SLO police chief more involved in search for gun than previously stated, she testifies
Outgoing San Luis Obispo Police Chief Deanna Cantrell took the witness stand on her second-to-last day with the city, recounting how she lost her gun in a fast-food restaurant restroom and how the ensuing search turned to a couple who were ultimately arrested on child endangerment charges.
That couple, Cheyne Orndoff and Vanessa Bedroni, had nothing to do with the lost firearm and have been fighting two felony counts of child abuse arising from a misidentification that led nearly two dozen San Luis Obispo police officers, county sheriff’s deputies, and probation officers to their door.
Their two adolescent daughters remain in protective custody. Cantrell’s gun was ultimately turned in by a Los Osos man who took it from the restroom under what appears to be innocent circumstances.
Their attorneys, Jason Dufurrena and Peter Depew, are challenging evidence collected in the case due to what they argue was a bad-faith warrantless search of the couple’s home, which court testimony and video played in court show was trashed, appeared to have dozens of needles accessible to children, and was practically unlivable.
In doing so, the attorneys during a multi-day preliminary hearing have cross-examined the prosecution’s witnesses in the case, including Cantrell and the lead SLOPD officer in charge of searching the Orndoff residence, attempting to show that a series of errors in the case was actually an effort to skirt the rules in finding the lost Glock quietly — and at all costs.
Days after the search, Cantrell told The Tribune on July 10 that she wasn’t involved in the case after a person of interest was identified because she said she was technically the victim of a crime, a statement she echoed on the stand Thursday.
“I told (the second-in-command) to leave me out of it,” Cantrell testified. “I wasn’t involved in that case whatsover.”
But she also admitted under questioning that she was involved in several unrecorded cell phone calls with other officers before and after they closed in on the couple’s home on O’Connor Way just outside San Luis Obispo.
Asked about records of the phone calls, Cantrell disputed being the initiator of one call and said that she rarely uses her city issued cell phone, which she says has important communications forwarded to her personal cell phone.
At the conclusion of the hearing, which is expected to wrap Friday, Superior Court Judge Tim Covello will rule whether or not to grant a defense motion to suppress the evidence collected in the house search, as well as whether Deputy District Attorney Benjamin Blumenthal established probable cause to move the case toward trial.
Cantrell’s last day in San Luis Obispo is Friday. She accepted another chief position in the city of Fairfield last month.
Attorneys argue officers ‘knew’ of illegal search
Orndoff and Bedroni’s home was searched without a warrant due to officers believing Orndoff was on probation when in fact it was his brother, Cole Orndoff, who was on probation for a drug conviction, but had given sheriff’s officials Cheyne’s name during his arrest.
The District Attorney’s Office argues the search was legal because a technical error in the law enforcement records database listed Cheyne Orndoff as on probation at the time. Last week, the lead detective on the Orndoff/Bedroni part of the missing gun search, Jason Dickel, was heard on audio played in court being told by a dispatcher that Cheyne Orndoff is subject to search “anytime, day or night.”
The defense argues that a “tag” on the database next to Orndoff’s name should have alerted the police and probation officers to look closer into whether Cheyne Orndoff was actually on probation.
“It is plausible that they knew these probation terms were not valid,” Depew told Covello in court.
Furthermore, the defense attorneys argue, a screenshot released to the public on Facebook of the man who took the gun bore little resemblance to Orndoff — that man, Skeeter Magnan, was clean shaven while Orndoff was sporting a weeks-long beard.
Cantrell was in touch with officers during search
That screenshot was taken from a cell phone video Cantrell shot of the El Pollo Loco surveillance footage, she testified Thursday, saying that she believed Magnan and Orndoff looked similar in the initial still photos produced from her video. It wasn’t until officers received additional photos that they realized they had the wrong man, according to testimony.
Cantrell, who answered attorneys’ questions firmly, admitted to leaving the 6-round GE4 Glock .380 caliber handgun in the restroom, and said about 7 to 10 minutes passed before she realized and ran back inside.
She said video showed three people had walked into the bathroom since, two of whom were still inside and did not have the weapon. She also reviewed footage at nearby Dick’s Sporting Goods, she said.
She said she provided footage to Officer Joshua Walsh and to the community outreach manager to post an alert on Facebook. Asked by Dufurrena whether she thought the picture she took of Magnan was clear, Cantrell said yes.
She testified that she also notified a dispatch manager of the incident and directed her to create a case number.
Dufurrena asked whether she provided any direction to her officers as to who should investigate, and Cantrell said no, but rather gave discretion to her second-in-command, Capt. Jeff Smith.
She recalled making roughly six phone calls — it’s not clear from testimony whether those were on her city or personal cell phone — to other officers during the time before Orndoff and Bedroni were arrested.
Asked why she didn’t examine the photos and tell officers that the suspect did not have facial hair, Cantrell said, “I actually thought he did (have facial hair),” and proceeded to explain on the stand how different shots of Magnan could be construed as facial hair.
She said she remembered speaking on the phone with Walsh, who was present during the search of the Orndoff residence, but that she didn’t initiate the call.
Asked if it is her job to set standards of conduct in her department, Cantrell said, “I help to create the culture, so in a sense, yes.”
Asked why she was in contact with Walsh if she was not involved, Cantrell testified that he was the officer she initially turned the incident over to, and he had called her at different times to either inform or seek guidance. She said she referred his inquiries to Smith.
After the search, Cantrell said Smith called her to notify her Orndoff was not the man seen in the surveillance footage.
“It then became a different kind of investigation,” Cantrell said, shortly before being excused as a witness.
Testimony is expected to resume Friday morning.
This story was originally published October 1, 2020 at 6:39 PM.
