Investigator accused of falsifying documents is no longer with DA's Office
A San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office senior investigator under investigation for allegedly falsifying court documents is no longer with the office.
District Attorney Dan Dow announced Thursday that August J. Santana was no longer an employee, effective Feb. 14.
Dow is not releasing any additional information as to whether Santana was terminated or resigned, citing “applicable employee privacy concerns.”
“The District Attorney’s Office is very careful to ensure that we meet our legal and ethical responsibilities as an employer, a law enforcement agency and as a prosecution agency,” Dow wrote in a news release.
According to the San Luis Obispo County department of human resources, Santana was hired by the District Attorney’s Office in November 2007.
He was placed on leave Oct. 17 while officials determined whether he committed perjury by supplying a judge with a false affidavit in order to search a drug suspect’s home and car in Santana’s most recent position as a member of the county Sheriff’s Office’s anti-narcotics unit. Santana had served in the unit since September 2013.
The investigation was spurred after Santana allegedly filed the document in San Luis Obispo Superior Court and petitioned a judge to seal the document, shielding the information from public access.
Charges against the subject of the investigation, Tommy Pappas, 44, of San Miguel, were later dismissed, but not before he served more than a month in jail, according to court records.
Dow, who headed the internal investigation with assistance from the Sheriff’s Office and county counsel, told The Tribune in November that the investigation would take several weeks.
Santana investigated a number of high-profile cases in recent years, including the successful prosecution of disgraced Grover Beach financier Al Moriarty in 2014.
He previously served 10 years as an officer with the Pismo Beach Police Department.
Santana could not be reached for comment Thursday.
This story was originally published February 19, 2015 at 5:48 PM with the headline "Investigator accused of falsifying documents is no longer with DA's Office."