| For Immediate Release June 23, 2011 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
OC WEEKLY FALSELY ACCUSES OCDA OF
“WRIST SLAP” PLEA BARGAIN OF
RETIRED POLICE CHIEF WHO EXPOSED
PENIS AND LEFT NUDE PICTURES IN PARK
*This case was prosecuted by another agency and the OC Weekly failed to verify the facts or call for clarification
SANTA ANA – On June 22, 2011, at 3:27 p.m., the OC Weekly published an online story by reporter Matt Coker entitled “[UPDATED with Limp Wrist Slap:] Paul Lawrence Wadley, Retired Police Chief, Left Nude Photos and Exposed His Junk on Park Trails.” This story falsely states that the Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA) negotiated a plea agreement with a retired police chief, Paul Lawrence Wadley, who was prosecuted by the Anaheim City Attorney’s Office.
The lead of the story reads, “For all of District Attorney Tony Rackauckas’ blather about having to protect children from perverts in Orange County parks, he and his local law enforcement pals know how to keep their resulting laws from extending to their own.”
Wadley was prosecuted by the Anaheim City Attorney’s Office and pleaded guilty yesterday, June 22, 2011, to misdemeanors for prowling and vehicle tampering, for which he was sentenced to three years of formal probation, 150 hours of community service, and fines. The OCDA was in no way involved in the prosecution of this case.
The OC Weekly erroneously claims that the OCDA gave the defendant a “wrist slap” because he was a Caucasian former member of law enforcement and that the defendant would have received a greater sentence if he had been “young, black and/or undocumented.”
The reporter for this story never contacted the OCDA for a comment or clarification and never provided the opportunity to respond.
“It’s outrageous for the OC Weekly to print this story without ever giving us the chance to comment or clarify. If they had called our Office, they would have known in seconds that this was an Anaheim City Attorney case, not a District Attorney case,” stated OCDA Chief of Staff Susan Kang Schroeder. “Law enforcement should be held accountable for their mistakes, and so should reporters who wrongly report the facts to the public.”
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