Lt. Andrew Porter, the lead investigator in the felony prosecution of suspended Auditor Chamise Cubbison, acknowledged Tuesday that Cubbison’s former boss played a larger role in the high-profile case than originally presented publicly.
Porter testified that now-retired Auditor Lloyd Weer regularly signed off on department payroll documents during a two-year period when Paula June Kennedy, the County’s former Payroll Manager and Cubbison’s co-defendant, was drawing disputed extra pay by using an obscure pay code designated for miscellaneous office spending.
Weer retired in September 2021 but was brought back into the office as a consultant with Board of Supervisors’ approval to help out in an office under stress because of a faulty computer system, understaffing, and talk of a forced consolidation with the Treasurer-Tax Collector’s Office.
Weer in earlier testimony has acknowledged Kennedy single-handedly processed a county payroll for 1,200 employees, and that the demands on her time and mental state were great. Weer also has admitted to having had numerous conversations with Kennedy, Cubbison and county administrators about what could be done to ease the on-the-job burdens that led to Kennedy’s decision to pay herself about $68,000 in extra pay over a three-year period during the Covid pandemic.
District Attorney David Eyster, a chronic critic of the Auditor’s Office because it questioned his own spending, seized upon the extra pay to accuse Cubbison and Kennedy of criminal misappropriation of public funds.
Cubbison maintains that she believed Weer and Kennedy, longtime office associates, had come to an arrangement for the extra pay. She cites notations on a Kennedy spreadsheet stating, “per Lloyd” or “per Lloyd/Chamise.”
Kennedy contends it was Cubbison who gave her the nod to use the 470 pay code but refused to put the authorization in writing. The 470 code is designated for miscellaneous expenses, allowed within the department and without board approval if kept under $1,000.
Porter admitted under questioning by defense attorneys Fred McCurry and Chris Andrian that Weer was never seen as a suspect in the criminal case despite his active role in the internal struggle to compensate Kennedy for the hours everyone agrees she was putting in handling a complex payroll during a difficult time.
Weer was never the focus of the criminal investigation handled by Porter, a 30-year law enforcement veteran, and pushed by DA Eyster.
Weer in fact, according to Porter’s testimony on Tuesday, was always seen as a potential witness, a “good guy” who was allowed to have his wife Judy present while he was being interviewed. Investigators typically do not allow that unless it is an individual’s attorney. Weer in fact at a follow up visit by Porter asked if he needed to retain an attorney.
Weer has acknowledged meeting with Kennedy about her pay demands, and that he later told the investigator, “Gee, I hope I didn’t say something that made her think I approved,” according to Porter.
“Did that give you pause? Did that not indicate perhaps a closer look at his role,” asked Andrian, Cubbison’s attorney.
Porter replied, “No.”
Porter also acknowledged meeting with DA Eyster more than a dozen times during his investigation, and that it was more than a year before the District Attorney’s Office formally filed the charges.
Kennedy lawyer Fred McCurry, a county Public Defender, pressed Porter to explain why he focused only on Kennedy as the initial suspect, and then later Cubbison although both were cooperative.
Porter said he learned of deep divisions between Cubbison and Kennedy, who ignored Weer’s role and put the blame entirely on Cubbison and called her a “lying bitch” during one interview.
Porter said he eventually began to see Cubbison as a possible suspect but never Weer.
Porter also said his investigation showed that Cubbison never personally benefitted from the extra money Kennedy paid herself. He also acknowledged that his investigation showed that no one believed Kennedy was getting paid for work not done.
The preliminary hearing will resume Wednesday before Judge Ann Moorman in Mendocino County Superior Court. At its conclusion, Moorman will decided whether to let the controversial case go to trial, or grant defense attorneys’ moves for dismissal.
“Gee I hope I didn’t say something that made her think I approved.” said Weer.
“Porter also said his investigation showed that Cubbison never personnaly benefited from the extra money that Kennedy paid herself.”
“Porter said he learned of deep divisions between Cubbison and Kennrdy.”
Kennedy called Cubbison “a lying bitch.”
Based on the excerpts from Sherrif’ Lieutenant Porter’s testimony above, Where is the proof of any criminal behavior by Cubbison?
This Weer fellow should have manned up when this stink began. But no, he let the women take the heat while he lawyered up. And this guy was called a “Good Guy” by the Brass.
If this deal isn’t kicked by the judge, nobody in this County is safe, if the power structure wants your ass, no matter if you did anything wrong or not they’ll get ya.
Be afraid, be very afraid…
Ask around,
Laz
Lt. Porter met with Eyster nearly twelve times.
This is odd, the way this should work is, Porter should have done his investigation then sent it to the DA’s office where the DA then decides if there is a case or what to charge.
If DA Dave needs further investigation, then he can ask one of his investigators, which he has about seven of them, to either meet with Porter or his investigators can continue investigating.
Everyday DA Dave receives cases without talking to officers and decides whether to charge someone.
What this tells us is simply this was a planned attack on Chamise Cubbison. From Eyster’s involvement with BOS and CEO office to Porter’s bias investigation. For this guy to never consider Weer’s involvement and remember he is in control of emails that mysteriously disappear. Matt Kendall should be embarrassed that he allows this guy to perform in a senior position in Sheriff’s office. Either Porter is Barney Fife or Eyster needed to him to go after Cubbison. Which means Porter is dirty, willing to steer an investigation against an innocent person in order to be a team player for Eyster.
Thank you Mike Geniella for your great reporting on this! My heart goes out to Ms. Cubbison, who has long been known to be a person of integrity.
FYI- when COVID-19 hit Mendocino County, it was an all-hands-on-deck situation because Public Health had been reduced from over 100 employees doing the good work to make our community healthier, to a skeleton crew of employees. There was no Director, and minimal staff.
With few trained Public Health professionals, the CEO (Carmel Angelo) assigned employees from departments like Social Services to assist with contact tracing and other tasks. It was pretty chaotic. In the first few months, the coding on our time cards changed several times, making for a lot of confusion. No one was called to task because of coding errors.
Every employee has a Supervisor who signs off on time sheets. In the Auditor’s department, it would have been Mr. Weer who was responsible for okaying the time sheets – not Chamise Cubbison. Additionally, the County was supposed to back up all electronic records once every 24 hours, so to assert that the emails in question are lost seems questionable. Even if someone deleted them, there should be a retrievable record that they existed. And if the required back up was not happening, the CEO/BOS should have been aware of this, since this is an extremely important part of running any government, and done something about it.
The BOS should never have removed an elected official without due process, i.e., a hearing. Having done so, they have besmirched Ms. Cubbison’s good name, ruined her career and caused much suffering. I hope this leads to the DOJ investigating Mr. Eyster for instigating this witch-hunt and mis-using the power of his office. And I hope Ms. Cubbison is compensated (at tax-payers expense) for the pain and suffering caused her. And the public must hold the BOS members accountable (and whoever gave them the legal advice) for removing Ms. Cubbison without due process.
And finally, government office is a sacred trust and should not be run like amateur hour. (Either at the local OR Federal level).
Thanks, Julie. You should be a judge! This case begs for dismissal with prejudice!