Tyler Cockrell, a 20-year veteran of the San Diego police force, alleges the department protected Cockrell’s ex-wife despite allegations of stalking, harassment.
SAN DIEGO — A 20-year veteran of the San Diego Police Department says high-ranking police officers retaliated against him, harassed him and refused to promote him in favor of his ex-wife, who he alleges had romantic ties to now Chief of Police Scott Wahl.
In a newly-filed lawsuit, obtained by CBS 8, Officer Tyler Cockrell says his supervisors purposely passed him over for promotions, and refused to investigate allegations that his ex-wife, police officer Stephanie Audette, was stalking him and his new girlfriend, also a police officer, harassing them, and placed a tracking device on his vehicle.
He alleges the mistreatment stemmed from what he describes as an “inappropriate relationship” between Audette and Wahl, and claims that Wahl protected Audette from a previous termination order.
According to the lawsuit, Cockrell joined SDPD in 2005 after working in law enforcement in Orange County and received positive performance reviews across every division he worked in. He and Audette filed for divorce in 2021, a split detailed in a September 2024 domestic violence restraining order application Cockrell filed after allegedly discovering she was having an affair with a co‑worker.
“After years of threatening and harassing messages, comments, and tracking and recording devices in my home and on my vehicles, it is evident that Stephanie is going to use any means necessary, including illegal means, to locate, threaten, harass and control me. I have been suffering at the hands of her behavior for nearly three (3) years and I am miserable living in fear,” Cockrell wrote in a portion of the proposed restraining order.
According to the newly filed lawsuit, Cockrell and Audette’s divorce began to affect Cockrell’s performance reviews.
Beginning in 2021, the same year as the couple’s divorce, despite repeated positive performance reviews, Cockrell says he was passed up for a promotion to Sergeant.
At the same time, Cockrell says Audette started to harass his girlfriend while at work at the police department. According to the lawsuit, Cockrell’s girlfriend filed a formal complaint against Audette.
Over the course of the next two years, Cockrell claims the harassment continued and his supervisors denied promoting him. The department, as well as the City Attorney’s Office, refused to open up an investigation into Cockrell’s claims that his ex-wife was stalking him, while falsely alleging that he broke the law and had beaten their children.
In March 2024, Cockrell’s lawsuit claims that Audette approached him and said she was responsible for his loss of overtime privileges. She also, according to Cockrell’s lawsuit, alluded to her close relationship with then-Assistant Chief Scott Wahl.
“’By the way, I’m not going to be fired once Wally gets the Chief job,’ or words to that effect,” Cockrell remembers Audette telling him.
A week later, according to his lawsuit, Cockrell said his supervisor told him that they were going to look into his overtime.
Meanwhile, Cockrell says, according to the complaint, he learned that newly-appointed Police Chief Wahl was under investigation for “having an inappropriate relationship with Audette over an extended period.”
In his lawsuit, Cockrell says he soon learned more about the investigation into Chief Wahl.
“While at an event attended by the City’s administration, local business owners, and community leaders, Chief Wahl had a conversation with a retired member of SDPD Chief’s Office,” reads the lawsuit. “Chief Wahl stated, ‘The investigation did find some inappropriate messaging. The mayor isn’t going to fire me for it, but I’m sure glad my wife isn’t going to see it.’ or words to that effect.”
For Cockrell, the alleged retaliation resurfaced in April 2025, when the City Attorney’s Office filed misdemeanor criminal charges against him for fraudulently registering his vehicle out of state to avoid emission regulations.
This is not the first time Audette’s romantic entanglements have led to legal action against the city of San Diego.
In 2016, the city of San Diego and Verizon were sued in 2016 after Audette allegedly had an affair with a married man, also an SDPD officer, and hacked into the wife’s Verizon account.
According to a 2013 complaint, obtained by CBS 8, a San Diego Police Officer’s wife allegedly discovered her husband and Audette were having an affair.
When the officer’s wife found out about the affair, she blocked Audette’s phone number from calling either her or her husband. But Audette once worked for Verizon, the same carrier that the family used. Audette then used a former Verizon coworker whom she was friends with to hack into her account and unblock her phone number.
More recently, in October 2025, Audette again was at the center of potential legal action when she held a press conference outside of San Diego Police downtown headquarters and announced her intent to sue San Diego Police over alleged gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and a hostile work environment.
Neither the San Diego Police Department nor the City Attorney’s Office responded to a request for comment on Cockrell’s lawsuit.
Ms. Audette’s attorney also did not respond.