Supervisor Derry requests criminal investigation into destruction of documents

San Bernardino County Supervisor Neil Derry is pushing the District Attorney's Office to investigate the destruction of documents in his office by his predecessor, Dennis Hansberger.

District Attorney's office spokeswoman Susan Mickey said the office was in receipt of Derry's March 2 letter requesting a criminal investigation against Hansberger, but couldn't say if an investigation is underway.

"After three months of observation it has become clear that the lack of documentation, particularly correspondence files, has hindered my staff and created an onerous burden in reconstructing information," Derry said in his letter, addressed to District Attorney Michael Ramos.

Hansberger told The Sun in December that he disposed of documents appropriately, and that he didn't keep documents in his office that were "departmental in nature." He said he disposed of the documents just before his term expired on Nov. 30.

In 2004, Hansberger, then the county's third district supervisor, approved a policy mandating the retention of public documents when a supervisor leaves office.

joe.nelson@inlandnewspapers.com