SIMI VALLEY : Man, 18, Enters No Contest Plea

An 18-year-old man arrested during a Simi Valley rally pleaded no contest to resisting arrest Thursday after his attorney was unable to get the complete personnel file of a suspended police officer.

The plea to the misdemeanor charge was entered by Frederick Daniel Thomas of Simi Valley, who attended a rally in September staged by white supremacist Richard Barrett at the East County Courthouse. Thomas, who attended the rally to protest Barrett’s support of the Rodney G. King beating trial verdict, hit a police officer and a police officer’s horse, authorities said.

Thomas’ case was scheduled to go to trial Thursday. His attorney, Deputy Public Defender Gary Windom, had asked Municipal Judge John E. Dobroth to turn over the personnel records of Simi Valley Police Lt. Robert Klamser, who joined the department in 1975.

Klamser, a witness in the case against Thomas, was suspended Feb. 4 pending an internal investigation of an undisclosed nature. Windom, who contended that Thomas had been falsely arrested, sought the personnel records in an attempt to discredit Klamser’s testimony, according to court documents.

Although attorneys representing the city turned over the personnel file to Dobroth, the city withheld all material related to the pending investigation of Klamser. The file included no negative material, the judge said, only letters of praise.

Windom said he was angry that the file was incomplete. But Simi Valley Police Chief Paul Miller said in an interview that the department never releases anything to do with an ongoing investigation.

Thomas’ arrest was handled properly, Miller said, adding that Klamser had never been suspended by the department until the current suspension, the details of which he declined to reveal. He said the Klamser investigation would be complete in two to three weeks.

In connection with Thomas’ no-contest plea, Dobroth dismissed misdemeanor charges of battery on a police officer and battery on a policeman’s horse. Thomas will be sentenced March 19 for resisting arrest. He faces a maximum of six months in County Jail.