Former California, Mo. officers file lawsuit against city after being ‘wrongfully discharged’

CALIFORNIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Three former California Missouri police officers filed a lawsuit against the department this week.

According to court documents, former officers Jared Allen, Nick Stobbart were fired and Christopher Tew quit the police department after they reported criminal evidence being mishandled.

The trio claim in court filings that the police chief, captain, and a co-worker knew of the problems but did nothing to fix the issue.

The officers said that some evidence could not be used in court due to the disorganization at the department. The lawsuit claims that payroll and tax records, juvenile and sexual-assault victims were not properly secured due to privacy laws. Evidence of various crimes was not properly stored in secure locations according to the lawsuit.

According to the court filing, this violates the department's criminal evidence policy.

The lawsuit claims that Allen and Stobbart was fired because they brought the problems of the station to the mayor, city attorney, police chief and other defendants but they were fired.