Stanislaus sheriff’s deputy faces domestic violence charge

A Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department detective faces a domestic violence charge after his arrest earlier this month.

Acting Ceres police Chief Brent Smith confirmed that Francisco “Frank” Soria, 40, was arrested at the Ceres Police Department on Jan. 5 and booked at the Stanislaus County Jail on suspicion of domestic violence. Soria lives in Ceres.

Soria was aware a domestic violence investigation was started when the confidential victim reported the claimed abuse. Both the victim and Soria were cooperative, Smith said.

“We handle this case just like any other domestic violence case, and we made an arrest on him,” he said.

Deputy Anthony Bejaran, a sheriff’s spokesman, confirmed Soria was booked. “There are internal processes going on,” said Bejaran, but he declined to comment further.

Sheriff Adam Christianson said by email Monday morning that, “It’s not appropriate for me to speak to personnel investigations.”

Speaking generally about what happens when a deputy is charged with a crime, Christianson said, “There is an administrative investigative process that includes a comprehensive, thorough review of the alleged conduct/behavior to determine whether or not any of our policies, procedures, guidelines and/or the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics have been violated. If so, employees are absolutely held accountable to those standards. Those standards exist to protect the public’s trust and confidence in us.”

Bejaran and Christianson did not respond to questions regarding Soria’s status within the department, citing the ongoing personnel investigation.

“We don’t react to information without knowing all of the facts, and we don’t take action against any employee without due process,” Christianson said. “No two cases are alike and we absolutely follow, without exception, our policies, procedures and the Peace Officer Bill of Rights. We’re accountable to the people we serve and, therefore, we hold our employees to a very high degree of conduct, behavior and performance.”

It was unclear Monday afternoon which agency will determine whether to formally charge the sheriff’s detective. When asked whether her office would make that decision, Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager referred questions about the case to the state attorney general’s office.

Fladager refused to discuss specifically whether her office will review the investigation and determine whether Soria should be formally charged.

“There are several reasons why there may be a conflict or possibility of a conflict for a District Attorney’s Office to review or handle a case. I can’t really comment further than that except to say that you certainly may contact the AG’s office,” Fladager said in an email.

The district attorney indicated that making any further comments about a pending investigation would be inappropriate and could reveal the identity of a possible victim before the identity has been revealed in public records.

Officials at the state attorney general’s office on Monday did not return a phone call from The Modesto Bee asking whether state prosecutors are reviewing the case involving Soria’s arrest and are determining whether to formally charge the sheriff’s detective.

This story was originally published January 26, 2015 at 4:43 PM with the headline "Stanislaus sheriff’s deputy faces domestic violence charge."