It\u2019s not every day that our reporting results in immediate impact. <\/p>\n
Reporters pour their hearts and souls into investigations for months, and sometimes it can take years for action to catch up. That\u2019s not what happened last week.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Aug. 28, Jakob McWhinney broke the news<\/a> that an ex-sheriff\u2019s deputy who was convicted of assaulting women in San Diego had a new job as a chaplain for an organization that provides support and mentorship to police officers in the region. <\/p>\n Former Sheriff\u2019s Deputy Ricky Fisher\u2019s crimes against women rocked the county. More than 20 women came forward with allegations against Fisher. Some women were assaulted during traffic stops, and others after calling the Sheriff\u2019s Office for help. The assaults ranged from groping to forcing them to perform oral sex on him.<\/p>\n Fisher\u2019s crimes cost the county $10 million in civil case settlements and drove a rift between the community and the Sheriff\u2019s Office, Jakob wrote. <\/p>\n Dozens of news outlets picked up our story after we published it. Then it caught state Sen. Catherine Blakespear\u2019s attention. She told Jakob that his article made her \u201cblood boil.\u201d<\/p>\n She contacted Sheriff Kelly Martinez, District Attorney Summer Stephan and other legislators to push the organization, Christian Law Enforcement Fellowship, to cut ties with Fisher. By Tuesday, Sept. 1, Fisher was out of the organization<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was shocking that he was working in a capacity of this type of responsibility and with this kind of authority. For him to be associated with law enforcement in a chaplaincy role was very offensive to me,\u201d Martinez told Jakob. \u201cI\u2019m grateful that they did remove him from the organization \u2026 I don\u2019t think they really understood or recognized the harm that an action like this would make.\u201d<\/p>\n Behind Voice: Chismeando with Jakob <\/p>\n Andrea: Jakob, as soon as you confirmed Fisher\u2019s new job, you jumped on this story and turned it around in one day. (Quite a feat for any reporter!) Why was it important to you to get this news out? <\/p>\n Jakob: It would be hard to overstate the impact Fischer\u2019s abuses had on the San Diego region. There\u2019s virtually no one in our society in whom we place more trust than law enforcement and, simply put, he betrayed that trust \u2014 egregiously. <\/p>\n That betrayal impacts not only his victims, who were incredibly shaken by the news he had been given a position of spiritual authority, but everyone who interacts with law enforcement. That reality made it feel imperative to get this story out, and to get it out as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n Andrea: You spoke to the president of the organization that hired Fisher. What was his logic on hiring someone with such a dark past? <\/p>\n Jakob: Jerry Hara, the president of CLEF, had a simple explanation for the organization\u2019s decision to hire Fischer: he\u2019d changed. Or rather, he\u2019d been forgiven by God. Redeemed, even.<\/p>\n Andrea: On that note, some could argue that this guy served his time for his crimes, and would question why his new job was a big deal for us to report. What would you say to that? <\/p>\n Jakob: I think that\u2019s a fine defense when it comes to reintegrating someone into society. Incarceration should be a rehabilitative business. But someone being \u201credeemed\u201d and going on to live a productive life feels meaningfully different than someone being \u201credeemed\u201d and then immediately being placed, again, in a position of spiritual authority over people.<\/p>\n Beyond that, the arbitrary standard of rehabilitation inherent in the concept of \u201cGod has forgiven someone\u201d is tricky. Conversations with God are, by their nature, pretty private affairs. A mantra in journalism is \u201cIf your mom says she loves you, get a second source,\u201d and Mother Mary doesn\u2019t usually give comment. The inherent subjectivity of that reasoning made it hard to buy a redemption story.<\/p>\n But what really tipped the scales for me was speaking with Dan Gilleon, a lawyer who represented nearly two dozen of Fischer\u2019s victims. He wasn\u2019t sold on Fischer\u2019s redemption narrative for a very simple reason: \u201cRepenting so he doesn\u2019t burn in hell forever is one thing, but actually making amends to the victims is where the rubber meets the road and he hasn\u2019t done that.\u201d<\/p>\n After all, Fischer only served a couple of years for his myriad of crimes. And as Gilleon also told me, Fischer didn\u2019t fully admit to all his crimes. He strategically pled guilty to a small subset of them.<\/p>\n This Week\u2019s Obsession <\/p>\n I\u2019ve been following the murder case of Rebecca \u201cBecky\u201d Marodi, a fire captain with Cal Fire, since the first news story about her death in February of last year. Her mother found her dead in her Ramona home with multiple stab wounds.<\/p>\n Her wife, Yolanda Marodi, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 36 years to life in prison this week.<\/p>\n The case, if you\u2019re not familiar with it, is heartbreaking and shocking. <\/p>\n Yolanda had previously been in prison for murdering her first spouse, James Joseph Olejniczak in Fontana. He was found stabbed to death in 2000.<\/p>\n According to law enforcement authorities, Rebecca was stabbed 23 times and part of the attack was captured on the couple\u2019s doorbell camera. The recording, which was not made public, captured Rebecca saying, \u201cYolanda! Please \u2026 ! I don\u2019t want to die!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Yolanda responded, \u201cYou should have thought of that before.\u201d <\/p>\n