Retired Sergeant Says San Joaquin County Sheriff Knew Time-Off System Was Flawed

SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY (CBS13) — A retired sergeant says the San Joaquin County sheriff knew a system tracking time off for employees was broken years before the discovery that dozens of deputies' time off data was missing.

It's alleged that as many as 78 correctional officers have missing time off slips, leading to time off not being deducted. The San Joaquin County District Attorney has opened an investigation of the jail.

Sheriff's employees use paper requests for vacation, sick days or any other time off from work. Employees turn that paperwork into their supervisor.

It's a system retired Sgt. Pat Withrow says is flawed.

"The sergeant takes it and you walk away. You're not given a receipt for it. Nothing. There's no way to prove that you ever turned it in," he said.

Withrow, who once ran against Sheriff Steve Moore, says deputies are supposed to get a yellow slip back, but it often takes months. It's a problem he says his staff in Lathrop dealt with eight years ago.

"An officer approached his sergeant and said 'Hey look, I don't think my time-off slips are being processed. I'm missing some," he said.

He ran an audit and found almost everyone at the Lathrop station was missing time-off deductions. He says he reported it and changed the Lathrop system to record time-off electronically, but says the sheriff still opened an investigation on the station.

"We were all disciplined, various levels of discipline. I lost a day of pay and given a letter of reprimand," he said.

The old system of paper passed through supervisors' hands, but never changed.

We asked Moore if his department's time-off system needs an update.

"Does it need super fixing? No. What it needs is we can take a look at it and there are additional safeguards in place where they are checked at each shift," he said.

But the whole department is not being audited.

"It appeared there were discrepancies that needed to be addressed. I felt the best way was to get a third-party from district attorney's office to take a look at it," he said.

The attorney for the correctional officers union says the DA investigator told him 38 officers reached the felony embezzlement category for the missing time off, but says it's unlikely any officer would face charges.