A San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy testified Wednesday, Sept. 14, that he was removed from a prestigious motorcycle traffic-enforcement assignment after he criticized what he characterized as a supervisor’s illegal traffic-ticket quota and continued to cite Victorville elected officials, city officials and off-duty deputies over that same supervisor’s objections.

“Quotas are illegal. Period,” Deputy Brian Moler testified in Superior Court in San Bernardino on the first day of a civil whistleblower-retaliation trial over a lawsuit he and two others filed against the county.

“There’s so much distrust in law enforcement. We have to stand up for what’s right, no matter what the cost.”

When Moler lost his motorcycle assignment – a job he said he felt “blessed” to do – he was moved to patrol duty.

“The department tells you to do what’s right. I did that. And I was punished for it,” Moler said.

The other plaintiffs seeking damages are Deputy Jeff Wetmore and retired Sgt. Tim Jordan.

When Wetmore complained of the orders of Capt. Sam Lucia and Lt. Jon Billings, he too was transferred, the lawsuit said.

Jordan, the motorcycle unit supervisor, had to retire because of a hostile work environment, said Moler’s attorney, Ontario-based Christopher L. Gaspard, in his opening statement.

Paloma P. Peracchio, an attorney for Los Angeles-based Burke, Williams and Sorensen and representing the county, told the jurors in her opening statement that scores of deputies are routinely transferred every year, not as punishment, but to expose deputies to more assignments. She said that when Billings told motor officers they should write at least 200 citations a month, it was a guideline and not a quota.

“The truth is that the department’s actions had nothing to do with them. They were not singled out,” Peracchio told jurors. “The fact that the these three disagreed with decisions does not make it retaliation.”

Peracchio said she plans to call Sheriff John McMahon as a witness.

Moler, who said he tried to treat everybody the same, said he he once ticketed the then-mayor of Adelanto for speeding, and cited off-duty sheriff’s deputies. He said many of those officials or deputies pressured him not to write a ticket.

Moler testified that Lucia told him not to cite elected officials because he had to ask them for resources, and not to cite deputies because he feared starting a “station war.” He said he refused Lucia’s order.

In July 2013, Moler testified, Billings told Jordan to tell the motorcycle officers they had to write at least 200 citations a month. Moler quoted Billings as saying he didn’t want to hear anyone “scream ‘quota.’” Moler testified that the California Vehicle Code expressly prohibits quotas.

Gaspard later showed three years of Moler’s annual performance reviews that included “exceeds expectations” in almost all categories. But after Moler’s complaints, a 2014 review included many more of the lesser “meets expectations.” And that review included notations of discipline for what Moler considered minor and mischaracterized offenses.

Moler said he considered that review retaliation.

When Moler was asked if he could think of any deputy who had committed a serious offense and escaped punishment, he described – as Gaspard projected on a screen – a photo showing a deputy dressed as the Grinch, leaning out the window of a Victorville patrol car and waving as the car ran a stoplight and a red-light camera snapped a photo.

“It was posted around the station as if it was a big joke. I didn’t think it was funny,” said Moler, who said the stunt was illegal.

Judge Bryan F. Foster suspended testimony until 10 a.m. Monday just as the cross-examination of Moler began.

Contact the writer: brokos@scng.com or 951-368-9569