TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

A Bakersfield community activist says the Maricopa Police Department sent him a threatening letter after he called Maricopa police and city officials to complain about city vehicle impound practices.

The letter, dated June 6, informed Roger Hartley, 50, that he was a "possible suspect" in an open case and ordered him to come in for questioning by June 27 or the case would be handed over to the District Attorney's Office "for a possible criminal filing."

Hartley called the letter blatant retaliation for calling the city to say that Maricopa traffic stops that have drawn Kern County grand jury scrutiny violated the civil rights of Hispanics and justified a class action lawsuit.

"It was a violation of my First Amendment rights and my constitutionally protected right to petition for redress of grievances," he said. "If they're going to accuse me of a crime or put me behind bars for even five minutes, there's no basis for it."

The letter does not state what crime Hartley is suspected of committing. Police did not return several telephone calls Saturday seeking information about the case.

Hartley is an investigator for San Carlos civil rights attorney Bruce Nickerson. Hartley sued the City of Bakersfield in 2000 over allegedly heavy-handed police tactics used against gay men.

Court records show the case was closed in 2001, but the precise outcome wasn't specified on a federal court website. Hartley said in an interview Saturday that he won a $70,000 settlement in that case.

The Kern County grand jury called for the dissolution of Maricopa city government Wednesday, days after releasing two other reports slamming its police department for what it considered aggressive traffic enforcement tactics.

Among other things, the reports charged that Maricopa police were targeting Hispanic drivers, stopping them for minor traffic violations and impounding their vehicles to generate revenue for the city. Maricopa's $150 impound fee was the highest in the county, the grand jury reported, and the city collected 25 percent of the fee through a contract with Randy's Towing.

Jurors also said the town of 1,154 doesn't have enough commercial activity to generate tax revenue for services, suffers from high debt, has a history of fiscal mismanagement and can't maintain its deteriorating infrastructure.

Hartley said when he saw and read media reports on the grand jury's scathing criticism of Maricopa police tactics, he called city officials and police and told them to "cease and desist" impounding the vehicles of Hispanics "without cause" or they would be sued.

A few days later, he got the letter in the mail telling him he was suspected of a crime and to come in for questioning.

Nickerson, who has agreed to represent Hartley, said he is looking into whether the letter amounts to retaliation and violates his client's civil rights.

"I think this is absolutely outrageous," he said. "It's pretty obvious to me and anyone else that this was an attempt to silence and intimidate him."