A Chico police officer received only a two-week suspension in 2024 for having on-duty sex in his patrol vehicle in the parking lot of a church, according to newly released records.
The officer, Michael Vincent, was disciplined for receiving oral sex from a woman on multiple occasions while in uniform, records show.
Vincent did not respond to a message seeking comment on his suspension.
Police Chief Billy Aldridge reduced Vincent’s proposed punishment in a Feb. 26, 2024, “notice of final discipline” memorandum. Capt. Jeramie Struthers had recommended a four-week suspension without pay, but Aldridge halved that time, saying Vincent accepted responsibility for his actions and lacked previous disciplinary issues.
Vincent’s on-duty sexual activities are detailed in redacted documents provided in response to a Public Records Act request.
The disclosures follow recent revelations that another Chico officer, Sgt. Michael Williams, was fired in January after an investigation found he had on-duty sex with five women in 2023.
In the Williams case, one of the five women, described as severely mentally ill, told 11 law enforcement officers, including Vincent, that she was having sex with Williams, according to the reports. (A different woman who was involved with Sgt. Williams described her experience exclusively to ChicoSol, which agreed to protect her identity.)
Vincent case begins with online complaint
According to a post on Chico PD’s Facebook page, Vincent joined the Chico force in 2021 after 7½ years as a Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputy. A San Jose native, Vincent graduated from Chico State, working as a Chico PD intern his final semester. For Santa Clara County, his assignments included SWAT team member and “special operations detective.”
In May 2023, a female left an online complaint with the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, the state agency that certifies and decertifies police. She claimed to have had sex with Vincent multiple times while he was on patrol.
A couple of days later, the same woman, using a screen name, posted to the Chico PD Instagram page that she had sex with a cop while he was working “for many months.”
An Internal Affairs investigation was started. On June 7, Vincent was placed on paid administrative leave and his cell phone confiscated. Two days later, Aldridge reinstated Vincent to duty, and he was issued a new cell phone.
The woman who made the allegations was interviewed by then-Sgt. Peter Durfee from Chico PD and Lt. Chris Oakley from the Butte County district attorney’s office.
According to the woman, she met Vincent in June 2022 when he was looking for a person in her apartment complex. The next day, Vincent returned and waved her over to his vehicle. He inquired whether she had seen the person and then asked to put his work cell number into her phone. Within a week, she said Vincent was asking for pictures of herself.
The woman said she gave Vincent oral sex three times while he was on duty. In each instance, he picked her up in his patrol SUV and drove to the church parking lot. The name of the church was blacked out in the redacted reports.
She said Vincent instructed her to sit behind him and to “duck down” if she saw another patrol vehicle. On one occasion, Vincent, while looking at his computer, said they “need to hurry up” because his sergeant was “coming this way,” the woman told investigators.
At the parking lot, Vincent positioned his SUV close to and parallel with a wall, she said. The driver’s side was closest to the wall, and the passenger’s side faced a street. The woman said Vincent unlocked the backseat driver’s side door and began “grabbing and touching me.” She described her positioning for the oral sex as “sitting between the driver side back door and the back seat of the marked patrol car.” Their sexual interactions each lasted about 10 minutes, she said.
“You must like the adrenaline rush,” the woman said she once told Vincent, “because obviously he is not supposed to be doing that.”
Vincent recalled having on-duty sex with the woman twice, describing the first encounter during an investigative interview: “We were texting about her meeting up with me, and she said she couldn’t drive there because she had drank alcohol. So, I went over to where she lives, and … she was on the passenger side of my car and we were talking. She opened the rear door and got in … We drove a quarter mile to a parking lot nearby and I got out of the car (and) let her out. … She asked me to have sex with her but I was in full uniform so I could not. At that point she reached forward and proactively unzipped my pants … and gave me a blowjob. Finished, she got back in the rear of the car, and then I went and dropped her off at her apartment.”
At one point, the woman texted to Vincent, “Sitting in the back seat is worst … because it feels so degrading.”
Vincent and the woman subsequently had an off-duty sexual relationship that lasted several months.
At his Internal Affairs interview, Vincent, with his attorney present, declined to answer questions until ordered to so do by Durfee. He said the woman became angry when he ended their relationship. He claimed he would have sought a restraining order against the woman had he not been under investigation for having had on-duty sex with her.
Journalist Dave Waddell writes about law enforcement issues.
When you have top brass decreasing the accountability of a wrong doing, for me it spells that there is more going on and it may start higher than the officers level. Thanks to Dave Waddell for keeping transparency up front.
Not surprising i recall a college student who attended my church she was from Africa she was pressured into performing oral sex with a Chico State officer this happened 4 or 5 yrs ago she was so distraught she quit school and went back home.
When receiving disciplinary action they really should consider the power imbalance between a cop and the people he’s having sex with. Do they feel obligated to service this cop? Do they know there will be no consequences if they say no?
Seriously 2 weeks suspension, blow jobs on the job, I guess that’s acceptable behavior for a police officer. Disgusting and wrong!!!
Definitely a power imbalance and this is no punishment!!
Totally disappointed
Police officer Michael Vincent is under scrutiny for his involvement in a sex scandal at the same time as Michael Williams’ sex scandal, highlighting dysfunction within the leadership of Chiefs O’Brien, Madden, and Aldridge. The Chico City Council and administration share responsibility for failing to hold the department accountable. Aldridge’s remarks on Facebook are misleading, as he did not clarify that POST stands for the California Police Officer Standards and Training, and that the harassment was reported to the state, not the Chico Police Department. It was investigators at POST who informed the CPD of Vincent’s sexual demands. Did the victim fear her complaint would be ignored? Was she worried that CPD would retaliate? Why would the woman complain to the State of California if her actions were “consensual,” as stated by Aldridge on the CPD Facebook page? Vincent should be FIRED. Aldridge should be FIRED, immediately. Do the women of Chico want the “peace officers” to use (or abuse) their uniform, badges, batons, and pistols as “chick magnets?”
How can Chico PD Chief let these 2 sexual predators off the hook 2 years in a row? Williams should be arrested and charged. And Lt. Durfee also Supervisor (double FT salary) Durfee was involved in investigating. Yeah, 2 jobs make him not good at either one. $126,637.05 as Police Lt. and
$132,000 as BC Supe = $258,637.05 per year (+ benefits). Half our tax dollars go to popo department and this is the best they can do?
A travesty.
California POST Commission and the legislature should remove the responsibility of investigating officers for serious matters from the department to an outside entity who will remain completely devoid of any bias in the alleged incident. Having worked in law enforcement for several agencies since the early 1980s, I have seen multiple times where the police agency will protect officers that are liked by administrators. On the other hand, I have witnessed where if an officer is disliked by the agency’s executives, they will be prejudiced against him/her during any investigation of wrong doing. I have observed numerous times where police administrators do not understand, or don’t care to understand, all the law and rules regarding internal police investigations and officers’ rights; thus they tend to make the wrong decisions and deserved discipline is overturned. Unless you are personally involved in the investigation of these incidents, it is tough to second guess why a certain type of discipline was enacted. There are usually many factors, which won’t be mentioned publicly, that weigh on decision making. Any guessing of why the chief did what he did is pure speculation. That being said, Police work is very difficult; officers should be highly trained and highly paid, but at the same time should be held to a very high standard. You want a good police force: pay them very well, treat officers very well, but hold to a HIGH standard. A large agency I worked for once had a policy in writing distributed to officers where it laid out possible discipline for wrongful acts. It was a general guideline, but it put officers on notice for what could happen for violations of policy and the law. There is a lot that can be improved upon in local law enforcement in this county. The only question is whether or not administrators and politicians are willing to be open to positive change and looking beyond the borders of this region for answers.
Chico resident and concerned woman Sierra Van Horn has the right idea, the PIO of CPD writes a clever but useless list a trash can full of excuses for the repulsive conduct of Vincent…a conduct that should get Michael “you need to hurry up” Vincent and Chief Aldridge fired. The complaint from the California Peace Officer Standards and Practices about Vincent to Aldridge… and the “good ole boys” of CPD …was taken more seriously and demanded an immediate investigation and discipline. Aldridge, et al. gives him a slap on the wrist with a “wink-wink nod- nod” to Vincent to stop doing consensual acts while in uniform, on duty, and from the back of a police cruiser in a church parking lot! Do Vincent, and past CPD rotten apples like Jonathan Noble, (Domestic Violence), and Michael Williams, (Sexual Predator for a decade), reveal the true culture of CPD’s respect for women? Thank you Sierra Van Horn!
https://www.actionnewsnow.com/news/a-chico-woman-launched-a-petition-against-a-chico-police-officer-to-call-for-the/article_760618fb-42ca-4f21-983a-004057516311.html#:~:text=A%20Chico%20woman%20launched%20a%20petition%20against%20a%20Chico%20Police%20Officer%20to%20call%20for%20the%20removal%20of%20his%20position%20due%20to%20sexual%20misconduct%20on%20duty
The Chico ER headlines of a second officer having sex while on duty is totally ludicrous. Even more absurd is the Chief Aldridge cutting the recommended officer’s reprimand in half. This is the third separate incident of sexual activities while on duty, in uniform, with a patrol car. Lieutenant Williams was demoted to sergeant for sexual activities and then fired for continual sexual activities. The third incident occurred with Officer Vincent.
Officers are getting paid $84,518/yr to service their girlfriends instead of serving the taxpayers. This “good-ol-boy” machismo virile culture must stop! The cop slang of “beat wives”, “polishing the night stick” and “making bacon” promote the incidence of higher divorce rates in police forces, though I never heard Chico police use this slang. A 2025 article “Police Divorce Rates Understanding the Statistics and Seeking Solutions” has divorce rate for protective service occupations (police) at 30% and divorce rate for all occupations at 16%.
Sex while on duty must be a zero-tolerance mandate! These officers were only caught because of their victims turning them in. Police are professionals like doctors and teachers; they must abide by strict professional standards and ethical obligations which start at the top. Taxpayers should be outraged by this disgusting behavior and diminutive punishments. Citizens should be picketing the police station for their breach of public trust and minimizing the severity of these incidents. When Chief Aldridge demands more money and officers, remember that this department had ample officers and time to have sex while on duty.