PHOENIX - Two disgraced former Phoenix police officers accused of tipping off employees and customers at a strip club on March 23 about their own department's undercover drug sting had disciplinary actions against them, internal documents show.
12 News obtained the personnel files of former officers and partners Sebastian Castillo and Richard Denny. Those documents reveal both men had issues with telling the truth in certain circumstances to their chain of command and both had been suspended before this latest incident.
Castillo and Denny resigned amid the internal affairs investigation into the drug sting at the Essex Gentlemen's Club and were later indicted by a Maricopa County Grand Jury for one felony count each of hindering the prosecution.
In July of 2010, Sebastian Castillo was suspended for one day for failing to obey two direct orders. Records show on Dec. 30, 2008, he was trying to stop a speeding SUV on West Osborn Road. Castillo turned on his lights and siren when the driver failed to stop. A sergeant monitoring his radio transmissions told him twice to discontinue the chase. Castillo ignored the commands. The driver of the SUV ultimately lost control and crashed into a concrete barrier. The two people inside the vehicle fled the scene but Castillo caught up with them and took them into custody.
According to the files, Castillo provided an "untruthful" verbal report telling the sergeant he stopped the pursuit and did not know why the vehicle was damaged. But that would contradict what he later told internal affairs investigators, that he continued to follow the SUV after being told to stop because he wanted to take the driver into custody.
Castillo admitted he was untruthful because he was "scared of getting into trouble for continuing to follow the SUV and its subsequent crash."
His untruthfulness was just the tip of the iceberg. Another suspension would cast serious doubt into his willingness to do his job.
Castillo was suspended yet again in 2011. This time for two days for failing to complete nine criminal incident reports and two traffic reports.
The year before, records show he received "coaching" for failing to complete several reports. During his interview with investigators from the department's Professional Standards Bureau (PSB), Castillo admitted to "having a problem with procrastination." He told them he had an "issue" when it comes to certain reports and tends to procrastinate when thinking about the importance of following up as well as suspect information and where it leads. The disciplinary paperwork said, "you put lesser incidents off, and then you forget about them."
His partner's disciplinary history seems to mirror his own, except there's much more in it, and more recent disciplinary issues have surfaced.
On Feb. 28, 2015, Officer Richard Denny was in pursuit of a vehicle he noticed had failed to stop at a red light in the 5100 block of West McDowell Road. Twice, a patrol sergeant and patrol lieutenant told him to let the vehicle go because the only thing running the license plate returned was for traffic citations. The driver sped up, but Denny continued his pursuit and the driver ended up driving into the lake in a park.
When the audio tapes were reviewed during the internal affairs investigation, the direct orders to stop the pursuit became clear. Data from Denny's patrol vehicle revealed he reached speeds of 90 miles per hour on McDowell Road and he was doing 63 mph in the residential areas on 63rd Avenue. The PSB investigators concluded that at no time did Denny declare over the radio he was in pursuit. The report makes no mention if the driver he was pursuing who drove into the lake was injured. Denny's actions were found to be out of policy.
On May 26, 2015, Denny received a written reprimand in his personnel file for improperly striking another person causing minor injury. The incident occurred on Feb. 19, 2015, but Denny failed to turn on his body camera which would have captured him doing this. Again, there is no mention of who this person is and it's not clear how or where he/she was struck. But it does say that he was in violation of an operations order that the camera must be activated during all investigative or enforcement contacts.
Denny also received a written reprimand on March 7, 2014, for failing to impound savings bonds confiscated during a traffic stop. Denny found a phone number for the woman the savings bonds were issued to and left a voice mail message. Instead of impounding the bonds, he held onto them hoping she would return his call and he could personally return them. However, Denny claims to have misplaced the bonds. But he never bothered to write a report or notify his supervisor about the incident. According to the paperwork associated with his written reprimand, the savings bonds were never located. It's also not clear about the value of the bonds.
In January of 2009, records show Denny was suspended for 8 hours over sick time he'd taken. At the time in question, Denny was preparing to take a job with another agency. The record says, "In anticipation of leaving the Phoenix Police Department employment and knowing that employees who separate from the City of Phoenix are not paid for the accumulated sick leave, you used 16, ten hour shifts of paid sick leave even though you were not sick."
Denny decided not to leave the department and records show he tried to get his sick leave incidents under control. He submitted leave slips revising his requests for sick leave. Once again, under internal affairs investigation, Denny admitted he used sick leave even though he was not ill or injured and was perfectly capable of working, with the exception of one day when he had the flu. He was found to have violated a personnel rule that states, "Department employees will not make false reports or knowingly enter or cause to be entered in any department book, record, or report any inaccurate or false information."
And perhaps what could have led to tragedy also happened in 2009. Denny received a written reprimand on Nov. 11, 2009, for failing to properly secure his Glock .40 caliber duty weapon at his home. His daughter accidentally discharged the weapon. The written reprimand makes no mention of the age of his daughter or whether she was injured but it does show that it was a violation of an operational order for the department that firearms secured in a residence must be out of the reach of children.
The incident at the Essex Gentlemen's Club, for now, is steeped in secrecy. The grand jury transcripts are sealed and it's early in the court process to get any semblance of what actually transpired that led to criminal charges against Castillo and Denny.
Phoenix Police Sergeant Trent Crump told 12 News the final decision about how to proceed with charging the officers was a decision made by Police Chief Joe Yahner. Crump said when Yahner was presented with evidence from his special investigations division team, he made a decision to have the case reviewed by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and, ultimately, a grand jury.
We tried to reach both former officers but to no avail.