Category: Strange But True

Posted onChronic Failure

A Question from Podunk

by 13 Comments on A Question from Podunk

Those of us in the cheap seats out in Podunk have noticed something odd and can’t quite figure it out and we’re hoping that some of you friends have some answers.

The problem is that Joe Florentine operates a night club in clear violation of the Fullerton Municipal Code and possibly CA Law if not just CA building codes. How so? His nightclubs located at 100-104 N Harbor Blvd, and which have a combined occupancy of over 300 people, are lacking fire sprinklers. Feel free to check for the permits yourself to verify.

Fire sprinklers, mind you, which were a condition of his Conditional Use Permit back in 2008.

Florentines CUP Fire Sprinklers

The CUP from 2008 on this issue fully states (our emphasis):

“12. The 2008 Building Code requires that restaurants and drinking establishments with a fire occupancy of 100 persons or more are required to install fire sprinklers. As a result, the business owner is required to add fire sprinklers as a matter of approval. Because this is a Building Code requirement, the Planning Commission does not have discretion to waive this requirement. Staff has recommended a condition to assure that the work be performed within a specified timeframe of the use approval, or else the CUP will be brought back to the Planning Commission for revocation.”

Here’s the California Building Code for those who are curious, keep in mind that Florentine’s is said to be about 8,000 sqf:

2016 Building Fire Code

His business qualifies as requiring fire sprinklers. His conditional use permit requires him to have fire sprinklers. Yet he has no fire sprinklers.

Why are there no fire sprinklers?

Why hasn’t his Conditional Use Permit been revoked as required by law?

For 10+ years Florentine has been operating the largest restaurant / night club against the law and for 10+ years our staff has done nothing about it. Even though Fire and Life Safety are the issues at hand.

OK, that’s not fair to staff. They have done something. They’ve willfully ignored fire codes, building codes and public safety. We’ve got to give credit where credit is due and nothing in this case certainly is something.

Despite that 2008 Conditional Use Permit threatening a mandatory revocation, the city has never once enforced the issue of fire sprinklers let alone considered bringing his CUP back for possible revocation. Not Once. In all that time our useless Planning Commission has been too inept to ask tough questions of staff or for a list of gross violators to even notice this glaring slap against their preening authority.

But wait for it, it gets better.

Each year like clockwork the ever rotating Fullerton Police Chief signs off on Florentine’s Live Entertainment Permit making FPD complicit in this glaring life safety fail. Here’s an example from 2016/17:

Florentines LE Permit 2016

Check #7.

“7. The C.U.P (if applicable) shall be strictly enforced.”

The Chief of Police is signing off on Live Entertainment Permits and claiming that conditions of use, such as fire sprinklers, will be enforced while NEVER ONCE ENFORCING THEM in well over a decade.

While Community Development Director Ted White likes to talk about needed changes to the municipal code, specifically Title 15 which passed our clueless Planning Commission, he mentions lights and lumens and outdated technology. It sure is curious that he never bothered to mention Fire Safety and how he, his staff, nor any staff across Fullerton, can be bothered to enforce those issues and laws either. Nevermind flagrant violations of state law, HOLY CRAP LOOK AT THOSE LUMENS! We just can’t measure those time to change the codes!

While he’s baffling our clueless leaders and representatives on the dais with bullshit, he’s letting guys like Florentine violate safety concerns because… why exactly?

No seriously, why? Why are we tolerating staff, our Planning Commission, and our City Council blatantly ignoring the law while they spoon feed us nonsense about lumen measurement?

This is an endemic problem. That Live Entertainment Permit as seen on the Fullerton website actually needs to be signed off on by multiple departments:

LE Permit App

How is that nobody in the Building, Code Enforcement or the Fire Department has a problem with such a large venue with such a large civilian capacity each weekend being in clear violation of fire codes?

Joe Florentine actually made the case in front of the Planning Commission recently that the Live Entertainment Permit process was too arduous. Let that sink in. The dude who’s breaking the law and putting people’s lives at risk has the sadz because the process, that is letting him slip by with his lawlessness, wants the process to be easier!

South Park Balls
An artist representation of Joe Florentine after speaking to Planning Commission.

Maybe you can figure out why right now, this weekend of St. Paddy’s Day which is one of the heaviest drinking days of the year, the city is going to continue to put hundreds of people at risk in Florentine’s night clubs.

The city knows Joe Florentine operates his bars outside the law. He is legally required to protect the public he allows in his doors, but refuses to do so. We know it, we tolerate it, and we even sign off on it at least once a year.

Why is this important? Why should you care that your city staff ignores the law and signs off on Florentine’s shenanigans?

Because this means YOU, the taxpayers of Fullerton, are on the hook for an accident in Florentine’s bars.

You, through the Police Chief & Fire Department, signed off on his entertainment permits to pack his bars.

You, through your Council, Staff and City Manager, told him he was safe, every year. You told him he’s a good operator despite obvious evidence to the contrary.

So what happens when, God forbid, there’s a fire like the Ghost Ship in Oakland where fire sprinklers were also lacking?

Who pays restitution? Little ol’ Joe with his big house and big pool up on the hill?

NO! You do! You pay! Just like you always pay when staff and council refuse to do their jobs. You signed the dotted line that blessed all his illegal bullshit and then you did nothing about it.

You get what you vote for, Fullerton. This weekend your vote will be used again to tolerate putting hundreds of people at risk. You voted for people to not enforce life safety laws, you voted to not enforce alcohol service laws, and you voted to not enforce zoning laws.

When will you have enough?

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Posted onChronic Failure

Flory’s Indecent Exposure

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When Jan Flory came back to council she extolled her virtue of no scandals – and then her son Mike clearly decided – Challenge Accepted.

Mike Flory Photo

We really don’t want to write about this issue but it’s one which points to a pattern of problematic behavior that needs to be addressed. A pattern of behavior by a man who works around minors for the OC DA’s office and was recently convicted of PC 415(2) – Disturbing the Peace – in a case that originally involved a battery charge, PC M242, allegedly against a minor.

This new story is pretty simple. Somebody wanted a photo of Tickle from the show Moonshiners and that somebody asked the question of the wrong Mike. Instead of sending the message to Mike [Redacted] they sent it to Mike Flory. And instead of getting a photo of Tickle they got a photo of Flory’s junk.

To make this news it needs to be stated that that somebody – was Mike Flory’s niece.

Our victim’s own 8yo daughter was sitting with her when the offending message came in and she quickly deleted it so no, we will not be showing the photo here on FFFF but to satiate your dirty bird desires here is a stunt cock:

A Better Cock

When his niece, who we should clarify was a flower girl in his wedding, got upset he doubled down claiming to want to “get up in those guts”. To his niece.

Now we’re no prudes and we normally don’t care who sends what to whom consensually – but this was an unsolicited genital pick sent to a family member. All from a man works for the DA’s office in the Juvenile justice department.

How do we know this happened absent the photo? We had to verify a few things.

First we have the messages that came after the offending photo:

Flory Call Log 01

Flory Call Log 02

You’ll notice on that first screenshot that the phone # is 714-305-5648. How do we know that’s Mike Flory?

Well, that was a small problem. As many of us have to remain anonymous here on FFFF due to retaliation and threats we didn’t exactly want to call a Deputy DA so we punched the number into the internet and up camethe State Bar of California website with:

Mike Flory State Bar

The allegation then is that Mr. Flory is sending unsolicited dick pics from the phone # he has registered with the State Bar of California. Before people start complaining that this is Doxxing, no it isn’t as Mr. Flory has provided this to the State Bar as public information and it is easily searchable as just demonstrated.

But there’s no photo so how do we know one was sent? That’s what call logs are for:

Flory Call-Log

We wanted to make sure there was a “there” there before running this piece and after some due diligence have every reason to believe that this happened as described to us based on the phone calls and texts we have had with Mr. Flory’s niece as well as the supplied evidence and a few character witnesses we have spoken to in the last few weeks.

This is an issue of integrity and ethics but also one of propriety in a District Attorney’s office which has been plagued with years of scandals, cover-ups and bad actors. This is a chance for our new District Attorney, Todd Spitzer, to show us that he doesn’t tolerate such behavior in his ranks and that he expects his staff to be better examples to the public they serve. To be humble and apologetic instead of sickos with no sense of shame.

We offer this as a challenge. The ball is in your court Mr. Spitzer. Are you going to continue the sordid legacy of Tony Rackauckas and stand behind such behavior or are you going to try to finally bring some dignity to the OC DA’s office? We and many others will be watching.

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Posted onChronic Failure

Fullerton’s Version of Transparency

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I’m not going to wax poetic or waste time building a narrative or telling a story today. Today I just want to lay out a simple example on how Fullerton deals with transparency.

On Wednesday, 16 November 2016 at about 9:00 PM, a Fullerton Parks and Recreation vehicle collided with another car at the intersection of Highland and Chapman.

Not long after learning about it I put in a Public Records Request asking for information on the case, vehicle and so forth and got little to nothing back. So I just ignored the issue and waited.

Up until that point nearly nothing had been reported (if anything) on this accident and the city had said nothing. Being that this is a city owned, meaning taxpayer funded, vehicle we should expect at least some acknowledgement as to what happened or even that it happened.

Instead we got crickets.

I started asking around again and rumor has it that the driver was intoxicated and three parks employees were in the vehicle and all were subsequently fired.

So recently I again put in a Public Records Request asking about such information. That request was denied on a grip of what I call “so sue us” or “you have remedies” grounds.

Then I put in another Public Records Request asking for, and I quote:

“…I now want all information released to the public about the incident involving that vehicle including any PRRs responded to, emails sent or received, reports released, press releases, etc.”

And the response from the city was:

“There are no records responsive to your request.”

When I asked for clarity:

“Is it the city’s position that nothing has been said in any way about this incident?”

They doubled down with:

“There are no available records regarding the incident.”

No available records regarding this:

No available information says the city, not even an email.

So city employees can destroy a city vehicle, which allegedly is still sitting at the Basque yard, not to mention possibly damage private property and we poor plebeians aren’t allowed to know anything all while our pompous and pretentious council pretends to care about transparency.

In all this time they could have asked for an update, asked staff what happened, explained why they might not be able to talk about a public incident (lawsuit, etc) but no. They sat and asked no questions and offered no insights.

So the next time our Council, Planning Commission, City Staff or City Manager claim to care about transparency just point to this incident and laugh at them. Laugh at them and then possibly give them the finger.

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Posted onBad Cops

Hendricks Already Up for a New Gig

by 15 Comments on Hendricks Already Up for a New Gig

Former Fullerton Police Chief David Hendricks is already up for a new gig at Mt. Sac. He’s apparently a finalist for the job of Mt. Sac Police Chief.

Hendricks-Mt-Sac

You have to love that description and what it omits.

“A long history at the Long Beach Police Department.”

And a short history in Fullerton. That ended in disgrace.

Lest we forget, Hendricks is being charged with Battery on EMTs and resisting and obstructing an officer. No wonder that was omitted. (more…)

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Posted onCarpetbaggery

Oops, Did She Do It Again?!

by 51 Comments on Oops, Did She Do It Again?!

In case you missed it, Paulette Marshall Chaffee looks to have been caught on video stealing signs from private property in her pretend district while illegally parked in a red zone because if one rule doesn’t apply to her – why should any amiright?

But Oops. It looks like she did it again.

Is it kleptomania? A spontaneous sign stealing spree?

(more…)

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Posted onStrange But True

The Petropulos Era is Over

by 12 Comments on The Petropulos Era is Over

The name Petropulos is long associated with Fullerton law enforcement circles.

John Petropulos was a Fullerton Police Officer between 1981 and 2010, rising to the position of Captain.  He also taught for many years at the Fullerton College Police Academy.  The chances are good that if someone you know attended the academy over the past decade or two, they know and have stories to tell about John Petropulos.

His son, Tim, was hired by the Fullerton Police Department in 2005 and was a Sergeant handling Internal Affairs.  Many believed Tim would follow in his dad’s footsteps, until he and Cpl. Brad Fernandes jumped ship this past week for the Irvine Police Department.

Tim’s departure is noteworthy because his transfer to Irvine PD came with a demotion from Sergeant to Police Officer.  Voluntary demotions are not unheard of, but certainly not the norm.

Adding to this strange turn of events, Irvine Police Chief Mike Hamel is currently married to Fullerton Police Lt. Kathryn Hamel, the sister of former Fullerton Police Captain George Crum.  Having a loved one in law enforcement is apparently necessary for upward and lateral mobility these days.

Lest anyone from the FPD come forward to bemoan that Fullerton doesn’t pay enough, you should know that Fullerton has paid less than other cities for a very long time.  This is nothing new.  So why are Fullerton Police officers quitting in droves for other departments?  Dan Hughes promised everyone for years this was now a reformed, and better-than-ever police department.  If true, why wouldn’t people want to stick around and be part of that?

Nails. Coffin. Dan Hughes’ legacy as police chief.  Meet your hammer.

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Posted onHidden Government Agencies

DEA Helicopter Crashes at Fullerton Airport

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There was a crash at the Fullerton Airport this morning. By the time the media arrived, the FAA registration numbers on the tail had been carefully covered up with a tarp. Initial media reports indicate that nobody was injured and the media was instructed to start calling it a “hard landing” instead of a crash. The the rotors broke and the back fell off.


Despite the effort to deidentify the plane, an ABC7 reporter posted a photograph that shows the aircraft as a Eurocopter AS 350 with the FAA registration of N515ET. Aircraft registry websites show that the helicopter has a history of operating in Southern California.

What’s special about this bird? It was initially registered to the US Department of Justice in 2006 until its ownership was transferred in 2011, along with 14 other planes owned by the Drug Enforcement Agency, to a suspected DEA front company called Chaparral Air Group.

Well, there it is. The DEA was secretly operating out of the Fullerton Airport, and then they crashed their expensive toy. And now you’ll get to buy them a new one.

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Posted onStatewide Stuff

Bruce Whitaker Announces His Candidacy in the Senate District 29 Recall

by 102 Comments on Bruce Whitaker Announces His Candidacy in the Senate District 29 Recall

Although the results have yet to be certified, and the Democratic Party is doing their best to invalidate the petition gathering effort (even going so far as to sue individual College Republican signature gatherers) the recall election of State Senator Josh Newman is likely proceeding. And now the Republican party has a candidate for the special election.

This morning, Fullerton City Councilmember Bruce Whitaker announced his intention to run in the special election to replace Newman, when it takes place.

Whitaker, a Republican, has been on the City Council since 2010, when he won a special election to replace Shawn Nelson. Whitaker has a long record of fighting tax increases prior to his election to the City Council, including his opposition to Measure R, the proposed county sales tax proposed to deal with Orange County’s bankruptcy in the mid 1990s. This will be the second recall election Whitaker has been involved in, as he was also part of the successful recall of three Fullerton City Councilmembers over a utility tax increase in 1994.

Whitaker’s announcement will hopefully put the final nail in the nascent candidacy of Ling Ling Chang, who was the Republican Party’s candidate in the 2016 election and who many (myself included) believe blew what should have been a winnable race. Whitaker is not the first candidate to announce however, as FFFF contributor Joshua Ferguson announced his intention to run for the race earlier this week.

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Posted onA Step in the Right Direction

Coming Up For Air

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In FFFF’s early days, this blog noted how the Fullerton Observer and its “editor” Sharon Kennedy would bend over backwards to avoid printing anything that might embarrass City officialdom. In the years after that blog post, the Observer remained true to form. It continually went to bat for the bureaucrats in increasingly shameful ways, even when it violated the tenets of the Yellowing Observer’s own professed liberalism. The culmination, perhaps, was the Observer’s series of misdirections and avoidances in the wake of the Kelly Thomas murder in 2011.

It’s dark in here.

But wait. One of our Friends just noticed that the front page of the latest Observer includes an unexpected headline. The article seems to acknowledge the recent claims of corruption in city hall as asserted by the OC DA investigator Abraham Santos.

The piece discusses the facts of the claims against Dan Hughes and Joe Felz without the insertion of Kennedy’s usual dismissive editorial remarks. How could this happen? Is Kennedy turning over a new leaf?

No. This is the work of the Observer’s new co-editor, Jesse La Tour. How he managed to slip this honest piece of work past Kennedy, we may never know.

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