SLO couple targeted in gun search get jail time for child endangerment, drug charges
A San Luis Obispo couple searched amid the scramble to find the former city police chief’s missing gun in July 2019 has entered no contest pleas in their child endangerment case.
Cheyne Orndoff, 35, and Vanessa Bedroni, 32, who have two children, were arrested after police searched their home on O’Connor Way, mistakenly believing the former SLO police chief’s gun could be inside.
Police found evidence of squalid conditions with items strewn throughout, dirty and unsanitary rooms, and drug needles. The couple’s children were ages 7 and 9 at the time.
After months of pre-trial hearings, Orndoff and Bedroni entered pleas of no contest Tuesday to one misdemeanor count of child endangerment and one misdemeanor count of possession of a controlled substance.
The effect of a no contest plea is similar to a guilty plea and results in a conviction without an admission of guilt.
The District Attorney’s Office “discovered deplorable living conditions throughout the entire house during their search. Inside of the defendants’ bedroom, officers additionally located controlled substances and hundreds of syringes strewn throughout the house,” according to a news release.
“The main focus of our prosecution in this matter was to protect the health, safety and welfare of the two children,” said District Attorney Dan Dow in the release. “This resolution accomplishes that goal and allows a sufficient time of supervised probation and mandatory counseling to ensure further safeguards for the children.”
A sentencing date in the case has been set for April 13.
The couple will be placed on formal probation for four years with terms requiring them to serve 60 days in County Jail, complete a one-year parenting class, submit to search and seizure, and submit to chemical testing, among other standard terms and conditions of formal probation, the news release states.
What led to the search
The search took place shortly after former SLO Police Chief Deanna Cantrell inadvertently left her gun in the bathroom at the El Pollo Loco restaurant on Los Osos Valley Road on July 10, 2019.
On a tip from a Morro Bay police officer, authorities identified Orndoff as a potential suspect, based on what they said was his similar appearance to the person who actually took the gun, Skeeter Carlos Mangan, of Los Osos, who later turned the gun in.
Orndoff had a beard at the time, however, and Mangan didn’t.
Police searched Orndoff’s home without a warrant, believing he was on probation, they said, after his brother, Cole Orndoff, had falsely used Cheyne’s name in a previous arrest and authorities confused the brothers based on a clerical database error.
Police found dozens of empty syringes, and needles “loaded” with heroin and methamphetamine, the prosecution presented in evidence at a pre-trial hearing on whether to allow certain evidence to be admitted into the case.
Judge denies motion to suppress evidence
After a four-day hearing in October 2020, Judge Tim Covello ruled he’d allow evidence collected from the home search. Covello rejected the defense’s motion to suppress evidence collected during the search.
The couple was initially charged with felony accusations of child endangerment and two misdemeanors of possession of controlled substances.
Jason Dufurrena, Orndoff’s defense attorney, declined to comment on Tuesday.
Peter Depew, Bedroni’s defense attorney, didn’t respond Tuesday to a Tribune request for comment about the case resolution.
Depew previously filed a motion seeking to block the evidence gathered from the home, calling it a “bad faith” search.
Depew wrote in a 104-page brief that Cantrell and other department officials concealed communications and violated city policies relating to personal cell phone use during the probe of the O’Connor Way home.
City officials denied those accusations.
This story was originally published March 9, 2021 at 4:05 PM.
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