The Kern High School District launched an internal affairs investigation against a senior officer last year and accused him of wrongdoing after he helped uncover a decades-long practice of administrators misusing a sensitive police information database, a government claim filed against the district Friday alleges.
Lt. Jerald Wyatt’s claim, a precursor to a civil suit, is the second legal action taken against KHSD in a week related to the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System scandal, which involves accusations that administrators were for decades misusing CLETS to run license plate checks and rap sheets on students, job candidates and others.
The claim, filed by Bakersfield attorney Seth O’Dell, makes good on a promise attorney Nicholas Rowley made last week when announcing a civil suit against the district on behalf of Police Chief Joseph Lopeteguy, who reported the CLETS misuse: “More lawsuits will come.”