Attorneys seek sanctions against Vallejo police union for defying subpoena

VALLEJO – Attorneys for the family of a man who was shot and killed by Vallejo police have asked a federal judge to sanction the Vallejo Police Officers Association for repeatedly defying a subpoena issued more than two years ago, according to court filings.

Attorneys for the family of Sean Monterrosa, who was shot and killed by a Vallejo police officer in 2020, said that the VPOA has still not responded to a subpoena issued in February 2022. The subpoena sought any records related to the practice of Vallejo police officers bending the tips of their badges following a shooting as well as records that mention Detective Jarrett Tonn, the officer who killed Monterrosa, and former police Capt. John Whitney, who exposed the badge bending practice.

"The VPOA was served with, and had notice of, multiple Court Orders compelling their compliance with the Subpoena," Monterrosa family attorney John Coyle wrote in a motion for sanctions filed Wednesday. "Yet, the VPOA has continuously failed to respond and has now shown a blatant lack of regard for not only a valid subpoena, but the multiple rulings of this Honorable Court."

The motion stated that the VPOA has been served multiple times, the subpoena has been mailed to the VPOA’s offices, an attorney for the VPOA was emailed a copy, and it was personally served to VPOA President Lt. Michael Nichelini. U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Barnes twice ordered the VPOA to comply with the subpoena.

Following Barnes’ second order in October, attorneys served the order to VPOA Vice President Lt. Sanjay Ramrakha and attempted to serve it to Nichelini at a condo he owns in Reno, Nevada, according to court filings. The attorneys allege that Nichelini answered the door at the Reno address, but lied and said he wasn’t Nichelini.

It was not clear from the records whether the condo in Reno was Nichelini’s only address. Nichelini was previously served at an address in Petaluma in July. Police officials did not respond to a request for comment sent Thursday morning on whether employees were required to live in the state. Nichelini did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

The Monterrosa’s family’s wrongful death lawsuit was filed shortly after Monterrosa was shot and killed on June 2, 2020. The Monterrosa family attorneys first notified the city of Vallejo of nine subpoenas in February 2022, including the subpoena issued to the VPOA.

Coyle sent a copy of the subpoena via email to attorney Michael Rains, who has represented the VPOA and wrote a letter on its behalf that confirmed the badge bending practice but attempted to frame it as a celebration of surviving a dangerous situation. According to the court filings, Rains did not respond to the subpoena.

The subpoena was served at the Vallejo Police Department headquarters on July 5, 2022, but the VPOA still did not respond. In January 2023, the Monterrosa family attorneys filed a motion in court to compel the VPOA’s compliance, which was reported by the Vallejo Sun. The VPOA was ordered to respond within seven days.

In an email on March 28, 2023, that was included in court filings, Nichelini claimed that he had never received the subpoena because it was served at the police department and not the VPOA offices. Nichelini had been fired from the department and did not work there at the time the subpoena was served, but was later reinstated.

Nichelini also complained that the VPOA had been “trashed in the media” for “failing to respond to a subpoena,” which was “damaging to our name and relationships within the city and community.”

“If you plan to continue looking for records from the VPOA, I suggest you serve a proper subpoena,” Nichelini wrote. “If this had been handled correctly from the beginning, I could have simply told you that we do not have any responsive records.”

The Monterrosa family attorneys argue it is false that the VPOA has no responsive records to the subpoena and the VPOA is still required to respond in court.

The attorneys then served Nichelini with the subpoena personally at a home in Petaluma on July 18. Once again, the VPOA did not responded to the subpoena, according to court filings. In October, the attorneys filed a second motion to compel the VPOA’s compliance, which was granted. 

According to records included in court filings, Ramrakha was personally served with a copy of the court order at Vallejo police headquarters on Nov. 2. 

A process server also attempted to serve Nichelini at a condo he owns in Reno, according to court records. The server attempted to serve the subpoena four times between Oct. 30 and Nov. 6. On Nov. 1, a man answered the door and when asked if he was Nichelini, he said, “depends.” When the server said that he had documents to deliver, the man denied he was Nichelini and closed the door in the server’s face.

According to the process server’s records, he was provided a photo of Nichelini and confirmed that was the person who answered the door. Nichelini’s tax statements are also delivered to that address.