include the suspect’s name, physical description and charge. These descriptions are usually open to the public. The records specialist at the front desk said the arrest record was removed from the public arrest log to protect the alleged victim’s identity.
The Clarion found no connection between stating the alleged suspect’s name and revealing the alleged victim’s identity.
Robert Sammis, director of Human Resources at Citrus College, said the protocol for investigating an arrested staff is the same regardless of the case.
He said Citrus will conduct an investigation separate from the Glendora Police Department’s investigation.
The college’s investigation will determine if the staff member is retained, Sammis said.
Sammis said in most cases, employees who are subject to such an investigation are not at work but remain on paid leave during the investigation. He said he cannot confirm or deny whether Cernal was still working.
The online L.A. Sheriff Department’s Inmate Information Center said Cernal was released at 10:20 p.m. Oct. 10, the day of his arrest, after posting bond for $100,000. The L.A. Sheriff’s Department’s Inmate Information Center said bail was initially set at $200,000.
Cernal’s initial court appearance was Oct.15 in Pomona Municipal Court. When contacted on Oct. 18, the Pomona Municipal Court did not provide the court record, charges against the defendant, the name of the judge in the case, the case number or the date for the next court hearing.
A Clarion editor emailed the district attorney’s media relations contact from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department late in the morning on Oct. 18 to find out why public court records are being held from the public in this case.
Ricardo Santiago, public information officer with the district attorney’s office for the L.A. Sheriff’s Department, said in an email to contact the L.A. Sheriff’s Department to “inquire about the information they display or not display.” Santiago also provided a phone number to an office in the L.A. Sheriff’s Department that could answer such questions but the office was closed by the time a Clarion editor called.
The Glendora Police Department records specialist provided a Clarion editor with a phone number for a public information officer with the department. The person at that number did not answer multiple calls to their cell phone or a text sent on Oct. 17 from a Clarion editor.
The Glendora Police Department refused to release the name of the public information officer connected to the phone number given to the Clarion editor.
On Oct. 24 a Clarion editor spoke to Detective Michael Howell of the Glendora Police Department to ask why the suspect’s identity was being protected through the withholding of public records. Howell said the public records are being withheld from the public to protect the identity of the victim. He said that it was not his decision to withhold the public records for this case. He told a Clarion editor to speak with Kandi Tidwell, records specialist supervisor with the Glendora Police Department, in order to find out why public records are being withheld in this case.
A Clarion editor called Tidwell and left a voicemail at 11:52 a.m. Oct 24. The Clarion editor also went to the Glendora Police Department to see if Tidwell was available to speak in person. Cadet Andres Rodriguez said that Tidwell was out for lunch. Rodriguez could not provide a time for Tidwell’s return on Oct. 24 nor a time for Tidwell’s shift on Oct. 25. The Clarion editor has still not received a response from Tidwell as of Oct. 28.
Rodriguez told the Clarion editor to reach out to the supervisor for the detectives bureau, police Sgt. Michael Henderson. The Clarion editor called and left a voicemail for Henderson at 1:07 p.m. on Oct. 24 and has not heard back as of Oct. 28.
The Clarion is continuing to report this story. When new information is provided, the story will be updated.
