The District Attorney’s Office reduced a felony charge leveled
against a 911 dispatcher accused of giving the owner a local tow
truck company criminal records to bolster a small claims court case
to a misdemeanor Wednesday.
Hollister – The District Attorney’s Office reduced a felony charge leveled against a 911 dispatcher accused of giving the owner a local tow truck company criminal records to bolster a small claims court case to a misdemeanor Wednesday.
Former San Benito County Communications dispatcher Jeffrey Horan faced up to three years in prison if convicted of using the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System criminal database illegally. Horan now faces no more than one year in county jail if convicted of two misdemeanor charges of misusing the CLETS system, according to his attorney, Harry Damkar.
Horan declined comment, but Damkar said his client claims he never provided confidential law enforcement information to local tow-truck operator Paul Greer, who was also charged with a felony and misdemeanor charge of illegally accessing a governmental database.
“He’s denied from the beginning being involved in any illegal conduct,” Damkar said.
The District Attorney’s Office did not give a reason for reducing the charge, and District Attorney John Sarsfield did not return phone calls Wednesday.
While Horan’s charges were reduced, Greer still faces a felony count and three years in prison. A judge ruled the charges against Greer would stand during a preliminary hearing about a month and a half ago, according to his attorney Arthur Cantu.
Greer’s trial date is scheduled to be set in early October, but Cantu believes the District Attorney’s Office should reduce the charges against his client at that time because the charges stem from the same incident, he said.
“I’m going to assume we’ll get the same treatment for the criminal charge,” Cantu said. “Common sense tells you you can’t treat one differently from the other.”
The charges stem from a San Benito County Sheriff’s investigation into the pair after a dispatch supervisor witnessed Horan and Greer participating in suspicious behavior. According to the investigation, Greer frequented the communications center and asked Horan to obtain information off the CLETS computer about a man who was involved in a civil case with Greer’s company, B & C Towing.
Horan, who Damkar said was fired from the communications center but owns a local process serving business, will be back in court at the end of September regarding the misdemeanor charges.
