Former County Employee Is Third To Speak Out Against San Joaquin County Sheriff
STOCKTON (CBS13) — A former county employee is speaking out about his own experiences working at the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office in the wake of two resignations.
A well-known and trusted forensic pathologist resigned on Tuesday, a week after another colleague steps down from her position making serious allegations against Sheriff Steve Moore.
RELATED: Famous Pathologist Resigns After He Says Sheriff Removed Hand From Corpse
The former employee says he left the sheriff's office because he was tired of being held back from doing his own job. He supports some of the allegations both pathologist have made public over the last week.
As an evidence custodian, Nick Germann of Stockton knows all too well how business is run at the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office.
"At first, it felt like they were trying to help me, but then eventually as I was prying deeper, they would, you know it was just more roadblocks," he said.
RELATED: Forensic Pathologist Steps Down Amid Claims Of Pressure From Sheriff
Germann spent four years helping run the evidence room. When he started to speak up and question the way certain things in the department where handled, he faced retaliation from administrators like Moore.
"He does retaliate against people. He has a famous line throughout the department. It's common for him to say, 'I don't get mad, I get even,'" he said.
He left the department in July 2017. Germann planned to share his story next month, but when he heard about the recent resignations of pathologists, Dr. Susan Parson and Dr. Bennit Omalu, he decided to speak up.
RELATED: Sheriff Responds To Controversy Over Pathologist's Sudden Resignation
"I just went through this. I know, what is going to be coming up next. He's going to say I have no problems with them, you know, to the media and then in the background he's going to sit there and start launching internal affairs investigations, start making their lives hell while they are working there and eventually start chipping away at their characters," said Germann.
A spokesperson for Moore said the sheriff is out of town and released a statement. In it, Moore says he takes his job extremely seriously. He is sad to learn of Dr. Omalu's resignation and denies ever interfering with forensic investigations.
This is what he told us last week when Dr. Parson resigned:
"I don't feel betrayed at all. I believe she is a professional person, may be not because of her short tenure with the office and not being used to the way the office is run," said Moore.
"There is just a tremendous amount of change that we should be able to make here in San Joaquin County," said Path Withrow who is running for sheriff.
Withrow said the allegations surrounding Moore are alarming.
"When you think, this last calendar year they did about 738 coroner cases here in San Joaquin County alone, I mean, you can just imagine how many of those, people are going to start questioning the legitimacy of the findings," he said.
Moore also said in a statement that he would never try to control, influence or change the opinions of any pathologist working on a case.
