SAPD Cops Filed Complaints Against Councilmember, Here Is What They Complained About
Newly released complaints show attacks on speech and allege harassment.
Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) officers Luis Casillas, Isaac Ibarra and Nelson Menendez filed hostile work environment complaints against Santa Ana City Councilmember Johnathan Hernandez. The complaints were filed in July and have since been investigated by the city’s human resources department, according to city staff at the October 7 council meeting. The outcome of those investigations was not disclosed.
Last week, a city council majority voted to move forward with an investigation into Hernandez’s alleged conduct, separate from the city’s completed investigation.
The complaints were initially withheld from the public, but after the council meeting the city disclosed them with redactions. Inadvertent determined the redacted identities of the officers using the content of the complaints and public records.
Click the name of the cop to view his complaint: Luis Casillas, Isaac Ibarra, Nelson Menendez.
In Casillas’ complaint, submitted July 15, he cited alleged “slander” and “libelous statements” that Hernandez allegedly made about him in relation to two police killings that Casillas took part in. The killings happened within 30 days of each other. Casillas’ complaint included a screenshot of Hernandez’s official Instagram account reposting Inadvertent’s story about the killings. In the screenshot, Hernandez’s own comment about the incidents said:
“This is not public safety. This is street terrorism. Santa Ana PD needs to be investigated by [Attorney General Rob Bonta] and the Department of Justice. Santa Ana residents are not safe in a community where police believe that they have absolute immunity to kill 2 people in the span of 30 days. SAPD needs to be held accountable.”
Casillas and one of the other complainants, Ibarra, both shot and killed unarmed Noe Rodriguez in a barrage of gunfire on December 1, 2024. Members of the public who were at a restaurant near the shooting called SAPD to report the gunfire, unaware that it was two SAPD cops who unloaded their weapons into an unarmed man, according to the 911 call audio. Rodriguez’s widow, Erika Armenta, called it an “assassination” by Casillas and Ibarra. The killing of Noe Rodriguez by Casillas and Ibarra is currently under investigation by the California Department of Justice.
One month later on January 1, 2025, Casillas killed again when he shot Henry Gonzalez Jr. in the head as he held a knife to his mother.
On June 9, 2025, Casillas is alleged to have participated in the beatdown of a child who had surrendered, according to the child, his mother and a now-deleted video from SAPD.
According to city and SAPD sources not authorized to speak on the issue, Casillas is no longer on active patrol.
Casillas did not respond to a request for comment.
Hernandez said, “A cop who kills two people in 30 days is abandoning public safety. A police officer’s job is to make sure someone has a day in court. I think due process is already underway here and due process was not afforded to Henry Gonzalez Jr. and Noe Rodriguez. Shooting an unarmed man over 32 times is lawless for members of the public and myself.”
In another screenshot attached to Casillas’ complaint, Hernandez’s official Instagram account replied to former SAPD officer Joshua Wiggs’ account stating that Wiggs’ former colleagues who are “murdering members of the public, in some cases killing two people within a thirty day span, they are the ones who look bad.”
The screenshot did not show what preceded Hernandez’s comment.
Wiggs left the department in 2022 after experiencing workplace issues with SAPD top brass, including then-Sergeant, now-Commander Oscar Lizardi. On his podcast, Wiggs has spoken out about the culture at SAPD. In one episode, he referred to when Lizardi allegedly attempted to influence Wiggs’ just before an SAPD Internal Affairs (IA) interview that Wiggs was walking into. The IA interview was related to former SAPD officer Anthony Cardenal. Cardenal has since filed a lawsuit against the city alleging retaliation.
Officer Ibarra’s complaint, submitted July 7, is pegged to similar issues stemming from Hernandez’s commentary about Ibarra killing Rodriguez.
His complaint reads, “...during a livestreamed and publicly recorded City Council meeting, Councilmember Hernandez referred to me as a ‘murderer’ in connection with [a police shooting]1 that occurred on December 1, 2024. This incident remains under investigation, and I have not been afforded due process. His characterization was reckless, defamatory, and prejudicial.”
He also complained about Hernandez allegedly misrepresenting a public interaction. The interaction took place at a city groundbreaking event. Ibarra claimed to have “made every effort to avoid unnecessary interaction.” Hernandez later initiated a conversation where he asked for Ibarra’s name and badge number. At first, Ibarra only provided his last name and told Hernandez, “You know me.”
Hernandez asked again for his badge number, Ibarra provided it and stated, “No time for your political circus right now.”
Here is footage of the interaction. It is a public record.
The body worn camera footage of the public interaction can also be viewed here.
Ibarra’s complaint goes on to say that he no longer feels safe “attending community events or even shopping” in Santa Ana. The complaint makes a vague reference to Hernandez allegedly releasing “internal departmental materials and personal information.”
It is unclear what material or information Ibarra is referring to, but courts have upheld that photographs of police officers are public record.
All of SAPD’s names, badge numbers and photographs are also viewable on Inadvertent’s No Secret Police database.
Ibarra and Casillas were recently sued by Armenta for killing Rodriguez. Armenta is Rodriguez’s widow.
Ibarra did not respond to questions by the time of publishing.
Officer Menendez’s complaint, submitted July 14, is about Hernandez reposting a “defamatory ‘murder flyer.’” The murder flyer is a satirical “be on the lookout” (BOLO) bulletin allegedly created by current and former SAPD officers as a callous prank on Menendez. The BOLO was posted in SAPD’s patrol roll call room on October 23, 2021, and stated that Menendez had lied on radio communications about seeing a gun in Brandon Lopez’s possession. Lopez was Hernandez’s cousin and was killed by Anaheim Police Department (APD) officers with the assistance of SAPD on September 28, 2021.
According to body-worn camera footage released through a lawsuit, Menendez was merely relaying the observations that officers Kenney Aguilar and Luis Galeana were making about Lopez on the day of the incident. Lopez was in fact unarmed: no weapon was located after the shooting. Menendez, in his complaint, reaffirmed this.
The BOLO incident offered a look into the culture of harassment and retaliation inside of the SAPD. Menendez’s complaint states, “At the time the murder flyer was originally discovered, I made a formal complaint and investigations were conducted by the Santa Ana Police Department Internal Affairs and an independent investigator retained by the city. No corrective action was ever taken by the City.”
The complaint also states that Hernandez’s reposting of the BOLO “is part of a clear pattern of harassment and retaliation stemming from my civil lawsuit filed nearly three years ago, which outline discrimination, denial of advancement opportunities, and targeted mistreatment within the Santa Ana Police Department.”
The BOLO became a public record after it was leaked to this reporter and published on Inadvertent’s SAPD Gang series.
Hernandez stated that he shared the article showing the BOLO because after SAPD brutalized the community for protesting against the state-sanctioned kidnappings, members of the public were asking questions of SAPD. He said, “I shared a number of articles that highlighted police misconduct and that article highlights a clear divide within the police department and shows the way that police officers see each other. This is a department that no longer works for the people.”
Menendez could not comment on the matters, citing his ongoing civil lawsuit against the city.
Of the complaints, Councilmember Hernandez said, “These complaints are rooted in attempts to violate my First Amendment rights. The complaints are lodged at me because over the last 10 months, I have seen hundreds of commenters, members of the public, who have lost loved ones to police. I shared an article that was written by [Inadvertent] and officers saw that as harassment. The only people that are accountable for the loss of life of Henry Gonzalez Jr. and Noe Rodriguez are the officers that are being investigated by the DOJ. We believe people deserve due process and that’s why the city council chamber has been used for free speech.”
The actual quote used the passive and vague term “officer-involved-shooting.” Ibarra was indeed involved in the killing — he did it.