SANTA ANA, Calif. – An Orange County Sheriff’s deputy who served as a field training officer has been charged with two felonies in connection with filing a false police report under his trainee’s name and forging a victim’s signature.
Chad Matthew Renegar, 30, has been charged with one felony count of filing a false police report and one felony count of perjury. He faces a maximum sentence of 4 years and 8 months in state prison if convicted on all charges.
He is scheduled to be arraigned on March 24, 2021 at the Central Justice Center in Department C55.
Renegar has worked for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department for eight years. He is currently on administrative leave.
On May 16, 2019, Renegar was assigned to work in the city of Rancho Santa Margarita as a field training officer for a newly assigned patrol deputy.
The training officer and trainee responded to a call from a woman who reported her license plate had been stolen. Despite the woman telling the two deputies her license plate had been stolen in Santa Monica, which is outside of the jurisdiction of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, the deputies had the woman sign a CHP form to report her stolen license plate.
A sergeant later rejected the report because of the out-of-county location of the crime. Renegar is accused of instructing the trainee to change the location of the theft to Rancho Santa Margarita. When she didn’t, Renegar is accused of typing the report for her under her name, filling out a second CHP form and changing the location to Rancho Santa Margarita, and forging the victim’s name.
“Maintaining trust and accountability between law enforcement and the communities they are sworn to protect has never been more important,”said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “Dishonesty among the ranks of our law enforcement jeopardizes that trust and it will not be tolerated.”
Deputy District Attorney Jake Jondle of Special Prosecutions is prosecuting this case.