Sheriff Darren Thompson on Wednesday released a statement acknowledging a deputy had been arrested on allegations of driving under the influence while on a training trip in Newark.
Newark police arrested Deputy Johnny Pena on Feb. 17 shortly after 1 a.m. when he crashed a patrol car near the Newpark Mall.
Thompson’s statement said the following:
“One of our Deputies is currently under investigation for DUI in Alameda County. Two parallel investigations are progressing simultaneously; a criminal investigation and a personnel investigation.
The privacy rules surrounding personnel matters are significantly more restrictive than those surrounding criminal matters. At this time it would not be prudent to comment on the details of the incident.
We are very disturbed by this event, and we are determined to hold staff members accountable for their actions. After the completion of a thorough personnel investigation, the appropriate personnel action will be taken. The deputy involved has been placed on Administrative Leave, and will not return to work while the matter is pending.”
Pena, age 33 and a Hollister resident, crashed the vehicle in a solo-car crash at 1:18 a.m. Feb. 17 in Newark on Mowry Avenue at the Newpark Mall, said Commander Bob Douglas with the Newark Police Department.
Douglas on Monday declined to confirm whether Pena was a law enforcement officer or if he had been driving a patrol car at the time, explaining that the police department would not routinely share other suspects’ occupational information. He also declined to comment when asked if anyone else was in the car at the time and said he did not know what object the vehicle might have struck.
Pena, one of the local department’s K-9 deputies, was driving a patrol car on that Friday morning when the wreck occurred, according to the person knowledgeable of the arrest, who confirmed that Newark police cited Pena at the police station and released him to another party. It remains unclear, meanwhile, whether it was a San Benito County sheriff’s car damaged in the accident.
The Newark police commander said the department forwarded the case to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. As of Tuesday morning, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office did not have any records under John Pena or other spelling variations for his first name, said a spokeswoman for the agency, Teresa Drenick. She said with DUI citations, the office may not have received it yet and that sometimes it could “take weeks” to enter the system. The Alameda County corrections facility, the Santa Rita Jail, did not have any records on Pena, said Sgt. J.D. Nelson, spokesman for the Alameda sheriff’s office. Because Pena was cited out at the Newark police station, Pena would not show up in the county jail database.
Thompson on Monday initially declined to comment on Pena’s arrest or the leave.
Pena could not be reached immediately for comment. He has been with the sheriff’s office since November 2004, according to the county’s human resources department.
