FRESNO, Calif. – A lawyer for a Fresno police officer says the city is retaliating against his client after exposing an affair involving the former police chief.
The officer, Jordan Wamhoff, who also serves as an elected Madera County supervisor, reported to Fresno city leaders last year that former Police Chief Paco Balderrama had had an extramarital affair with his wife. The city subsequently launched an administrative investigation into conduct by Balderrama, who had also reported the affair to city officials when he became aware it would come to light.
As the scandal unfolded last June, KVPR reported that Wamhoff had appeared to try to pressure at least one city official to force Balderrama to resign if the city wanted to avoid facing legal action.
At a press conference less than a week later, Balderrama announced his resignation, even though city leaders announced that the investigation cleared the chief of allegations that he abused his power.
Now, a fiery letter to city leaders from one of Wamhoff’s attorneys, Brian Whelan, accuses the city of protecting Balderrama. The letter also claims that a new administrative investigation of Wamhoff is “nothing more than an act of retaliation” against Wamhoff “for exposing misconduct at the highest levels of the Fresno Police Department.”
Letter lays out stark claims of retaliation
Whelan’s letter, sent to city leaders late last month and obtained by KVPR, describes Wamhoff as a whistleblower and refers to the recent investigation of Wamhoff as an “inquisition” that is “part of a larger pattern of retaliation and retribution.”
The letter doesn’t reveal the nature of the administrative investigation or when it began. Neither Whelan nor Wamhoff immediately responded to KVPR’s request for comment.
Whelan accuses city leaders of beginning its campaign against Wamhoff last year, when the city allegedly stopped paying benefits Wamhoff was entitled to under Labor Code section 4850 – a state program similar to worker’s compensation that pays law enforcement employees for work-related injuries that result in time off the clock.
Whelan goes on to accuse the city of “borderline extortion,” alleging that the city reinstated Wamhoff’s benefits only after he agreed to drop a claim that demanded the city increase its liability in his injuries. The letter also alleges that the city “went to great lengths to shield Balderrama,” and that Mayor Jerry Dyer had brushed off Wamhoff’s concerns that Balderrama was a threat to Wamhoff’s personal safety.
The letter – mailed on Feb. 21 and later emailed to more than a dozen city leaders including Dyer, City Manager Georgeanne White and members of the city council – warns that the current investigation “will obviously turn into an unlawful retaliation and wrongful termination lawsuit,” and demanded that all recipients preserve and maintain copies of emails and other documents that could become evidence in a court case.
City Attorney Andrew Janz did not respond to specific questions about retaliation or other allegations made by Whelan, but did acknowledge the investigation involving Wamhoff in a statement emailed to KVPR.
“The City Attorney’s Office has and will continue to conduct this administrative investigation in accordance with City policy and procedures,” Janz wrote. “Since Mr. Wamhoff and his attorneys are so eager to make public the claim of ‘criminal misconduct’ levied against him, I will refer all questions regarding the contents of the preservation letter to Mr. Whelan.”
Initial investigation launched last year
According to Whelan’s letter, Wamhoff reported the affair between Balderrama and his wife to City Attorney Janz on Feb. 16, 2024, and that Balderrama spoke about it with Dyer the next day. Two city employees familiar with the situation, who requested anonymity due to fear of reprisals, confirmed the dates and events in Whelan’s letter.
The affair was revealed to the public in early June in a press release by Fresno’s Director of Communications, Sontaya Rose.
“In February of 2024 Mayor Jerry Dyer and City Manager Georgeanne White were informed by Police Chief Paco Balderrama that an allegation would likely be made against him related to an inappropriate off-duty relationship he was involved in with a non-city employee,” a June 6 release read. The press release also revealed that the city had hired an independent investigator to look into Balderrama’s conduct.
It was also in early June that Wamhoff texted at least one city council member with a list of demands, including Balderrama’s resignation within 30 days and a flexible position with the police department for himself.
In exchange, read the text, Wamhoff would not take legal action against the city, with the exception of a workers compensation claim. The text message stated that Wamhoff would sign a nondisclosure agreement, which, if executed, could have rendered the deal secret from the public.
After KVPR reported the text message, The Fresno Bee and Fresnoland corroborated the reporting with stories of their own.
Dyer told press conference attendees the text message never reached him, and that his office was not pressured to force Balderrama to resign. At the time, Dyer did not name Wamhoff as the complainant in the allegations against Balderrama, but said the officer who filed the initial complaint would remain in his job.
A spokesperson for the Fresno Police Department did not immediately respond to a question about Wamhoff’s current position with the police department, but Jeff LaBlue, president of the Fresno Police Officers Association union, told KVPR that Wamhoff has not received a new position, title or promotion since he brought his complaint to the city a year ago.
This story was produced with support from the California Newsroom, a collaboration of public media outlets throughout the state, with NPR as its national partner.
