Santa Clarita Deputy Sues Man Over Sex Accusations

In the first such action by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s officer, a Santa Clarita-based deputy sued a Canyon Country man Thursday, saying the man falsely accused him of making homosexual advances after a traffic stop.

The suit, filed in San Fernando Superior Court, alleges that William Fix falsely and maliciously accused Deputy Douglas Schoenborn of fondling Fix’s crotch and asking him to get into Schoenborn’s patrol car for sex.

Fix filed a formal complaint making those charges against Schoenborn with the Sheriff’s Department shortly after the Jan. 8 traffic stop, which led to an investigation that exonerated the deputy, the lawsuit said.

Legal observers questioned whether the lawsuit, which asked for $1 million in damages, would have a chilling effect on those considering filing complaints against peace officers. A leader of a gay rights group said he suspects the suit was inspired less by the allegation of misconduct than by resentment against the charge of homosexuality.

The accusations against Fix include slander, defamation for filing a false complaint, intentional misrepresentation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

“This fellow, without any cause, chose to make up an absolute fiction of this deputy, and he did so simply because he was doing his job,” said Schoenborn’s attorney, Richard A. Shinee.

“I can’t imagine any more vicious kinds of allegations that could be made against a law enforcement officer.”

Asked on what grounds Schoenborn was exonerated, Shinee said there were witnesses to the incident, but declined to elaborate.

The Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs Inc. is providing at least some of the financial backing for the suit, said Jeffrey Monical, a spokesman for the group.

“The incident with Deputy Schoenborn is so outrageous it has absolutely outraged not only our board but every deputy who has heard about it,” said Shaun Mathers, president of the association.

The deputies association has asked the city of Santa Clarita to make it a crime to falsely and maliciously file a complaint against a police officer, he said.

Mathers said the filing of false and malicious complaints against deputies “has been a problem” and that “when those complaints are made, not only are they damaging to the deputy, it sets into motion a lengthy and costly investigation.”

Attorney Kelli Sager, a specialist in libel law, said in response to a question, however, that “there is a grave risk if this sort of lawsuit is successful that people would be deterred from filing legitimate complaints against police officers.”

Those people might fear they would be risking subsequent lawsuits, Sager said, if they could not prove that their accusations were true.

While federal law protects most forms of speech in legal matters, such as lawsuits or testimony in a trial, Sager said, state law carves out an exception allowing peace officers to sue those who file false complaints.

“Whether that would withstand constitutional challenges is an interesting question,” Sager said.

David Smith, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation/Los Angeles, commented that he questions the motivation for the suit. “It’s clear that the deputy is angered by allegations of homosexuality,” Smith said, speculating that Schoenborn might not have sued if Fix had falsely accused him of some act other than homosexuality.

Mathers of the deputies’ association denied that, saying: “I don’t think our reaction would have been any different if this had been an accusation by a female or by a child or anything of that sort. This is an accusation of sexual misconduct and that is devastating in any case.”