Category: Policing

Ex-girlfriend: On-duty sex with former sergeant dated to 2022

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.

The ex-girlfriend’s account is contained in investigative reports obtained under a Public Records Act request. Williams did not respond to a message seeking comment on his ex-girlfriend’s account. read more

Witness: Cadwallader held pellet gun when killed

Butte deputies used drone to confirm air rifle before shooting, witness says
by Dave Waddell | Posted October 14, 2025
Marklund & Cadwallader

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.

“I don’t think it was even loaded,” Marklund said.

Marklund said other sheriff’s deputies were in de-escalation mode when Dentinger drove up the driveway of his neighbor’s property. “Less than a minute” after Dentinger’s arrival, Marklund heard “Drop the gun!” shouted and “not three seconds later” came the gunshot. read more

Butte County Mental Health Diversion court brightens futures; challenges remain

Mental health diversion underused, some attorneys say
by Yucheng Tang | Posted October 5, 2025
Mental Health Diversion court takes place at Butte County Superior Court monthly. (ChicoSol was unable to get permission to take photos of the proceedings.) Image by AI.

ChicoSol reporter Yucheng Tang attended sessions of Mental Health Diversion court on Aug. 5 and Sept. 2 to learn more about how the program is working in Butte County. Only first names of defendants — who sometimes have charges dismissed — are used in this story.

Michael, then a defendant in a Butte County Superior Court vandalism case, was standing at what a judge called the “finish line.”

“How do you feel?” Judge Jesus Rodriguez asked him.

“My life’s changed in three years,” Michael said, adding that he has learned more about trauma, self-reflection, psychology and empathy.

“Your case has been dismissed. Congratulations,” the judge said, as applause filled the courtroom on a morning in early August. read more

Exclusive Interview: Groomed by a badge

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.)

Williams was demoted in 2021 from lieutenant to sergeant after having sexual relations with a subordinate, records show. At some point in Williams’s Chico PD career, he was a school resource officer.

It was the woman’s ethics complaint in late 2023 that started the first of multiple internal affairs investigations resulting in Williams’s termination. She was interviewed by Peter Durfee, who at the time was Chico PD’s professional standards sergeant and is now a lieutenant. Durfee is also a member of the Butte County Board of Supervisors. read more

North State man leaves grieving family in accepting deportation

Harrowing journey to Mexico leaves him with nightmares
by Leslie Layton | Posted September 26, 2025
Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers arrest a migrant in the state of Virginia. Image via Flickr.

(This story is part of an occasional series on the impact of the immigration crackdown on North State families.)

Picture this: It’s a hot day in the North State in early July, and after a 3 p.m. meeting with an attorney, a Glenn County personal trainer stops at a gas station to fill his tank. Suddenly, several vehicles including a Ford Explorer pull up around him. Eight men surround him and tell him he’s under arrest.

That’s roughly how the terrible odyssey back to Mexico began for a Chico-area man who opted for deportation after an interview at Redding’s Immigration, Customs & Enforcement (ICE) sub-field office. ICE gave him a couple of options, neither of which sounded good: Spend what might be years in an overcrowded detention cell or deport. read more

Butte County police-shooting probes stall

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.

  • In November 2022, a California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control agent shot four times, missing 19-year-old Madison Sells during a confrontation in a Chico Safeway parking lot. Ramsey’s failure to make a charging decision forced ABC to abandon plans to provide psychological support for the officers involved, according to emails obtained under a Public Records Act request. Nearly three years later, Ramsey still has not ruled on the case, leaving all reports stamped as “drafts.”
  • On the second day of 2023, 33 days after the ABC shooting, three Gridley police officers fired 31 times in killing Baltazar Rubio, who was in mental crisis and allegedly pointing an unloaded gun at police. The officers’ final few shots came with Rubio on the ground after a four-second pause in the gunfire. It has been more 2½ years since the shooting, with silence on the case from Ramsey.
  • Also missing is any information on Chico PD’s fatal shooting six months ago of Michael Oxley as well as on the May 8 killing of Valerie Ann Cadwallader, by Butte County sheriff’s deputy Tyler Dentinger. The Oxley shooting involved four officers, including two sergeants previously involved in controversial killings that Ramsey had cleared. The City of Chico last week issued a blanket denial of a Public Records Act request for investigative reports about the Oxley shooting, saying the incident is still under investigation.

Seth Stoughton, one of the nation’s foremost experts on police uses of force, said officer-involved shooting investigations can be complicated and time-consuming. 

“There may be multiple witnesses who need to be interviewed, potentially multiple times, as well as physical evidence that may need to be subjected to forensic examination,” said Stoughton, an ex-cop and professor of law who directs the Excellence in Policing & Public Safety Program at the University of South Carolina. “And they aren’t always the highest investigative priority, since they are usually assumed to not have broader public safety implications.” read more