Trial Begins in Calif. Firefighter Sex Scandal

June 10--A wrongful termination trial scheduled to begin today in federal court threatens to revive the salacious details of a sex scandal that rocked the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District.

Capt. Mark Thomsen claims he was fired because he disobeyed orders from the district's chief and its attorney to keep quiet about multiple on-the-job sexual encounters and, instead, pushed others for a criminal investigation of alleged rape and sodomy.

On the other hand, the district insists Thomsen was fired "for illegally altering computer records" in an attempt to protect a district board member caught up in an embarrassing situation.

Thomsen, 45, dismisses that account as a pretext.

He was terminated in March 2007 but was reinstated at the same rank in November 2008 as part of a binding arbitration award that also included back pay and benefits. The arbitrator found the district did not present "clear and convincing" evidence of wrongdoing.

In February 2008, Thomsen and his wife, Dawn J. Thomsen, sued the district, a firefighters union and a number of individuals associated with those entities.

The couple allege violations of California labor and civil rights statutes and federal civil rights law.

Thomsen has continued to press the lawsuit despite his reinstatement, claiming he was met with hostility and retaliation upon his return.

The case features a brief but memorable stint as a district employee by a woman who, in 2006, contacted Thomsen, then working for district counsel Richard Margarita as an investigator looking into personnel problems and doing background checks. The woman claimed she was wrongfully forced out after she engaged in various forms of on-the-job sex with many male members of the department -- sometimes against her will.

The transcript of a lengthy interview of the woman has been ordered sealed by U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller, "given the significant privacy interests of third parties," those being the woman and the men she named as sex partners.

Any excerpt of the transcript Mueller deems relevant for use at trial will be made part of the record once it is admitted as an exhibit, with the woman identified, as she is in other court papers, as "DH," the judge ordered. The other names, however, will not be redacted from those excerpts, she ruled. The Bee is not using the woman's name because she is an alleged victim of sexual crimes.

Fire Chief Don Mette and Margarita, a former federal drug agent and Sacramento County prosecutor, brought in retired FBI agent Jeff Rinek to investigate the woman's claims. On Sept. 28, 2006, Rinek conducted a recorded interview of her.

According to Thomsen, he was later told by Rinek that "certain high-ranking members of the district raped, sodomized and sexually assaulted DH." Thomsen made a copy of the recording after Rinek gave it to him to get it transferred to a disc and transcribed.

The explosive contents of the interview reverberated through the agency from top to bottom and, less than six weeks later, the district paid the woman $550,000 for what Mette described to the board as a "disturbing" and "atrocious" set of facts.

But, according to Thomsen, he had been promised there would be a criminal investigation, and that never happened.

He complained to Mette and Margarita, and they told him "to keep his mouth shut," his trial brief says. Consequently, it says, he was "compelled to contact the (state) attorney general's office (and) ... was compelled to communicate his concerns ... to the board of directors ... by speaking informally with some members ... and by sending a letter requesting a formal opportunity to present his concerns about (Mette's and Margarita's) decision to cover up the DH incident."

Court papers filed by attorneys for the district tell a different story: "The DH investigation was concluded with all involved parties admitting to their improper behavior and taking the appropriate discipline from (the district). DH herself stated that her sexual relations were consensual and that she did not want to press charges."

At least seven district employees, including a deputy chief and a battalion chief, were disciplined with hours off without pay and demotions. Nobody was fired.

On Nov. 17, 2006, at Thomsen's request, a paramedic unit responded to the home of Pete Engellenner, a retired corrections officer then serving on Sacramento Metro's board. Thomsen's cryptic message to a dispatcher was that Engellenner needed assistance.

When the paramedics arrived, Thomsen was there and Engellenner, according to a paramedic's report, was drunk on the floor. Thomsen cautioned the paramedics they needed to keep quiet about the call, and the captain rode with Engellenner to the hospital.

Eleven days later, Thomsen accessed the district's software system, "deleted substantial portions of the original Engellenner incident report ... (and) wrote his own heavily sanitized version of events, which completely left out the entire reason for the paramedics' response," according to a pretrial defense motion. He left the name of the paramedic who wrote the original report on his revision, in no way indicating he had made changes, the motion says.

Later, Thomsen told Mette he had changed the report.

He did it, he said, to correct violations of the federal privacy rule governing the use and disclosure of individuals' health information.

The district is emphatic that it was for this conduct that Thomsen was fired. He was placed on administrative leave Dec. 2, 2006, and fired March 26, 2007.

Mette is now retired and Margarita is in private practice.

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