I was in need of some good news today, and I remembered that I received this press release a little while ago from Police Chief Diaz. It’s a perfect dose of good news:
Cpl. Esther Doyle
This is the full text of a memo from Marilyn Diaz, Sierra Madre Chief of Police, regarding a Meritorious Commendation for Sierra Madre’s own Cpl. Esther Doyle:
In January of 2005 a blind and disabled senior resident of Sierra Madre’s CLIMB facility reported that his caretaker had stolen money from him by forging the resident’s checks. The investigation led to the discovery of three more blind and disabled elderly victims, all CLIMB residents. The same caretaker had forged more than $25,000 from the checking accounts of the four disabled victims, each of whom had been at the suspect’s mercy. The investigation took over two and a half years; many officers did follow up work.When Deputy District Attorney Mario Haidar was preparing the case for trial earlier this summer, he asked Cpl. Esther Doyle to assist him by looking for missing evidence. According to DDA Haidar, Cpl. Doyle was highly responsive and tenacious in pursuing the case. She repeatedly spoke on the victims’ behalf by insisting that DDA Haidar try the case as a felony.
Cpl. Doyle not only found missing evidence that helped establish the elements of fraud, she painstakingly created a thick notebook of evidence in only one week, including copying each of the victims’ forged checks. DDA Haidar felt that many investigators would have forgotten about a case this old, or would not have taken so much time to compile evidence. When DDA Haider handed the notebook to the defense attorney, even he reacted with surprise at the thorough documentation of his client’s theft. As a result, the defendant pled guilty to all felony counts, will serve 90 days in the County Jail, be put on 5 years felony probation, and has been ordered to fully reimburse the victims a total of $25,471, or face prison time. All of the victims are on limited incomes, so the money will be of great assistance to them.
Both DDA Haidar and I are convinced that this outcome would not have occurred but for Cpl. Doyle’s commitment to go above and beyond the call of duty by being a passionate victims’ advocate, and spending countless hours gathering and preparing evidence. Cpl. Doyle’s performance surpassed what most investigators in other departments would have done. Cpl. Doyle, I commend and thank you for providing superior service to the Sierra Madre community.
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