Chico PD records show sex acts ‘escalated’ after sex-related demotion
by Dave Waddell | Posted October 30, 2025
Former Chico PD Sgt. Mike Williams
Chico police Sgt. Michael Williams began having “a lot” of sex on duty just a couple of months after he was demoted from lieutenant for engaging in sexual relations with a subordinate, according to Williams’s former girlfriend.
The ex-girlfriend’s timeline, provided to a police investigator, means Williams was having sex on the clock nearly three years before leaving the payroll of the Chico Police Department. Her revelations suggest the department’s disciplinary action failed to curb his behavior and may have instead provided increased opportunities to escalate misconduct that continued uninvestigated for nearly two years.read more
Butte deputies used drone to confirm air rifle before shooting, witness says
by Dave Waddell | Posted October 14, 2025
BUTTE CREEK CANYON — Valerie Cadwallader, ranting incoherently, was pointing a pellet gun rifle last spring when shot dead with a single round from a Butte County sheriff’s deputy’s assault rifle.
That’s according to Brian Marklund, the owner of the pellet gun and of the property where his friend Cadwallader, 48, was killed May 8 by deputy Tyler Dentinger.
Deputies had earlier used a drone to confirm the rifle was a pellet gun, according to Marklund, who said he heard deputies transmit that it was a “.117 caliber air gun” over their radios.read more
Woman speaks out about sex with on-duty Chico PD sergeant
by Dave Waddell | Posted September 29, 2025
One of five women, text messages show, who was engaged in a sexual relationship with an on-duty sergeant. Photo by Dave Waddell.
A Chico woman who believes she was groomed for on-duty sex by a “sex-obsessed” police sergeant says she was “treated like a whore” when questioned about the relationship by a Chico Police Department investigator.
The woman, 38, asked that her name not be disclosed. The sergeant, Michael Williams, was fired early this year after five women reported sexual relations with him while he was on duty in 2023. (See four-year timeline that led to Williams’s firing here.)read more
After decades of rapid reviews, DA Ramsey hasn't issued a report in years
by Dave Waddell | Posted August 31, 2025
The CHP report for the 2022 shooting is still not finalized.
Butte County’s system for investigating officer-involved shootings has stalled without explanation, leaving several cases unresolved and marking a sharp departure from a pattern of rapid exonerations stretching back decades.
District Attorney Mike Ramsey, who oversees such investigations, has issued no reports on police killings since 2020 or on non-fatal police shootings since 2017, according to an extensive review of county records.
A number of cases remain open as a result.read more
The City Council majority voted at its June 3 meeting to staff Fire Engine 1, but the panel was divided over where to find the funding.
The 4-3 vote to cut the road repair fund — instead of cutting unoccupied positions at Chico Police Department or elsewhere in the budget — elicited sighs from some members of the audience. The road repair fund comes from Measure H sales tax revenue.
“I’m not going to lose sleep if we delay some road projects,” said Councilmember Mike O’Brien. “If we lose a neighborhood because our fire department is not adequately staffed, I will lose sleep over that.”read more
Chico’s Margaret Swick spoke at the April 15 City Council meeting, suggesting that the money allocated for military equipment could go elsewhere.
The City Council voted 4–3 to approve the Chico Police Department’s proposed purchase of more than half a million dollars in additional military equipment.
The acquisitions will include three drones, four remote-controlled cars, a launcher that can fire projectiles, two sniper rifles to replace two old ones, 15 police patrol rifles, and three incident command vehicles that can provide a mobile on-site platform for command, control and communications during major incidents.
The total estimated cost is $562,955, not including maintenance fees, according to Chico PD’s military equipment policy.
“Your continued approval will ensure that the community’s police department stands ready to protect them while also keeping your police officers safe,” Police Chief Billy Aldridge told councilmembers prior to the vote.
“The purpose of those,” Aldridge said, “is they have multiple options for sensors on those – bomb detection, chemical detection, camera systems, audio systems – [so] you can put them into places where you wouldn’t necessarily want to put a human.
“And it’s a robot,” he said, “so no danger to a human in what they’re doing.”
Several members of the community expressed their concern about the City’s purchase of military equipment during the public comment session.
“The goal of AB 481 is for elected officials to curb and regulate the militarizing of our police,” said Chico resident Margaret Swick. “It is not to celebrate the growth of a military-style arsenal,” she said.
Assembly Bill 481 was passed by the California Legislature and signed into law in 2021, in part to “give strong consideration to the public’s welfare, safety, civil rights, and civil liberties” the text states. The law calls for “meaningful public input” prior to the purchase of what it defines as military equipment, and requires California law enforcement agencies to obtain approval from their governing body for the funding, acquisition, or use of that equipment.
“Chico has plenty of issues we could solve by redirecting money to perhaps painting and improving crosswalks so that children, bicycles, and pedestrians are safe,” Swick added.
Diane Suzuki-Brobeck, a member of Concerned Community for Justice, voiced concern about the potential use of the equipment on peaceful protesters. She asked Aldridge to make a public statement “reassuring us that Chico PD will follow the law, … which restricts law enforcement’s use of less-lethal munitions to disperse protests, and also increases the frequency of mandatory use-of-force reporting.”
Councilmember Bryce Goldstein echoed her sentiment. “I’m also concerned in our current political climate about the potential for military equipment being used against people exercising their First Amendment rights,” she said.
Goldstein added that she supports public safety but wants to “make sure that we’re investing our taxpayer dollars into proactive public safety measures.”
Councilmember Tom van Overbeek expressed support for the purchase of the equipment: “My take on this … is that almost every one of those items, it protects … the police officers, and it protects citizens, because it gives you (the police) more non-lethal options when you’re dealing with a difficult situation.”
Councilmember and former Chico Police Chief Mike O’Brien said this equipment “mostly is defensive in nature and designed to save lives.”
After O’Brien motioned to approve all the items requested by Aldridge, Councilmember Katie Hawley introduced a substitute motion to remove several items from the acquisition list.
They included one of the three incident command vehicles, the police patrol rifles that “were only used once in 2024,” and the Boston Dynamics robot.
“Boston Dynamics is a $75,000 piece of equipment,” Hawley told ChicoSol on March 20. “Even if that is awarded with grant funds, upkeep and maintenance of that would be extremely expensive and specialized. It is an erroneous spending allowance in my opinion.”
Hawley’s substitute motion failed 3–4, and O’Brien’s motion passed 4–3. Mayor Kasey Reynolds, Vice Mayor Dale Bennett and van Overbeek voted in favor of O’Brien’s motion.
During the March 31 community forum held by Chico PD to collect public opinions about the military equipment purchases, Aldridge said, “I disagree with the terminology that they use in this law (AB 481), because nothing that we have in our inventory is truly military equipment. It makes it sound like you went to the military and said, ‘Hey, can I buy your tank?’ But that’s not the case.”
According to Chico PD, most of the “military equipment” in their possession is commercially available and made for civilian or law enforcement use.
AB 481 designates in its text a dozen categories of items as “military equipment,” including any firearm or firearm accessory designed to launch explosive projectiles, “Flashbang” grenades and Humvees.
Aldridge specifically addressed concerns over the use of drones — one of the items mentioned in the law that Chico PD utilizes.
Anytime they’re launched, their flights are logged into so-called “air data,” which is posted on the police department’s website.
“Typically, they’ll do a report on why they flew that drone,” Aldridge said. “Then it goes through a review process for that supervisor, and then a manager who will review it, [and] say this was in policy or not in policy.
“Obviously, if we find someone out of policy,” Adridge said, “then we start the investigation into why they violated that policy.”
Yucheng Tang is a California Local News Fellow reporting for ChicoSol.
