A former Fresno officer accused of stealing $60,000 from the police evidence locker is also being defended by the city of Fresno in three lawsuits that allege he took part in thefts from residents during unnecessary arrests.
Ex-officer Rey Medeles pleaded “not guilty” in an October arraignment on four charges, two counts each for grand theft and preparing false evidence, according to court records.
Medeles and other Fresno officers face similar allegations from local business owners of theft and falsifying evidence, as well as excessive force and other civil rights claims, in three unrelated civil cases.
While the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office seeks charges against Medeles in a criminal case in which he has hired a defense attorney, the city of Fresno is paying to defend him in the three separate civil cases from the business owners.
His defense attorney declined to comment on Wednesday.
The lawsuits filed in 2023 and 2024 preceded the Oct. 9 arrest of Medeles, and the owners do not know each other, according to civil rights attorney Kevin Little, who represents all three of the business owners.
Under the Police Officers Bill of Rights, a city must make a determination whether to defend an officer’s actions as part of their scope of police work. Once the city makes that determination, it is required to provide a defense to the officers, Little said.
“That’s even if (Medeles) is found to have violated someone’s civil rights,” he said.
The Fresno Police Department declined requests for comment on this story, which is typical of ongoing litigation. The city also does not comment on pending litigation, according to a spokesperson.
Along with Medeles, Officer Gustavo Gutierrez has been named in all three civil cases. A third officer, Manuel Romero, was named in one of the lawsuits.
More accusations from Fresno business owners
Grizzalley Bike Shop owner Luis Rodriguez said Medeles and another officer pushed their way into his bicycle repair shop on Oct. 15, 2021, even after he asked for a warrant.
The officers did not provide a warrant. Instead, Rodriguez said they arrested him and accused him of a number of drug and gun crimes — crimes he said the officers fabricated as retaliation for not complying with their demands. Retaliatory arrest and prosecution are part of his lawsuit against police.
The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office ultimately dropped the case for lack of evidence, the lawsuit notes.
“They dropped the case because they (saw) how fake the whole thing was,” Rodriguez told the Bee.
His lawsuit sounds similar to two unrelated civil cases in which business owners accuse Medeles of stealing their money and other civil rights violations.
Chi Thanh Ngo said Medeles and the other officers took $10,000 from his business, Valley Hydroponics, on April 25, 2023. He criticized the officers, telling them he would file a lawsuit, before they carried out a retaliatory arrest, his lawsuit claims.
Daniel Guzman Vela, owner of Valley Battery filed a lawsuit claiming Medeles and another officer took $1,000 from his shop on June 1, 2023, as they accused him of illegally selling marijuana.
Little said all three cases included excessive charges in an attempt to get his clients to take a deal rather than fight their charges and pay a higher bail amount.
The cases against Ngo and Guzman Vela, like Rodriguez, were dropped for lack of evidence, their lawsuits note. All three cases have tentative jury trials set for next year.
Medeles accused of stealing from police evidence room
The detective with a history of being named in lawsuits accusing him of stealing, Medeles, was arrested in October for allegedly stealing cash from police evidence.
Medeles took two separate sums of $30,000 and recorded them as being returned to suspects from which they had been confiscated, according to the Department of Justice. Those incidents dated back to May 2024 and November 2023. He was fired in June of this year.
Fresno police requested the FBI investigate the incidents and the department to determine if theft was a greater issue among the ranks, Chief Mindy Casto said Oct. 9 after Medeles’s arrest. She said investigators did not find further misconduct.
Little said he will be watching Medeles’s criminal case, adding it may be the “tip of the iceberg.” But he could not say for certain if the arrest would help him in the civil cases.
“The short answer is probably,” he said. “I think we’re going to have to see what comes out in the criminal case.”
Rey Medeles, 37, a Fresno police detective terminated in June, was arrested on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, and accused of stealing money from a police evidence room.