Anonymous
Source: Santa Barbara County District Attorney
Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce E. Dudley announced today that a felony complaint will be filed tomorrow against Retired Santa Barbara County Deputy Probation Officer, Manuel Edward Torres, 64, of Santa Maria, California. Mr. Torres will be charged in a 15 count felony complaint with Misappropriation of Public Funds in violation of Penal Code section 424, Grand Theft of monies from the Santa Barbara County Probation Peace Officers Association, in violation of Penal Code section 487(a), Forgery in violation of Penal Code section 470(d), and False Personation in violation of Penal Code section 529(a)(3), all alleged to have occurred between January 1, 2009 and June 30, 2019.
Mr. Torres will also be charged with 3 counts of Failure to File an Income Tax Return in violation of Revenue and Taxation Code section 19706 for tax years 2009-2011, and 8 counts of Filing a False Income Tax Return in violation of Revenue and Taxation Code section 19706 for tax years 2012-2019. Additionally, the Aggravated White Collar Crime Enhancement, pursuant to Penal Code section 186.11, will be alleged, stating that the alleged felony conduct in this case amounted to a taking of more than $500,000.
Mr. Torres was arrested on Wednesday, July 29, 2020, in Santa Maria, California, on a $500,000 arrest warrant, and will be arraigned tomorrow, July 31, 2020, in Department 8 of the Santa Barbara Superior Court in Santa Barbara, Figueroa Division.
Unclear from this press release what his status as a retired probation officer has to do with the crime he alleged to have committed. It would be nice to know more.
Now he can get the probation treatment, from his friends
Manuel Torres TOTAL: $175,282.97
DEP PROBATION OFFICER SUP (2018) Santa Barbara County
Regular pay:$101,455.63
Overtime pay:$0.00
Other pay:$2,218.59
Total pay:$103,674.22
Benefits:$71,608.75
Total pay & benefits:$175,282.97 (Source: Transparent California)
Any public employee can opt out of paying union dues – visit Freedom Foundation “OptOutToday” and let them help you fill out the forms. Start paying yourself that money instead of the unions. Particularly now because there is no money in the budget for you to get your hands on anyway. Until the US Supreme Court ruled a few years ago, all government employees were forced to join the unions. Now forced membership is illegal. Don’t let them con you into thinking otherwise. Opt out now – and take that $1000 or so in annual union dues and keep it for yourself.
9:28 So when the employer disciplines you or fires you for an unsupportable reason, the Union and/or their lawyer goes to bat for you. Also, some unions have better healthcare plans than the employer and some unions have retirement systems for their members.
The one good reason to pay government employees way more than private sector employees is the hope they will not cheat us of our tax dollars, and not use their access to the great powers of government against us. It worked better when the initial pay was low, but the bonus was a great retirement which was intended to insure no government employee would risk losing their nice pensions being crooked on the job. Time we rethink our relationship with government employees and their unions, who managed to get both – great pay, great pensions, plus bullet proof job protections where no matter what they do, they can’t be fired. It was not supposed to work this way. Unionizing government employees back in the 1960’s turned this former and noble “civil servant” employee formula upside down.
If you just want union job protections and feel this is worth paying your annual union dues, that is one thing. But what the unions did, what the the public sector unions did, is become so politically powerful they now sit on both sides of the collective bargaining table and have run up a public debt and unfunded pension obligation, even your grandchildren”s grand children’s will still be paying off. The new generation of young adults who took on huge student debts to pay off teachers union bargained compensation packages, now also have to pay off the huge public pension debt the unions also were foist on taxpayers which is now them too. So there is a lot more on with public sector unions than one employee’s personal job grievance . That is also why there are employment attorneys and a good Civil Service Act to protect employees. But public sector unions have morphed into quite a different animal and anyone coming of age to had better get themselves up to speed and learn what long-standing debts these public sector unions have run up in their names. Many might be nostalgic about their dad’s private sector union membership; but today the growth monster that is now devouring us are the public sector unions. Do some homework. We can no longer afford them. They have crushed your grandchildren’s futures.
1. I’ve never seen so many comments deleted on Edhat. 2. I’m glad that Probation is being a exposed. They are so poorly run it’s incredible. No wonder they have open positions that never close. Hmmm… welp, just gotta wait and see what happens! Hope he rots in jail.
I’m just glad this clown got caught and is stewing at the jail right now. He deserves to suffer. Have fun bro! Way to blow your golden ticket (that you never deserved anyway).
Business of Justice, I rest my case…
As I had stated before, PPOA president Ed Torres was exposed as an “alleged” embezzler in 2014. The PPOA union board knew about it, management knew about it, the entire department knew about it because I publicly exposed Torres’ “alleged” thievery during a PPOA meeting in the downtown Santa Barbara upstairs training room in 2014. Campaign flyers were delivered to all probation department buildings in 2014 requesting an audit of the PPOA.
Now, Ed Torres, former PPOA board members, and probation management are liable for the coming review of every single criminal sentencing case with the signature or involvement of supervising deputy probation officer Ed Torres. The taxpayers will be victimized by the coming release of offenders, some violent, and the untold expense of taxpayer money spent relitigating cases tainted by Torres, not to mention the lawsuits that will follow. This is going to get very expensive. Please do not suggest that the current chief is somehow savior of this story. The department is broken because leadership is dishonest and unethical and definitely not respected by its officers. The department continues to employ a perjurer. Every case that bears the perjurer’s signature must also be relitigated. Not long ago a probation supervisor allowed a male peace officer to drive her car drunk, with her (probation officer) in the car, causing serious injuries to five people on Highway 154. Many more examples exist. You will never get the real story from the local media. Although I have reached out repeatedly over the years not once have I been contacted. The stories I see today are missing the most important facts. The probation department protects people who should be fired and fires people who should be retained.
Ed Torres, tell the district attorney what you know. We already know who protected you these past 5+ years.
The cover-up in this case it’s almost worse than the crime. Other officers need to come forward. Don’t hide in the shadows.
The former PPOA board members had a obligation to protect the community from Ed Torres. They are liable for this as they knew about the embezzlement way back in 2014.
SC & DR I am speaking directly to you!
The PPOA board members who served in 2014 should do the honorable thing and resign immediately. You are unworthy to wear a badge.
I’m going to let my connection over at LA Times know. This is insane and your deleted comments make complete sense! If I were in charge of that department I’d be scared or I’d just resign. Angry tax payers will emerge.
I was at Santa Cruz Market about 10 years ago when they cashed 3rd party checks, And guess who I got in line behind, a Probation officer on duty with official jacket on. He handed the cashier about 5 personal checks to cash, and the cashier handed back over $500. I was like WTF? Bribe money? They all are sleazy easy money people. Good to start the hunt now. PS Lets end the Prison Industrial Complex.
Why are comments deleted?
Most likely angry taxpayers..
There are no more investigative journalists. Every County Department goes unchecked and un audited which leads to corruption and poorly run taxpayer supported organizations. SB County needs a complete DO OVER.
Thank you for sharing your story Law Abiding Citizen. True courage, which costs your job and your “friends” is extremely rare to find, while circling the wagons is the usual m.o..
Why any city, county or school district employee continues to let a union garnish their paycheck up to $1000 or more a year, every year is beyond me. No longer legal to require forced union membership as a condition of public employment in this state. Know your rights and opt out now.
I am a former employee and union member as well and can corroborate @law abiding citizen’s story. Administration did a good job of gaslighting its employees, which allowed this embezzlement to go on for way too long. After reading several articles involving probation employees, it wouldn’t surprise me if Ed asked Tanja to fire the @law abiding citizen (who advised us union members at the time that Ed was not providing proper financial statements) and in exchange, Ed would get the union to turn against Rabago so that Tanja (who the union had always disapproved of and also why Rabago became our chief in the first place) could become chief. Or we could all just be wrong and this is all a total coincidence?
Now he can join Melchiori in jail.
Most local media endorses the same people the public employee unions endorse. There you have it. Of course there will be no independent investigative journalism in this town coming from the progressive media.
Whew. Thanks for the story. Wish you’d been less naive back when, and had a good whistle-blower’s attorney. I know how useless my SEIU branch was. I fought for a while, quite County after 5 years. Good luck, good health, good life to you.
This article is quite misleading! Only after reading comments was it clear that he didn’t embezzle from the Probation Department. Apparently, Noozhawk got it right and reported that funds were taken from the union.
What is sad is that the current union board is no better than Ed Torres. Several union members have reported instances of bullying and/or mistreatment to the current union president and board, yet nothing gets accomplished. And they still have the same attorneys who were negligent to Ed’s embezzling for years. What is the union even good for at this point? We voted “no confidence” for Rabago based on minimal information presented to us by Ed. Under Tanja’s “leadership,” several union members have been bullied and have reported misconduct by administration, but somehow the current union board still does not feel the need to do a vote of no confidence for Tanja. What more do you need? Then again, to my knowledge, all union board members currently have favorable assignments and receive special treatment. I remember telling the current union board about many of these issues, but they neglect them. What a cesspool!
For those line staff officers who do not agree with the current leadership and who have been victimized by this administration and feel you do not have support, several of us former employees will stand with you. We just ask that you speak up!
If Ed and Tanja conspired to get rid of Rabago and @law abiding citizen, that would have to mean that other high ranking officials were complicit. It would be good use of tax payer money to investigate this matter because these high ranking officials are currently making important decisions that “best serve our county.”
And just by using logic, why would the current probation union reach out to Tanja (to talk to Dudley) regarding this possible embezzelment? Union issues are not supposed to be county-related, so the union should’ve gone straight to Dudley. When I was a union member, the union mostly used county resources (taxpayer money) to conduct business. Tanja likes to be in control which is why I wouldn’t be surprised if the current union is still conducting business using county resources (taxpayer money). It’d be interesting to do a study of how much of taxpayer money the current union board uses to conduct business.
Plenty of us were following along live and took screenshots while we shared each post with one another. Here is a link to one of the deleted threads:
https://imgur.com/gallery/CHxN7ve
I also recall that while former chief Rabago was under investigation, several staff reported that Ed Torres was rarely ever at work. Ed was instrumental in Rabago’s termination. Once Rabago was removed, Ed Torres received the supervising probation officer of the year award. He also won a couple of more awards after that. Just a reminder, the Probation Department was aware of the embezzling this whole time. This is just one of several examples of the type of behavior that gets rewarded at the Probation Department. Compare that to type of punishment @law abiding citizen received for trying to do the right thing.
I wonder if this could be whispered to the governor’s office so that a separate entitiy could investigate Santa Barbara County high ranking officials as a whole. The grand jury was given advanced notice of this issue (I can confirm 100%) yet somehow the news provided this story which is inaccurate!
Wish I’d copied your multi-post story for the archives. Someone must’ve. Someone who’s able to disperse it.
Absolutely! I hands down agree with you. There’s more skeletons in their closets than a cemetery has buried in the ground!!
For those several officers who have reached out to me because you don’t know who else to trust, your story will be heard. The truth will be heard. I empathize with your stories.
No one should experience being bullied for doing the right thing. But unfortunately, Probation leadership will continue to do this without proper intervention. They will continue to either eliminate the threat or discredit those individuals knowing the truth. That’s right…. they will continue to gaslight staff. And the probation union is not going to do anything about it because their attorneys are debt collectors at this point. Do you think the attorneys care about representing staff associated with Ed Torres? or just collecting the debt that Ed owes? Think logically, please. I know this from first-hand experience and by being privy to several conversations. I heard the current union liasion even went to Las Vegas with Ed Torres. What is the point of a union again? The scope of this investigation is bigger than just Ed Torres… it’s a web of lies after lies after lies. Unfortunately, several supervisors, managers, deputy chiefs and chief(s) were complicit to this bullying and misconduct. And yes, those individuals are going to be the future of this department whether you taxpayers like it or not.
It’d be interesting to see which staff gets terminated or bullied pending Ed’s court appearances, all just so Probation leadership could continue to hide the truth… eliminate the threat. While the truth would set those staff with integrity free, the same truth would exploit probation leadership.
Nonprofit: does all the rehabilitating.
Probation: tells court how an individual is doing at a nonprofit.
Why can’t the nonprofit agency report to the court on how a client is doing? Is the middleman necessary, especially now that you know what your taxpayer money is going to.
To compound matters further, several of probation’s recommendations are money driven; not doing what’s right. This jeopardizes the community’s safety. Every. Single. Day. Additionally, staff get moved around to different assignments to support federal money. All. The. Time. I remember the probation days when we received sufficient training by seasoned officers and we were able to develop rapport with clients to effectuate change. But the turnover rate is to too high to sufficiently train staff. We are no longer effectuating change like we used to. SB probation has become money grabbers.
Given Heitman’s track record, the grand jury should conduct an audit of probation funds to see where the monies are allocated. If line staff DPO’s top out at $92k a year, imagine the perks the current administration receives. Even with the high pay, the turnover rate is ridiculously so high. As if that’s not a red flag…
We are gaining a lot of community support, so please continue to speak up! More to come…
I have them still. I will retype them all and get them out there for the tax payers to see how corrupt this Santa Barbara County Probation, supervisors, administration, chief and deputy chiefs are
Since no one is now required to join the union, why keep signing the card that lets them garnish your paycheck? Best way to stop union abuses is to stop funding the union itself. They have to release you from any current union dues paying scheme immediately. Tell them to stop taking your money, starting today. Know your rights. Stop funding theirs corruption. If they don’t immediately release your union dues paying obligation, contact the Freedom Foundation for more help.
Thank you for the link to the deleted thread. My husband, retired DPO, remembers it the same way and was present at the PPOA meeting when Law Abiding Citizen spoke up requesting financial accounting of union dues.
Law Abiding Citizen has been used as a warning to others who consider questioning or speaking up when witnessing wrongful actions. Law Abiding Citizen has gone through hell, and we are thankful he/she has shared the background of Torres’ embezzlement.
While I appreciate Edhat allowing us to comment and voice our concerns, we have posted on other media platforms. We appreciate the community’s support in trying to end this government corruption. We will not let this issue lose momentum. Otherwise, Tanja will retire in December with an enormous pension. Santa Barbara County Probation Officers, think about what the department has become, and compare that to what it use to be. There is one common denominator for this disaster happening the last several years… Heitman. Not Ed Torres. Probation leadership insinuated @lawabidingcitizen was similar to Charles Manson? Hmmm…. Charles Manson was a master manipulator who manipulated and gaslighted people into doing so many deplorable, unethical, and immoral things. Does this sound familiar?
https://www.reddit.com/r/SantaBarbara/comments/i1hw7f/retired_probation_officer_arrested_accused_of/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
If Santa Barbara County or the grand jury show no progress in addressing the corruption, we will post this on a more popular sub. We have/are in the process of contacting the LA Times, Cal Coast times, and Ventura County Star. We understand this may be a small story, but if the governor gets a hold of this, there is a good possibility the state could re-evaluate funding/defunding probation departments.
Using the community’s support, several of us former employees plan to volunteer our time to investigate the continued mistreatment of employees at the Probation Department in order to expose the government corruption…. for the benefit of the community and taxpayers. Unlike current probation employees, we do not fear retaliation.
At this juncture, it is evident the probation union serves no purpose, and manager positions were not even necessary at the Probation Department when I was working there because no one even knew what they did for 40 hours a week, yet they get $140k a year plus fringe benefits. Managers were rarely ever around.
I honestly can’t imagine being a victim in this county, as I’d be under the impression that the probation department is effectively supervising the probationers who victimized you. Yes, there are currently thousands of victims out there in our community thinking this.
To the individuals serving on the grand jury, county CEO, and board of supervisors who are paying attention to this, should you choose to to circumvent the investigation of the Probation Department, at the very least, please do what LA County is doing… Have a separate entity oversee the probation department because clearly, the leadership is lacking… and this is an understatement. There is currently one deputy chief who I thought would be trustworthy, but she ended up gaslighting employees as well. No one in the current administration can be trusted to promote the values for which the probation department is supposed to stand for.
Probation employees reading this, please continue to reach out so your stories can be heard.
What backdoor deals is the current union Leadership making with the Chief ?? Seems awfully odd numerous articles say the Chief initiated contact with the District Attorneys office to kick off the investigation on Ed.
People need to know Torres was writing himself checks pretending to be an attorney. He was Posing as legal counsel for PPOA members who were falsely being accused of things and being subjected to internal affairs investigations.
How much was the Chief getting out of the union dues?