A recent records request from Healdsburg Police Department shows that Ryan Howard was fired from the force for distributing marijuana that was in police evidence to a resident that did not have rights to it, and for providing false information to the department in a subsequent report.
Howard received the final notice of termination from City Manager David Mickaelian on Feb. 26, 2018. The notice was in line with Police Chief Kevin Burke’s recommendation.
The information is only recently available to the public due to a change in state law, Senate Bill 1421.
SB 1421 makes records relating to police officer misconduct in the state available to the public. The law went into effect at the beginning of the year.
This was the only incident provided by Healdsburg police under the new law. No other cases were cited in the response. The request asked for all applicable documents since January, 2013.
Healdsburg police is among departments that are currently complying with the new law, viewing it as applying retroactively. Other departments and offices have initially denied these requests, though a recent court ruling has stated that the law is retroactive.
The pot package
On March 3, 2016, Healdsburg police received a call for a suspicious package that arrived as return to sender at a local business.
Howard was the responding officer, initially meeting the recipient at the department’s lobby and then going to the scene a few minutes later.
Howard and the package’s recipient then identified the package as containing marijuana. There was at least eight pounds of marijuana in the package, wrapped in one-pound packages.
While Howard was on scene, the recipient’s son came, who said he had a marijuana card and could legally carry up to three pounds per year. The son had the card due to disability and was a veteran, he said, according to the report.
According to the investigation, Howard told the man that the marijuana was property of the recipient, and she could do with it as she pleased. He then gave the man three bags containing approximately one pound each of marijuana, weighed with a scale on-site.
However, in Howard’s initial report for destruction of property — for the seized five pounds of marijuana — he noted that often false return addresses are used by dealers to keep them from being identified, which showed Howard did not in fact see the marijuana as legal property of the recipient, according to Lt. Matt Jenkins’ report to Burke recommending the allegations be sustained.
“Regardless of physical custody of the marijuana, Officer Howard(’s) duty was to control and seize all of the contraband,” according to Jenkins’ report.
The man told investigator Sgt. Luis Rodriguez that Howard had never asked to see proof of his card when giving him the marijuana. Howard confirmed this in a later interview. During a compelled interview with Howard and his attorney, Judith Odbert, Rodriguez asked why Howard had taken this course of action.
According to the report, “He (Howard) told me it was a mistake. He was thinking that he had not taken possession of the marijuana at that time. (The man who took the three pounds) had the right to possess the marijuana per his 215 card. He made a mistake and is more than willing to take his lumps and learn through more training as he can see that he is not up to speed on his marijuana rules and regulations.”
Howard then said that in his initial report, he should have indicated there were eight packages of marijuana, not five as stated, though he claimed he did not intentionally put misleading information in the report, as he thought he should only report what he had taken, and not what was discovered.
Odbert then asked follow-up questions. Howard then denied making any personal gain as a result of allowing the man to take the packages, nor was there any intent of malice.
The internal affairs report notes that the false report “isn’t over a simple five versus eight. This is a report that doesn’t match what happened in the field in a significant way. Sadly, the more likely scenario is that Howard selected the number five so that it would match the amount he had seized and would not call to attention to the fact that he had encountered eight pounds, but chosen to only seize five pounds.”
Second package
The investigation began as a result of a second package containing seven more pounds of marijuana being shipped to the same location as return to sender the next day, March 4, 2016.
According to police records, the recipients, who had seen the first package as somewhat humorous, were now dismayed that a career criminal was using their address as a false return address.
When police responded to the second incident, they were informed of the retention of three pounds of marijuana which had been allowed by Howard.
Officers asked for clarification and if the three pounds could be brought back. The man did bring them back, two bags were unopened.
The third had been repackaged into several smaller, re-sealable plastic bags. The man admitted to smoking approximately 1 gram while the marijuana was in his possession.
During this time, it was apparent to officers that an investigation would take place, and other officers who had seen the marijuana or knew of the incident were told not to speak to anyone about it.
Initially, the investigation was conducted by Sgt. John Haviland, though during the process he was removed due to his ties to the initial incident and Rodriguez was put in charge.
After the investigation had been completed and presented to Burke, he wrote in a findings of personnel complaint that, “This investigation calls into question two traits that are vital for a police officer: judgment and honesty. No reasonable police manager would retain someone who has committed this type of misconduct. Unfortunately, I truly believe that to retain Officer Howard would amount to civil negligence, such that the city of Healdsburg could be exposed to significant liability if Howard were to be retained, and an innocent party injured as the result of future misconduct.”
