This is a sad and dark chapter for MPD, but it is part of our history. It is told without malice and as accurately as possible.
When Chief Bowers announced his retirement, the City Manager, John C. Keefe, announced that a recruitment process would be made nationwide for a new chief. The City Manager, Mayor Lee Davies, Sheriff Dan Kelsay and Chief Bowers screened the applicants and came up with four finalists, one of whom was to be selected by the City Manager. The panel made a recommendation for the position, but the City Manager chose another, Covina Police Captain Robert L. Meester.
Sheriff Kelsay volunteered to have one of his investigators do a background check on Captain Meester but the City Manager said he would personally conduct the investigation himself although no one could understand how he was qualified to do this. He concluded that Captain Meester met his criteria and convinced the City Council to hire him. He was appointed on September 1, 1966.
Within a month of hiring, Chief Meester brought in an acquaintance from Southern California, Eldridge E. “Gene” Coates, to head up the narcotics unit of the PD. Chief Meester said Coates had the background and experience to run the day to day operation. He was supposed to have worked as an investigator at several agencies in Southern California, although no one conducted a background and he was just hired by the new Chief.
An investigator in the narcotics unit had concerns about Coates as he made a lot of arrests but did it on his own without other officers in attendance. These concerns were brought to the attention of then Lieutenant Frank Clark, Administrative Assistant to the Chief of Police who also over-saw the narcotics unit. Coates’ arrest reports were reviewed and it revealed he made arrests based on two bags of marijuana usually found under the front seat of the suspects’ car. It was always two bags and in further checking it was found that Coates had a habit of checking out two bags of marijuana from evidence and then returning it a few days later. This behavior and findings was reported to Chief Meester who said he would handle it.
A few days after reporting the Coates issues to Chief Meester, Coates arrested a female for prostitution. The report appeared to be a good case in that the female was met in a bar, she propositioned him for sex for $40 and they went to a motel. Before the act, another officer came into the room, searched her purse, and found marked money and she was arrested. The other officer was not identified in the report.
The female was still in custody and was interviewed at the jail. She said she met Coates in a bar, they drank and danced and she agreed to go to a motel with him. Once they were inside, another officer came in the unlocked door and immediately searched her purse and showed her two $20 bills which he said were marked. She said she didn’t have that much money on her and when she claimed the money did not belong to her the ‘other officer’ said he was the Chief of Police.
There had been a rash of reports from women in the community of being stopped at night by two men who identified themselves as police, but never showed badges or would give their names. Officer Fred Thomas (“Fat Freddie”) was taking a report from one of the women in the lobby of the police department when Chief Meester walked in and the lady immediately identified him as one of the men who had stopped her.
Chief Meester summoned Officer Thomas to his office and asked him where his loyalties lay. Officer Thomas told him he would investigate the case as he did any other case. Chief Meester immediately ordered him to graveyard shift and assigned the investigation to another officer.
Several officers at MPD had reservations about Coates and law enforcement acquaintances in Southern California were contacted to find out more about Coates. It was determined he had been fired from two previous agencies, convicted of filing false workers compensation claims and was unemployed when Chief Meester brought him to Modesto. This information was not brought to Chief Meesters’ attention as he would have known this information when Chief Meester hired him.
Chief Meester was noted to spend a lot of time going to conferences and meetings out of town. The Chief’s Secretary, as a matter of course, opened and read all of the Chief’s mail before forwarding it to him. She contacted Lt Clark with several letters written to Chief Meester from three different women who lived in Modesto and one who worked at City Hall.
Copies of Chief Meester’s expense accounts were examined and it was determined that he was meeting these women out of town and spending the night with them on occasions. He had charged these excursions to the city for reimbursement and used a city vehicle. It totaled up to several hundred dollars and a lot of time away from work.
Lt Clark and Detective Ray Coyle, and several other officers who were also aware of what Chief Meester and Coates appeared to be doing, put together a case and submitted it to District Attorney Alexander M. Wolfe on June 26, 1967. District Attorney Wolfe found that eight policemen accused him of "conduct detrimental to the police department" and felt there was sufficient evidence to take the case to the Stanislaus County Criminal Grand Jury.
District Attorney Wolfe notified the State Attorney General and the Grand Jury was impaneled. After more than two weeks of hearing the evidence and witness statements, they returned felony indictments against Chief Meester and Coates.
Both were arrested, booked in jail, and then arraigned. They were charged with the commission of four felonies involving charges of conspiracy to plant evidence by the Attorney General and were suspended from their positions. Captain Gerald McKinsey was elevated to acting chief. The case was heard in Superior Court over a period of several weeks and a not guilty verdict came down. The findings stated the defendants both exhibited very bad judgement, but criminal intent was not proven.
The City Council could only recommend action to City Manager John C. Keefe, who had the sole power to hire and fire department heads, but the Council ordered the City Manager to advise both defendants that they were suspended from work with pay pending the council review of the matter. The Mayor subsequently removed Meester from office.
Captain McKinsey’s son was killed in Viet Nam and he was on bereavement leave and Lt Don Watson was Acting Chief. City Manager Keefe was upset with the Meester affair and the bad light it put him and the police department in. The officers involved in the case had a meeting regarding the Meester matter at the Sheriff’s Office squad room.
City Manager Keefe heard about the meeting which angered him and he immediately relieved Lt. Watson and appointed Doug Carmody, the Director of the Parking and Traffic Department, as the acting chief. When Captain McKinsey came back to Modesto, Carmody was then the "New" chief. The Sunnyvale Public Safety (Fire/Police) Chief Jerome P. Ammerman was subsequently hired as the Modesto Chief of Police. It took Captain McKinsey nearly ten years to get his promotion and become our Chief.
The Meester incident was a debacle for Modesto Police Department from his appointment as Chief in September 1966 against the hiring committee’s recommendation, to him being removed from office by the Mayor in August 1967 after his arrest. The effects of Meester’s conduct took a toll on the City and the Department.
The criminal activities conducted and condoned by Meester and Coates, the investigation having to be done on their own by officers within the department, the arrests on felony charges of the Chief of Police, the trial and acquittal all weighed heavily on MPD and it took several years for the wounds to heal and confidence to return to department.
Meester hired an attorney and sued the city and those officers involved in the case. The case was found in favor of the City and upheld in a subsequent appeal. It might be noted that Meester’s attorney later ended up suing Meester himself.
If any good came out of the 11 month tenure of Meester, it would have been that when Chief Ammerman was appointed there were many things he wanted to accomplish. Captain Gerald McKinsey was usually behind the success of those accomplishments.
Former Assistant Public Safety Supervisor of Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety was appointed as head of the Department February 1968 six months after the shakeup that left the Department without a chief.
The Department continued its growth in personnel, equipment and professionalism.
On May 21, 1973 the Department suffered the first officer to die in the line of duty. Officer Leo “Bobby” Volk was killed while in pursuit of a vehicle, leaving behind a wife and toddler son. In 2011, K-9 Officer Dan Starr sought and received permission from the Volk family to name his K-9 “Volk”.
Chief Ammerman left the Department February 1976 to return to the position of Public Safety Supervisor of Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety.
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