A Riverside County civil jury has awarded $2.25 million to Frank Lodes, a former sergeant with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, who claimed he was forced into early retirement after reporting harassment by a superior.
Lodes, a 25-year veteran of the department, was reportedly pressured to resign in 2022 after he made a formal harassment complaint to human resources. According to his lawyer, Bijan Darvish, Lodes wrote his resignation letter in a Del Taco parking lot while facing threats of escalating investigations. The jury ruled that Lodes’ resignation was involuntary and a result of retaliation for his harassment report, which led to the substantial award for emotional damages.
Darvish emphasized the impact of the forced resignation on Lodes, describing the past four years since his retirement as “the darkest” in his life. Lodes, who dedicated his entire identity to law enforcement, did not wish to comment on the verdict due to the painful memories it brought up.
The award also casts a spotlight on Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who is running for governor. While Bianco was not directly involved in Lodes’ case, Darvish argued that the department’s failure to investigate harassment complaints and its efforts to suppress them reflect a systemic problem within the Sheriff’s Department.
The harassment Lodes endured reportedly began in 2021, when a captain allegedly called him “mentally ill” in front of his colleagues. Further incidents occurred, including degrading posters of Lodes’ face placed on a child’s body, which were found in his uniform pockets and around the station. After filing his complaint in March 2022, Lodes faced a retaliatory investigation into alleged misconduct and was eventually pressured into accepting early retirement.
Just days after Lodes reported the harassment, an Internal Affairs sergeant arrived at his home with his personal belongings and pressured him to retire. The next day, Lodes was instructed to meet with a high-ranking official in a Del Taco parking lot, where he was told to resign and withdraw his harassment complaint.
The $2.25 million award will be paid by Riverside County and is expected to bring further scrutiny to Bianco’s department, especially as the upcoming governor’s election nears. The Sheriff’s Department was also recently in the public eye after Bianco initiated a controversial investigation into alleged fraudulent election ballots, which was halted by the California Supreme Court.
