LAKEPORT – A Lake County Sheriff's deputy is the subject of an ongoing investigation involving the alleged theft of documents and massive amounts of protected data, surveillance of fellow deputies and allegations that he posted an investigative report on the Internet because of political motivations.
Dariush Michael Morshed, 48, is at the center of the investigation – led by the California Department of Justice – into the alleged theft of protected materials, including reports and electronic data files, according to documents obtained by Lake County News.
The 19-year sheriff's office veteran is still employed by the department, but Morshed could be facing numerous criminal charges – both local and federal – including possible charges relating to civil rights violations pertaining to former correctional officer Russell “Rusty” Wright, according to Sheriff Rod Mitchell.
Sheriff's office regulations Morshed is believed to have violated in connection to the investigation are misappropriation of property, removing reports and records, and compromising a criminal investigation.
In February, a report that was part of an investigation regarding Wright was leaked onto the Internet, which led to the current inquiry.
Morshed and his girlfriend, Myra Martinelli, also are alleged to have used a special police radio to conduct surveillance on fellow deputies in order to get personal information about them.
Morshed did not respond to a request from Lake County News seeking comment.
Mitchell told Lake County News that his department requested that the California Department of Justice take over the investigation. The sheriff's office in turn gave to the Department of Justice computers and thumb drives for evidence review, which showed massive amounts of information that may have been taken from the sheriff's office.
“We have also asked that the California Attorney General's Office review the case for a charging decision after the investigation is concluded,” said Mitchell.
He added that it is still to early to know who will be charged and for what specific offenses.
Because it's alleged that Morshed may have posted Wright's investigation report online out of political motivations – investigative documents suggest that he was attempting to assist the campaign of Mitchell's challenger in the sheriff's race this year, Francisco Rivero – it could raise a federal civil rights violation, according to Mitchell.
“We have engaged the FBI in this matter thus far,” he said, who have committed to reviewing the investigation's findings.
“They're not actively conducting an investigation,” he said. “However, if the results of the localized or state investigation on our behalf yield any evidence that supports a civil rights claim, they have indicated a willingness to begin an investigation.”
Rivero told Lake County News that any suggestion that he was connected somehow to Morshed was “politically motivated and outrageous.”
“I have nothing to do with any of this,” he said, adding that Morshed has never endorsed his run for sheriff and “hasn't contributed a nickel” to his campaign.
Morshed currently is a deputy with the department but is on administrative leave while the investigation takes place, according to Lake County News' investigation.
Documents connected to the case noted that he was demoted from sergeant back to deputy within the last three years for misconduct, but the specifics of that issue were not stated.
Morshed's townhouse on 15th Street in Lakeport was the subject of a search by sheriff's investigators on Feb. 10, at which time computers, CDs, a thumb drive and mobile audio video (MAV) recordings from equipment in sheriff's vehicles were taken into the possession of investigators, according to the search warrant.
There is no precedent for such a case in the department's history, Mitchell said.
“This is the first time that we have experienced that kind of breach of our data systems and the first time that we have had to call on the Department of Justice for assistance with this kind of case. I cannot overemphasize my gratitude for their assistance,” he said.
Mitchell said the California Department of Justice requested that the sheriff's office conduct the review of the MAV recordings found in Morshed's possession.
“That he had these in his possession in his home is deeply troubling to us and that matter is still under review,” Mitchell said.
Report found online leads to beginning of investigation
Investigative documents explained that at 9:30 p.m. Feb. 2 sheriff's Sgt. Brian Martin found a copy of a crime report narrative that he had authored posted on a local blog that appeared last year.
That site was taken down on Sunday. No reasons have been stated publicly for the site's disappearance.
The report in question related to the investigation regarding Wright, who was arrested in February on grand theft and embezzlement charges for allegedly taking a Taser and other equipment from the sheriff's office armory, as Lake County News has reported. Wright also has been under investigation for separate weapons charges.
Martin discovered that the report appeared to have been lifted out of the sheriff's RIMS report management system and placed on the Web site in a series of postings between 8 p.m. and 8:04 p.m. Feb. 2.
“The narrative report for all to see, I give it you to view. This is only one of three,” was written prior to the posting of the narrative.
During the ensuing investigation, Martin – with the help of Cheryl Johns of the county's information technology department – was able to track access to the report back to a computer used by Morshed on Jan. 28.
That computer also showed the presence of a removable storage device – alleged to have been the Sandisk thumb drive later confiscated at Morshed's home – that investigators believe Morshed used to take the Wright report and other documents from the sheriff's system.
Sheriff's Det. John Drewrey also told Martin of having a conversation with Morshed about two years prior regarding how a thumb drive could be used to surf the Internet without leaving an Internet history on the computer.
The investigative documents noted that Drewrey hadn't seen Morshed with such a device, but Martin had; he'd also witnessed Morshed working on computers with the thumb drive inserted into them.
Johns was able to tell Martin that the computer Morshed was logged onto when he was viewing the Wright report narrative showed the use of “U3” type USB device capable of running a computer without leaving an electronic trail. That same kind of thumb drive later was allegedly found in Morshed's possession.
Warrant leads to discoveries of recordings, other materials
Shortly after 4 p.m. Feb. 10, Judge Arthur Mann signed a search warrant for Morshed's Lakeport home, his person and his car. The warrant was served later that day.
Mitchell said that when the search team arrived at Morshed's home, they made what he called an “alarming discovery”: Martinelli was in possession of an official Lake County Sheriff's Office portable radio, which was turned on and positioned next to a laptop computer that she was seated in front of at a kitchen table.
The radio, Mitchell said, is not a mere scanner, but an actual police two-way radio containing a specialized computer chip that allows the “scrambled” frequencies to be clearly audible to anyone in possession of the radio.
It's believed that Martinelli was using the radio to try to document personal information about deputies, their wives and families, according to Lake County News' investigation.
Search warrant documents stated that the items taken from the residence were a Sandisk U3 Cruzer thumb drive; books of CD-R compact disks; memory cards; an external hard drive and home computer tower; a notebook computer; power bills for Morshed's residence between Dec. 25, 2009, and Jan. 26, 2010; MAV recordings; and the sheriff's portable two-way radio.
Martin's search warrant affidavit requested that the warrant and all associated documents be sealed due to concerns that its public disclosure would tip off potential suspects. On Feb. 11, Judge Mann declined to sign an order sealing the document.
In a strange note to the story, about a month prior to the search warrant being served at Morshed's home, a prank had raised concerns about surreptitious records in the sheriff's main office.
The discovery of a fake microphone set up in the sergeant's office at the main administration building on Martin Street – which Mitchell said was a joke – prompted Capt. Cecil Brown to send out a confidential department-wide e-mail on Jan. 7 about concerns that sheriff's staff were being secretly recorded.
Mitchell said that the person responsible for setting the microphone up – which he said didn't work – immediately came forward and took responsibility for the prank, which was unrelated to the concerns about recordings brought to light with the Morshed investigation.
Later on Jan. 7, Mitchell sent out an e-mail saying the matter had been settled, according to a copy of the department e-mails obtained by Lake County News.
Political motivations alleged
Martin's investigation offers reasons for Morshed's alleged actions, including his displeasure over being demoted, which Martin said Morshed has stated both to him and others.
Morshed – who is of Middle Eastern descent – also has filed a complaint alleging discrimination with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and e-mailed a complaint to the California Attorney General's Office alleging corruption.
Mitchell said that his office received a copy of Morshed's e-mail to the Attorney General's Office last August in connection to another personnel investigation under way at that time.
Martin suggested in his search warrant affidavit that Morshed viewed Rivero – who was not specifically named but instead referred to as the “opposing candidate” in the sheriff's race – as a “potential sympathizer.” Like Morshed, Rivero has a pending EEOC complaint against the sheriff's office.
The documents suggested that Morshed's motivation in posting the document – or giving it to someone else to post – was to damage Mitchell's political campaign.
Because of the statement, “This is only one of three” that was posted along with the Wright investigation, Martin's investigation concluded that Morshed was planning to post other reports as well.
“I believe that he intends to publish them in the future in an effort to thwart the political campaign of the incumbent sheriff, in hopes that the opposing candidate will win,” Martin wrote.
Rivero told Lake County News that he found mention of his EEOC complaint in the documents “troubling at best.” He suggested a link with his case was an attempt to sully his reputation and was retaliation for his EEOC complaint, which he can't discuss because it's still working its way through the process.
“Firmly and unequivocally, I had nothing to do with it,” referring to Morshed's alleged activities.
Rivero, who has been on medical leave for two months following surgery and is due to return to work this Thursday, said he saw Morshed about a week ago but Morshed, who he said is on administrative leave, is under orders not to talk to anyone about his situation.
“He is a friend of mine, and I respect him and I think he's a good guy,” said Rivero. “My guess is, he's being railroaded.”
Rivero added that the current situation is another example in what he called “three years of nonstop scandal” under Mitchell's leadership.
Morshed alleges wrongdoing to attorney general's office
Both Morshed and Martinelli testified at last summer's trial of Bismarck Dinius, who was acquitted on charges including felony boating under the influence causing great bodily injury. Dinius was steering a sailboat hit from behind by an off-duty sheriff's chief deputy, Russell Perdock, who was not charged in the case.
One of the search warrant exhibits is Morshed's complaint to the California Attorney General, made on May 21, 2009.
In that complaint, he said that on April 25, 2009, he received information about witnesses who had seen Perdock drinking at Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa.
“Based on over 18 years in law enforcement, I knew that the information I was given, if true, implicated Captain Perdock, Sheriff Mitchell, DA Hopkins and others in a public corruption and an official cover up,” Morshed wrote.
He said he told Rivero – who he said was a sergeant and the watch commander on April 25, 2009 – about the information and, two days later, he was interviewed by District Attorney's Office investigators.
Morshed told them he did not smell alcohol on Perdock and believed a blood test would be better than the preliminary alcohol screening (PAS) – or breathalyzer – which he said hadn't been calibrated in more than a year. He also supplied names of witnesses who had claimed to see Perdock drinking prior to the crash.
In addition, Morshed stated that he had ordered Beland not to give Perdock a PAS test.
Court documents containing his statements to investigators were released to the media. Morshed stated that he was concerned about retaliation because he said Sgt. James Beland was fired “after giving testimony detrimental to Captain Perdock” at Dinius' preliminary hearing in May of 2008.
Beland was fired in December of 2008. Copies of his termination and internal affairs documents obtained by Lake County News showed that he was fired for insubordination, dishonesty or personal use of county property, willful disobedience, failure of good behavior and loss of license, certification or other qualifications needed for his job.
Morshed also alleged in his complaint that Rivero was demoted from sergeant, but Mitchell said Rivero has never been promoted from deputy and he called Morshed's allegation of a demotion in retaliation “a blatantly false statement.”
Stating, “I assume I will face retaliation shortly,” Morshed asked the attorney general to reopen the boat crash investigation, which the agency did not do.
During the trial, which began late last July and ended nearly a month later, Morshed – who was sergeant in charge of detectives at the time of the crash in April of 2006 – testified about handling the scene, and stated that the department's PAS tests hadn't been calibrated. He did not testify to ordering Beland not to give the test.
Mitchell would later state in a public debriefing on the case that Morshed's allegations about the PAS tests not being calibrated were inaccurate.
Also at the trial, Martinelli, a former Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa security guard, was on the stand for only about a minute.
She had been off duty that night and arrived at the resort to hang out, and overheard two of her superiors in the security department mention Perdock, but District Attorney Jon Hopkins objected to her statement in court and it was stricken.
Mitchell said it's too early to determine if any of the computers or thumb drives investigators took possession of during the search warrant service are related to the Dinius case.
He said the initial data scan on those drives is being done by the Department of Justice.
Meanwhile, Wright's case is pending. He is represented by the firm of Carter and Carter.
Attorneys Stephen and Angela Carter told Lake County News that they will take into account “any and all irregularities” involving the investigation into their client's case.
“Mr. Wright has the same due process and privacy rights under the Constitution as any other citizen and we plan to defend and assert those rights on his behalf,” the Carters said.
They added, “Ultimately, it may come down to a judge and jury examining the charges against Mr. Wright and, as to the issue of the RIMS report, time will tell.”
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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