The Complete Danny Kalis – One Bad Apple or Fruit of the Poisoned Vine?
Is Danny Kalis, accused but not convicted, of various felonies and misdemeanors, representative of the level of corruption in the Eureka Police Department or is he a lone bad apple? I hope he is a lone bad apple, if he is proven guilty. At this moment remember Kalis is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Below are all the Kalis articles from the Times-Standard and other places as they become available. I have snipped them, go to the links to read the entire articles.
Here are a few observations:
1. It is clear that the story that Kalis was arrested after the “merging” of two investigations is complete bullshit. Garr Nielsen admits he had no prior knowledge of the D.A.’s investigation and the DA seemingly knew nothing of the EPD internal affairs investigation.
2. It seems likely that someone in EPD was covering up for Danny Kalis. Was it Garr Nielsen or was it the Murl Harpham/Above the Law faction or someone else at EPD covering for him.
3. If Kalis was ever a member of a local or state interagency task force like a drug task force for example then any arrests or convictions involving Kalis and indeed the entire unit must be revisited, if these allegations against Kalis prove to be true.
4. Although the EPD internal investigation resulted in the resignation of Kalis one wonders why the serious allegations weren’t forwarded to the D.A. since they seem to rise to the level of serious criminality.
5. Can you “investigate” someone for months without pulling up a warrant check? Apparently the both the Humboldt D.A. and the Eureka Police Department think so. This is embarrassing incompetence if it is true but of course it is possible that both agencies found the warrant but just extended Kalis a courtesy. Thin Blue Line and all that…….
EPD: Three netted in heroin bust
Times-Standard
Posted: 02/14/2008 01:15:44 AM PST
Three people were arrested on several drug charges, including possession of heroin for sale, during a parole search in the 3200 block of Cleveland Street, the Eureka Police Department reported Wednesday.
EPD officers Danny Kalis and Adam Laird responded to a residence to conduct a parole search of its residents at about 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday. When they arrived, the officers saw Daniel Brady Couch, 53, standing by a parked vehicle in the front yard, a news release said.
Couch then placed something underneath the vehicle, officers observed. Officers contacted Couch, who was on parole, and searched a trash bag found underneath the vehicle, which contained more than 15 hypodermic needles, EPD officials said.
Officers also recovered about $2,500 from Couch, which is believed to be related to heroin sales.
While Kalis was detaining Couch, Laird contacted two more people at the residence’s front door. Police said James Edward Rach, 27, was found with a plastic baggie that contained 15 to 20 individually wrapped pieces of suspected tar heroin. Officers also contacted Michele Marie Markussen-Couch, 29.
Couch, Rach and Markussen-Couch were arrested on charges of possession of heroin for sales, maintaining a residence for the sales of heroin and parole violation. They were taken to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility.
http://www.times-standard.com/ci_8258296
Former EPD officer faces drug charges: Officer resigned amid investigation; faces nine counts
Thadeus Greenson/The Times-Standard
Posted: 04/15/2011 02:39:57 AM PDT
The criminal complaint charges Daniel Danny Kalis with a total of nine offenses, including possessing marijuana, heroin and controlled substances without a prescription, petty theft, vandalism, false imprisonment and the unauthorized disclosure of California Department of Motor Vehicles records.
Kalis has not been arrested or booked but was notified of the charges Thursday, according to Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos, who said Kalis is scheduled to be arraigned in the case May 16.
Kalis was employed by the Eureka Police Department for more than four years and served as a detective for several years before returning to patrol about a year ago, according to EPD Chief Garr Nielsen.
The criminal complaint filed Thursday alleges that all nine offenses alleged occurred on or about March 8. Specifically, Kalis is accused of felony heroin possession, committing vandalism causing more than $400 in damage, falsely imprisoning someone, communicating with a prisoner without permission, possessing more than an ounce of marijuana, the unauthorized disclosure of records, unauthorized computer access and petty theft.
Because Kalis spent time as a detective with EDP fairly recently, Gallegos said his arrest will likely affect other pending cases.
“This case undoubtedly will flow over into other cases — certainly into other cases he is involved in,” Gallegos said, adding that he has a duty to disclose information surrounding Kalis’ arrest and potential character issues to defense attorneys under the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Maryland v. Brady.
Gallegos said Kalis’ arrest might have “severely adverse” consequences to some cases in which Kalis was going to be called or was called as a prosecution witness.
Charges at a glance:
Health and Safety Code 11250(a) — Possession of a controlled substance
(heroin)
Penal Code 4570 — Unauthorized communication with a prisoner
Health and Safety Code 11357 (c) — Possession of more than one ounce of
marijuana
Penal Code 236 — False Imprisonment
Business and Professions Code 4060 — Possession of controlled substances
without a prescription (Seroquel, Tramedol, doxicycline, carisoprodol,
buspirone and promethazine)
Vehicle Code 1808.45 — Unauthorized disclosure of DMV records
Penal Code 502 (c)(7) — Unauthorized access to a computer network
Penal Code 488 — Petty theft
Penal Code 594 — Vandalism
Thadeus Greenson can be reached at 441-0509 or tgreenson@times-standard.com.
http://www.times-standard.com/ci_17854815
Accused officer on the job with warrant out; officer faced misdemeanor charges in 2010; ex-wife files for restraining order
Thadeus Greenson/The Times-Standard
Posted: 04/16/2011 02:40:24 AM PDT
A Eureka police officer charged Thursday with nine criminal counts had a prior run-in with law enforcement and faced allegations of domestic abuse,according to court records.
It also appears Daniel Jason Kalis, 36, of Eureka, worked as a police officer for five months with a warrant out for his arrest.
Kalis — who was charged Thursday with drug possession, theft and other charges — was named in an arrest warrant ordered in September 2010 by Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Marilyn Miles. The warrant was issued after Kalis failed to appear at a July 2010 court hearing, where he was to be arraigned in a misdemeanor case charging him with fishing without a license in a closed river and catching a wild steelhead.
Eureka Police Chief Garr Nielsen said his department didn’t learn of the active warrant out on Kalis until Friday. Nielsen said his department isn’t notified when warrants are issued, and it’s not standard procedure to run warrant checks on officers during internal affairs investigations.
“It’s just one of those things that slips through the cracks”, Nielsen said, adding that officers have a responsibility to notify the department if warrants are issued in their name, just as they would if their driver’s license was suspended.
Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos said investigators had Kalis sign a promise to appear Thursday and that he had been unaware of an active arrest warrant in Kalis’ name until being informed of it Friday.
“I’m not aware of him being arrested, and that’s a problem,” Gallegos said, adding that if he’d known of the warrant, he would have had investigators arrest Kalis on Thursday. “I would say there’s a warrant out for his arrest, and someone should pick him up. ”
Gallegos said the decision not to arrest Kalis was based on incorrect information, and was made with the belief that Kalis did not pose a flight risk or a danger to the community.
The charges filed Thursday are the result of two investigations merging — EPD’s internal affairs investigation and a criminal investigation launched by the DA’s office into allegations surrounding the officer.
A temporary restraining order was issued April 8, ordering Kalis to stay away from his ex-wife and his four kids and to either turn his firearms over to law enforcement or sell them. In requesting the order, Kalis’ ex-wife cited a number of instances when she felt scared or threatened by Kalis, including times when he was on duty.
On Jan. 25, she was driving on Broadway in Eureka when Kalis passed her in his patrol car, according to a “description of abuse ” she wrote in requesting the restraining order.
“He cocked his hand like a gun and pointed it at me, ” she wrote. “I took the action as a symbolic threat to use a gun. ”
Five days earlier, she claims she was driving in Eureka with her son and two cousins when a police car pulled behind her, flashed its lights and stopped her. Kalis was driving the patrol car, the ex-wife alleges, and pulled alongside her, rolled down his window and called her a “bitch ” and mumbled other profanities.
Nielsen said he’s aware of those allegations and said they were looked into as a part of the internal affairs investigation that was ongoing when Kalis resigned.
Kalis’ ex-wife also claims he engaged in “stalking behavior, ” sleeping in his car outside of her house, text messaging her repeatedly and showing up at various events she was attending after they separated.
She also describes an incident that allegedly occurred in the parking lot of Redwood Acres in Eureka last spring.
“Danny motioned for the children to come over to his truck; he reached into his truck and removed a plastic bag, which he handed to my son, ” she wrote in the document. “Inside the plastic bag were some freshly cut dog tails…. Danny was controlling and abusive during our marriage. ”
Gallegos said he had not heard anything like the allegation in the family law file from his investigators. “I’m not aware of any allegations of animal abuse, ” he said, noting that such allegations would be taken very seriously.
Staff writer Thadeus Greenson can be reached at 441-0509 or
tgreenson@times- standard.com.
http://www.times-standard.com/ci_17862796
Kalis arrested: Former Eureka Police Department officer booked, released Monday
Thadeus Greenson /The Times-Standard
Posted: 04/19/2011 02:40:30 AM PDT
Former Eureka police Officer Daniel “Danny ” Kalis was brought into custody Monday, some six months after a misdemeanor warrant was issued for his arrest.
Humboldt County District Attorney Chief Investigator Mike Hislop said he called Kalis on Monday and he agreed to turn himself in.
“We met him down at the Bayshore Mall and he surrendered there, ” Hislop
said. “He was completely cooperative. ”
Hislop said Kalis was booked into jail on Monday and was released after promising to appear May 16 for an arraignment on both the old and new charges.
EPD Chief Garr Nielsen said Monday that he only learned of the DA’s investigation last week and expressed disappointment that he wasn’t notified of a criminal investigation targeting one of his officers.
“I think that, as the head of an organization, I should be notified when one of my personnel is under investigation unless that investigation directly involves me, ” Nielsen said. “First of all, I think it’s common courtesy. But it would also ensure that I don’t have someone out there that is potentially a threat to the public that I’m not aware of, or somebody who is potentially compromising confidential information that I’m not aware of. ”
After concluding its investigation into Kalis, DA investigators notified him
of new charges being filed against him last Thursday, but did not take him
into custody and instead had him sign a promise to appear. The office
learned Kalis had an outstanding warrant on Friday.
As to how his office had been investigating Kalis since January but was
unaware of the warrant, Hislop said Monday that his office doesn’t receive a
list of outstanding warrants. Hislop said his investigators were aware of
the misdemeanor charges filed against Kalis last year — in relation to
catching a wild steelhead on a closed river while fishing without a license
— but likely assumed he had taken care of the case.
http://www.times-standard.com/ci_17879117
Former Eureka police officer Daniel Kalis pleads not guilty; scheduled for July prelim on drug, vandalism charges
Thadeus Greenson/The Times-Standard
Posted: 05/17/2011 02:20:13 AM PDT
Former Eureka police officer Daniel “Danny ” Kalis pleaded not guilty Monday in Humboldt County Superior Court to a total of nine criminal charges, including a pair of felonies.
According to family law court records, Kalis’ ex-wife was awarded a
restraining order against him April 8 after alleging that he had harassed
her numerous times, including twice while on duty with EPD, and that he
engaged in “stalking behavior,” sleeping in a car outside her house, showing
up at various events she was attending and text messaging her repeatedly
after they were separated. In court filings, she also said she was more
afraid of Kalis after he lost his position as an officer.
“I believe the risk of serious abuse from him towards me and the children is significantly increased,” she wrote in documents seeking the restraining order. “.. I am afraid for myself and the children that Danny’s initial reaction to this request will be extreme anger and potentially violent conduct.”
The DA’s Office filed a Pitchess Motion in the case seeking to examine
Kalis’ personnel records at EPD, where he began working in 2004 and rose to
become a detective before apparently being demoted back to patrol after the
fishing allegations arose in 2009, according to court records.
Wilson set a hearing on the motion for June 1. If Wilson grants the motion,
he would review the records behind closed doors with only attorneys present
to determine if they contain any information relevant to Kalis’ criminal
case.
Charges being filed against Kalis was initially deemed to be the result of
the internal affairs investigation merging with a criminal investigation
that the DA’s Office began in January, though EPD Chief Garr Nielsen later
said he only learned of the DA’s investigation a week before charges were
filed against Kalis.
Kalis is scheduled to appear in court on July 12 for a preliminary hearing,
at which point a judge will determine if there is enough evidence to hold
him to stand trial.
Thadeus Greenson can be reached at 441-0509 or tgreenson@times-standard.com.
http://www.times-standard.com/ci_18078470
Judge to review EPD officer’s personnel file; DA looking for evidence
relating to criminal case
Thadeus Greenson/The Times-Standard
Posted: 06/02/2011 02:20:17 AM PDT
A Humboldt County Superior Court judge agreed Wednesday to review a
former Eureka police officer’s personnel file to see if any of its contents
can be used against him by prosecutors.
Daniel Jason Kalis, who resigned his position with the Eureka Police
Department on April 1 amid an internal affairs investigation after serving
seven years with the force, was arrested last month when the EPD
investigation merged with an ongoing criminal investigation conducted by
Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office investigators.
Kalis has pleaded not guilty to a total of nine charges, including felony
vandalism and heroin possession — some of which were allegedly committed
while on duty.
On Wednesday, over the objections of Kalis’ lawyer and the city of Eureka,
Judge Christopher Wilson granted a prosecution motion and set a closed-door
hearing for June 8, at which point he will review Kalis’ personnel file to
determine if it contains any information relevant to the criminal
allegations facing the former officer. The prosecution will not be present
during the hearing.
Deputy District Attorney Arnie Klein filed a request — known as a “Pitchess motion” — with the court last month seeking to review the records, arguing that good cause exists for their disclosure because the defense will likely use them in the case. Klein argued Kalis’ file likely contains evidence pertaining to the charges filed against him and, possibly, of other criminal conduct.
In its opposition, the city of Eureka argued Klein’s request was overly
broad, didn’t specify the information sought in Kalis’ file and,
essentially, amounted to a fishing expedition to seek out evidence
supporting new charges or proof of a long pattern of behavior.
After the hearing, interim Eureka City Attorney Bill Bragg said the city’s general policy is to oppose every Pitchess motion that comes to the city seeking to review an officer’s personnel file in order to trigger a judicial review of the request.
Cox also wrote that, while investigating Kalis, he learned the former
officer had a �close relationship� with a woman while she was a suspect in
the 2009 murder of Robert Van Alstine, in addition to other questionable
relationships that may have impacted the performance of his duties.
�I believe that the contents of officer Kalis’ personnel file at EPD will
contain evidence of similar misconduct that, when viewed in context with the
current criminal charges, will demonstrate a long-term pattern of behavior
contrary to his position as a sworn law enforcement officer,� Cox wrote.
What is a Pitchess motion:
Named after the 1974 California Supreme Court case Pitchess v. Superior
Court, a Pitchess motion is a request made by a party in a criminal case —
and rarely civil cases — seeking to access information in the confidential
personnel files of police officers. The Pitchess process has been codified
by the state, and is now governed by California Evidence Code sections 1043
to 1047.
On the web:
For an overview of Pitchess motions and the court’s process for considering
them, visit: www.calstate.edu/gc/docs/pitchess_motions.doc
Thadeus Greenson can be reached at 441-0509 or tgreenson@times-standard.com
.
http://www.times-standard.com/ci_18189819
A tv interview with Garr Nielsen on the Kalis affair:
HighBoldtage 
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