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SLO police want charges against man who found chief’s gun

August 13, 2019

Skeeter Mangan

The San Luis Obispo Police Department referred its investigation into the man who found the chief’s gun in a bathroom to the District Attorney’s Office for consideration of charges on Monday. [Cal Coast Times]

Police are asking prosecutors to consider charging Skeeter Mangan of Los Osos with grand theft of a firearm, possession of stolen property and carrying a loaded firearm in public.  Prosecutors have not yet taken a position on the request, according to District Attorney Dan Dow.

“The District Attorney’s Office is obligated under law to review this investigation, and all of the evidence contained in the investigation, in order to make a determination of whether a crime was committed and whether there is sufficient evidence to prove the crime, and if so, whether it would be in the interest of justice to pursue charges,” Dow said in an email.

At about noon on July 10, Chief Deanna Cantrell left her pistol in the bathroom of an El Pollo Loco restaurant. A short time later, Mangan walked into the bathroom and discovered the loaded and unattended firearm on top of a toilet paper dispenser.

Mangan put the gun in his pocket, left the restaurant, rode his moped scooter home, and put the firearm in a dresser drawer.

After spotting Mangan on the news on July 11, as the person suspected of having the chief’s gun, Mangan’s brother-in-law, Sean Greenwood, drove to Los Osos to ask Mangan about the firearm.

“My dear brother-in-law not only found a loaded and chambered Glock (a pistol with only one safety, on the trigger) in a public restroom, he removed it moments before a 10-year-old boy entered the room,” Greenwood said. “I asked my brother-in-law about what had happened, he explained to me he didn’t know what to do with the gun so he placed it in a drawer and contemplated how to find the owner.”

Greenwood then called the SLO Police Department and spoke with a dispatcher who sent officers to Los Osos to collect the firearm. The officers thanked Greenwood and Mangan, and said they did not plan to charge Mangan based on Penal Code 485, Greenwood said.

According to Penal Code 485, a person is guilty of theft if they find property, and appropriate the property for their own use, “without first making reasonable and just efforts to find the owner and to restore the property to the owner.”

It was only after reading a Tribune article that claimed Greenwood turned his brother-in-law in, that Mangan’s family discovered the police department had asked the SLO County District Attorney’s Office to consider charging Mangan with possession of a stolen firearm.

“Little did Skeeter know, he would be ridiculed and labeled by media and some, to me, quite broken souls commenting about his appearance. When really, if you stop and think about it, he quite possibly saved a child’s life by removing the firearm,” Greenwood said.


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Will the ever-more-ridiculous attempts to save one person’s bacon never stop? Do these well compensated public employees (trans: work for us) realize how completely juvenile, petty, & bad they look? They must so this impressive group effort must have a ring leader…. If an officer of the general rank and file had done the same thing what would be the consequence? This specific infraction isn’t written down in the SLO cop handbook? Something def seems odd…she must be scratching for her very existence as the boss cop….


17

Folks- It looks like the Cantrell/Johnson/Harmon SLO city cabal just lost the Tribune:


https://www.sanluisobispo.com/opinion/editorials/article233986382.html


Now that the Tribune no longer supports this pathetic charade, the SLO city cabal has nowhere to go but into full apology mode. And soon.


To Dan Dow- you better get off your ass on this. NOW.


And, to the Tribune- welcome to the party; better late than never I guess.


26

I wouldn’t call what the Tribune may be doing now a switch or that they are no longer supporting the special class. It may just be that finally regarding this issue they just can no longer stomach all the illegal things Chief Cantrell and her army of detectives are doing and all the wrongs they just keep making in trying to get this to blow over or in trying to scare the people, who did nothing illegal and who are being harassed by the SLO police, to drop their future lawsuits by throwing threats of felonies at them. Give the Tribune time and likely at least by the next election they will be back in the pocket of the Adam Hill gang and the protected class. BTW, Don’t count on DA Dow to do the right thing and drop this, he stills needs to be protected by SLO’s secret police. If he does it will be in some political speak way that still keeps him in Chief Cantrell’s favor.


9

Whoops- I suppose many would include City Attorney Christine Dietrick as as essential element of that SLO city cabal.


The Cantrell/Johnson/Harmon/Dietrick SLO city cabal.


12

BTW- side note to the SLO police union – just where the Hell have you been during this whole fiasco?


Respect for law enforcement in full decline, and the honor and dignity of your own local law enforcement officers dropping like a rock, and what do we hear from the SLO police union? Crickets. Nothin’ but crickets.


Pathetic. In addition to the inevitable forthcoming outfall from this disaster, all of the officers of the SLO police union should resign, in disgrace, immediately.


You want to restore public confidence in local law enforcement? Fine- then step to the plate and admit your inexcusable irresponsibility.


15

Please add to your list Michael Codron, Shelly Stanwyk, Chris Olcott, Charlene Rosales and all Chamber of Commerce/tourism promoters who ‘work’ for the City of SLO. AND don’t leave out the entire City Council (including Mayor Harmon). They should be listening to and working for residents!


11

I can feel the outrage and incredulity by reading these comments. Let me try to help folks understand what’s going on:


1. Chief Cantrell—may she live and rule forever—was storing her gun on the toilet paper dispenser in El Pollo Loco.

2. Skeeter entered the bathroom where Chief Cantrell was storing her gun. He did so without permission. He saw her gun on top of the toilet paper dispenser (which is a federally approved gun safe if the chief uses it, but not if a serf does) and…

3. He stole the gun.


Now, he may not have realized that Chief Cantrell—-may she live and rule forever—was legally storing her gun on top of the toilet paper dispenser. He may not have realized he needed to ask permission to go to the restroom. He may not have known what exactly a person is supposed to do when entering a public restroom without permission and finding a legally stored firearm on the gun safe.


But ignorance is no excuse for the law!


Chief Cantrell has paid a huge price. 1600 bucks. OMG.


I say Skeeter is charged with a crime and told to pay…….5000.00 dollars to the city. Then, Chief Cantrell—-may she live and rule forever—can not only pay herself back the 1600 she was fined, but can use the rest of the money to post signs in the gun safe room (El Pollo Loco restroom) so that people know not to steal her gun in the future.


Problems solved!


RECAP:

Chief didn’t “lose” her gun. She was storing it in a federally approved gun safe. (this is important because it is a crime to improperly store a firearm, and Chief Cantrell—may she live and rule forever—did not not commit a crime, therefore the toilet paper dispenser is a federally approved gun safe)


Skeeter stole it.


He needs to be made an example of how NOT to steal handguns.


Hopefully, with the above clarifications I’ve been able to take a surreal, ludicrous, unfair corrupt and unbelievable series of events and have been able to paint them in a way that makes sense!


Give Chief Cantrell a raise! Put Skeeter in jail! Don’t think about the Orndorf’s…..or their messy house, or the non-existent drugs, or the non-existent warrant, or the illegal search, or the erroneous database error, or the time-lapse between storing the gun and reporting it stolen….or anything else!


Give her a raise and STFU! SLO PD doesn’t care what the criminal citizens think. They don’t care what YOU think. They could care less what Skeeter thinks, or the kids, or the dog, or the hapless parents who chose to steal a gun and deserved a warrantless search.


Power is all they care about….and they’ve got enough to do whatever the hell they want. So stop complaining and learn to praise the cops and applaud them for putting on the uniform every day.


25

The bottom line here is the “Police Chief” lost control of her weapon. In a public place no less. I believe I read an article in another news source stating she was reprimanded and has to pay a $1500.00 fine. What a joke, she should be canned at the very least. Where I work if you lose control of your “Security Gear”, wave bye-bye to a steady paycheck. Sorry but can’t help saying our City leaders are ball-less douchebags imho.


32

The strange Mayberry that is current-day San Luis Obispo, kludged together by dewy-eyed college kid votes and mostly out-of-state transplants in city leadership, in a picturesque but geographically remote region where government is presently the largest employer, proves truth is ten times gutsier than fiction.


Only reality could wield such a mutant Barney Fife.


26

First things first, the Police Chief is an idiot, and should be reprimanded for her NEGLIGENCE! Second, if you find a firearm and just stick it in your pocket without informing anyone, you will look guilty! Was there a uniformed officer in the restaurant? Why didn’t he first go to the police station and turn it in? As a firearms instructor, these are basic knowledge for my students. He may have saved a child or anyone else’s life by removing it, but I would have also called the P.D. as soon as I rendered it safe! BEFORE leaving the restaurant! Taking it home and putting it in a drawer is the dumbest thing he could have done! If it smells like a fish???


-27

“Reprimanded”? How about sent to the principal’s office? Would that be ok with you?


Did it ever occur to you that maybe he didn’t know how to unload it? That he isn’t well-versed in the laws regarding finding stray loaded firearms? If, as you suggest, he had called the police from the restaurant (you are assuming he has a cell phone) and someone overheard the call (“Hey I have a gun here, can you come and get it?”) panic would ensue inside; every SWAT team would be called to El Pollo Loco, and Scooter might have been shot on sight if the officer claimed he perceived him to be an immediate threat, and the officer would be acclaimed as a hero and get a promotion two weeks later. O wait a minute, that part about the promotion already happened to the cop who conducted the illegal search on O’Connor Way while pretending to look for the gun…


35

Reprimanded??? Reprimanded????


Try RUN OUT OF TOWN ON A RAIL with her posse of Dickles, too.


22

Knowing this, if I ever found a gun in a bathroom in the future; I would empty the clip and toss it into a preschool yard. If it gets traced back to a cop, well yay. Apparently I’m not worried about security video, because PD will just rid the wrong person’s house anyway.


25

Unbelievable. This dude did the public a favor by taking a loaded firearm out of sight. Especially considering a kid was the next to enter the restroom. The chief should be jailed herself for whatever public endangerment laws have been violated. The world is screaming bloody murder currently because that’s what taking place due to guns in the wrong hands. Then there is SLO county. A 15+ round semi auto, lacking any real manual safety,pull the trigger and fire, killing device left unattended in a public restroom by the HMFIC of SLO PD, results in pending felony charges against the guy who potentially saved 15+ lives this day.Where is the public outrage? where are the protests, where are the attorneys who need to bury these morons who refer to themselves as public safety?


45

And it keeps getting worse. Now the Police Chief’s “mistake” is ruining other people’s lives. First breaking up a family when the police went to the wrong home without a search warrant, and then they want to file felony charges against the person who found and returned the gun. WHAT ARE THEY THINKING? If the Chief was probably hoping this mess would go away, it won’t now. That this City Council is tolerating this behavior is obscene. And then the Council moves to ban natural gas from all new construction at a time when PG&E are seeking a huge rate increase. This is NUTS!


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