‘Hold Your Thoughts’ to Investigate Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama’s Off-Duty Relationship

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – The ongoing investigation into Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama’s alleged inappropriate off-duty relationship with a non-city employee has raised questions in the public eye.

City officials say Police Chief Paco Balderrama informed Mayor Jerry Dyer and City Manager Georgeanne White in February of an allegation that would likely be made against him related to an “inappropriate outside-of-work relationship he had with a non-city employee.” On Thursday, city officials released that information publicly.

Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz says the investigation is being conducted by the district attorney’s office with the assistance of an outside investigator. Janz says that’s pretty much all the information he’s willing to reveal, and he’s advised city leaders to say even less.

Fresno-based attorney David Mugridge says there are many factors to consider in the investigation; he spoke to YourCentralValley.com about the complexity of the investigation.

“The Peace Officers Bill of Rights protects every sworn officer, including the chief,” Mugridge said.

However, Mugridge says this is not the only document that may need to be examined in Chief Balderrama’s case.

“Our city charter has a clause that deals with morals,” Mugridge said. “And we don’t know whether or not that morals clause applies in this case because some of the underlying facts are not clear.”

Mugridge says Chief Balderrama is presumed innocent because very little is known about the nature of his “inappropriate relationship.” Mugridge says it could be serious enough to call into question Balderrama’s leadership, or it could be something people have already forgotten about.

“A tickle in the wind that will just die down,” Mudgridge said. “Unless something significant comes to light – they might discover new information.”

Mugridge says if it comes out that Chief Balderrama had a sexual relationship with another officer’s wife or partner, it could mean serious problems.

“It’s not like this officer is going to come to work and confront his boss,” Mugridge said. “When a cop’s wife is involved, you have a huge morale problem.”

However, Mugridge says the worst thing one can do at this point is to draw any conclusions based on the little publicly available evidence.

“It would be terrible if something happened that affected his job because of rumors and insinuations,” Mugridge said. “If people found out there was something there – and we just swept it under the rug because someone was in a position of authority – that would be just as bad.”

Despite the investigation, Chief Balderrama will remain in office and continue to serve as chief of the Fresno Police Department.