Tomorrow's story: No criminal charges, but questions persist

By Andrew Edwards and Robert Rogers
Staff Writers

SAN BERNARDINO -- Prosecutors will not file charges against a quartet of city officials who knew of rumors that community center Mike Miller had sexual contact with a minor before police were alerted to Miller's alleged crimes.

Authorities determined that the four officials knew only of rumors, not concrete information that could lead them to reasonably suspect Miller was abusing children.

An eight-page District Attorney's Office memo released Friday found that "it cannot be established that this rumor and conjecture alone constituted facts sufficient to establish reasonable suspicion and therefere require a mandated report."

State law requires several classes of government employees to report suspected cases of child molestation to police. Miller has been charged with more than 20 counts of child molestation.

During a week-long probe, District Attorney's personnel and San Bernardino Police investigated four city employees: former Operation Phoenix director Glenn Baude, parks director Kevin Hawkins, parks division manager Curtis Brown and community recreation manager Glenda Robinson.

"The bottom line is that a violation of law did not occur," Mayor Pat Morris said. In a press release issued just after the DA's report, Morris praised the report and vowed to continue taking "full responsibility" for investigating and correcting problems in Operation Phoenix and the parks and recreation department.

City Attorney James F. Penman was less pleased, noting that DA ruled only that conduct was not-criminal, but not necessarily beyond question.

"I'm relieved to learn that the DA has determined that the fact that four city managerment employees did not report the information they had does not rise to the level of criminal conduct," Penman said.

"However, I wish they had taken the extra steps to report the rumor to the police department I think the children entrused in our care deserved at least that."

Investigators reached conclusions in the face of sometimes contradictory information gleaned from interviews with those four officials and other witnesses.

"This raises serious questions about who is telling the truth," 7th Ward Councilwoman Wendy McCammack said. "It makes one wonder how much more there is to the safety of our kids than meets the eye."

She declined to elaborate.

Foremost among the contradictory accounts, Baude and City Manager Fred Wilson provided investigators with starkly different versions of their interaction in the days between the June 27 email exchange regarding Miller's "possible sexual involvement with a minor during work hours" and Miller's arrest on July 3.

Baude told investigators that on June 30, three days after the sexual abuse allegation, Miller asked him to lunch. Baude declined, but later that afternoon Miller stopped by Baude's office. Baude then asked about the rumors, and Miller denied sexual misconduct.

The memo shows that Baude told investigators he spoke with Wilson later on June 30 and informed him of rumors of a "sexual incident," to which Wilson allegedly replied: "Okay, we'll take care of it."

Police were alerted on July 1. Baude told investigators that Wilson then advised him that police were handling the case and he should not talk about it.

Wilson directly contradicted Baude's account, the DA report shows, telling investigators that he did not remember talking to Baude on June 30 and was unaware of the e-mails until July 1.

Denise Trager Dvorak, a supervising deputy district attorney, said she would not characterize either Baude's or Wilson's statements as lies. She noted that prosecutors often advise juries that witnesses can remember the same events differently.

When told of the clear disparity between his comments and those Baude made to the DA investigators, Wilson didn't budge, reiterating that he never discussed email's about sexual rumors nor told Baude he would "take care of it."

"What I told the DA was what happened," Wilson said. "I stand by what I told the DA investigators about these comments and the dates."

"I was notified that the police investigation was underway on July 1," Wilson added. "Thats also when I first became aware of the email; on July 1, when the Police Chief informed me about both."

Baude referred questions to his attorney, James Curtis.

Curtis applauded the DA's report and stopped short of questioning Wilson's motives in directly refuting his client's version.

"The decision speaks for itself," Curtis said. "Clearly the idea of wrongdoing on the part of Mr. Baude was ill-founded."

Curtis also issued a swipe at City Attorney James F. Penman for releasing the email records to the press.

"This should have never gotten out in the first place," he said. "It calls into quesiton the motivation of the parties that did that in the first place. That conduct itself may warrant some looking into."

Morris declined to side with either side of two of his top staffers.

"I'm obviously concerned about that disparity in their memories," Morris said. "It is inconsistent and we will drill down with further investigation to examine the problems that exist with regard to leadership in our city departments," Morris said.

The prosecutors' memo also reports the minor referred to in the July 27 emails was a 16-year-old girl who worked as a recreation center employee.

A woman identified only as "Witness #2" said she saw a Miller tickle and light a cigarette for a teenage girl who worked for the city's central area Operation Phoenix center.

Robinson reported that another person, called "Witness #1" relayed the woman's concerns to her. However, Witness #1 denied speaking with Robinson between the time he was fired from his Operation Phoenix-related employment on June 26 and July 1.

The DA memo reports that Robinson -- who initiated the June 27 email exchange -- was never presented with actual evidence of molestation but "surmised" Miller engaged in sexual activity with a minor.

However, police and prosecutors report that Miller is not currently charged with molesting girls after April 30, which is the last day any alleged victims were at the central Phoenix center.