[Editor's Note: The following story was updated for our Friday, Feb. 28 print edition. The original postings follow below.]

The Beginning

On June 7, 2017 the Beachcomber broke a news story surrounding the scandal involving Long Beach councilmember Jeannine Pearce involving drunk driving, domestic violence and the City Hall cover-up that followed. In addition to the months-long fallout surrounding the scandal, the chatter among those who pay close attention to Long Beach city hall politics quickly focused upon Pearce’s weakened ability to be re-elected in 2020. The chatter, especially among those close to Mayor Robert Garcia’s Long Beach political orbit, focused upon one name in particular as a potential candidate to replace Pearce when the time came – Cindy Adele Allen. Where is Allen’s Primary Residence? Twenty-six days later, on July 3, 2017, Allen changed her 21-year Orange County status as a Republican voter to Democrat and her primary address from the family home she and her husband have owned in Fountain Valley over that 21-year period to a one-bedroom condo they purchased in 2008 – and rent out though Airbnb – at 488 E. Ocean Blvd, in downtown Long Beach. Cindy Allen’s statement of economic interest with the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), as amended on Dec. 11, 2019, reveals she now owns a two-bedroom condo at 488 E. Ocean Blvd and a one-bedroom condo at 388 E. Ocean Blvd. Her filing indicates that the one-bedroom unit produces Airbnb rental income of between $10,000 and $100,000 annually and that the two-bedroom condo and the Allen family Fountain Valley home in Orange County provide no income. In email correspondence with Allen she stated, “Per county records I have been registered at 488 E. Ocean Blvd. #1502 (the two-bedroom condo) since 2008. A review of FPPC Form 460 contribution records contradicts that statement. Form 460 contribution records show that both Allen and her husband used the Fountain Valley address when donating to Robert Garcia’s campaign for mayor on Aug. 22, 2013 and Allen used the Fountain Valley address again on Feb. 8, 2016 when donating to the Al Austin re-election campaign for City Council. Allen further stated that the reason there is no income reported for her Fountain Valley home is, “This is the home of my adult son and the property is in my name.” That statement is inconsistent with voter registration records dated Feb. 18, 2020 that reveal “other voters in the household” (the one-bedroom at 488 E. Ocean) to be David Allen (her adult son) and Amber Polega (an ETA employee and the “co-host” of this address for Airbnb). The law requires that the primary residence of all Long Beach city council candidates be in the district in which they are running at least 30 days prior to Dec. 6, 2019. Shedding a Conflict of Interest Allen is the founder and owner of ETA (aka ETA Advertising); a Long Beach-based advertising business. According to public records, the business is valued at $1,000,000 with rollover production contracts with the City of Long Beach valued close to $500,000 annually. In addition to city accounts that include the Port, Public Works, Long Beach Transit and the Long Beach Water Department, reports indicate that other ETA income is derived from servicing the media needs of the Garcia Measure A tax committees, the Measure M utility tax and the various re-election campaigns and political events associated with the Garcia political machine, making it clear that Allen’s ETA business relationship with City Hall would amount to a clear (and possibly illegal) conflict of interest if she were to be elected to the 2nd District council seat on March 3. ETA Agency Sold – Or Was It? On Oct. 2, 2019, after rumors that Pearce would bow out of the race had been building for some time (those rumors proved correct several weeks later), PR Newswire carried a press release by Zachary Stroud, president and CEO of Blume Media, announcing that his company had “entered into a definitive agreement as of Oct. 1, 2019 to acquire ETA. Three days later (Oct. 4) the Blume Media Website, Blume360.com, was registered and created for the first time. Six days later (Oct. 11) Cindy Adele Allen announced in a Press-Telegram article that she “will soon sell her downtown Long Beach advertising and marketing firm, ETA, to Zachary Stroud’s Blume Media Group.” Public records in the State of Georgia revealed that more than a month following the announcements (Nov. 11) Zachary Stroud, as the principle business agent, formed Blume Media Group as a Georgia Corporation and recorded his private home in Roswell, Georgia as Blume Media’s headquarters. A Beachcomber review of the Blume360.com website revealed it to have the appearance of a highly professional, full-motion web presentation that painted Blume Media, Inc. as a thriving multifaceted media-based international business with global headquarters in Los Angeles and satellite offices in London and Singapore. A simple Google search of the office addresses, however, reveals them all to be shared works paces. The website features photos with impressive mouse-over resumes of Blume’s top executive team, including Hannah Cook, COO, Brooke Williams, CEO, Gavin Atkins, Chief Product Officer and Jay Kennedy, Chief Financial Officer. The contact information on the Blume Media website did not include a telephone number, but a telephone contact for the company – (310) 853-8700) – was found via a separate web search registered to a temporary space rental location near Culver City. An automated answering device provided a touch-tone directory to reach individuals in the company or a designated dial key to reach media relations. The Beachcomber was unsuccessful in finding a directory number for Zachary Stroud so a voice mail and call back number was left with the media relations voice mailbox. An hour later, on Sunday, Feb. 16, Zachary Stroud returned the call. The number he called from – (678) 613-2286 – is registered to Zachary Stroud in the State of Georgia. When asked about his acquisition of Allen’s ETA and when the sale closed, he said, “It’s not closed yet.” When asked when he expected the sale to close he said, “I’d rather you talk to my Chief Financial Officer, Jay Kennedy, about that. He’s closer to all of our business negotiations with Cindy Allen and ETA.” The Beachcomber asked how to go about reaching Kennedy and Stroud said, “Use the same Los Angeles number you called to get me – (310) 853-8700. He’s in the automated directory.” Stroud declined to answer further questions about his company or the ETA buyout and ended the conversation. The Beachcomber called the Blume Media Los Angeles number again and used the touch-tone directory to connect to the company CFO, Jay Kennedy. The automated operator responded, “No match is found.” The Beachcomber then entered each of the other three Blume Media executives named along with Kennedy on the Blume360.com website and again received a “no match is found” response. A public record search in the State of Georgia revealed that Zachary Stroud has a criminal history including bigamy and possibly other crimes. The Beachcomber asked Joe Mello, a Long Beach community correspondent and LB4D blog writer/publisher to apply his computer skills to the photos of the four Blume executives pictured on the company website to determine if matched images could be found online. Mello reported back (and provided documentation) that exact images of each executive pictured – as well as other headshots of company employees on the website – could be found in other, unrelated, web advertisements and stock photo collections. None of the stock images lifted from the web for the Blume website and identified by Stroud and/or the mouse-over resumes were of persons the website information represented them to be. During a telephone conversation with Allen on Feb. 18 the Beachcomber asked several questions related to the sale of ETA to Blume Media. Allen said, “I’d prefer that you address those questions to Zach Stroud. I am under a confidentiality agreement with Zach and don’t want to say anything that will get me into legal trouble. I had the same kind of agreement when I bought the Long Beach Post from Robert (Garcia).” Allen was asked if she would be able to provide a copy of the confidentiality agreement to the Beachcomber. She said, “I don’t see why not. But, let me talk to my attorney about it first and I’ll get back to you.” Allen was asked if she suspected anything about Stroud or the business deal to be fraudulent. She said that the business arrangement was fully vetted and that she has no suspicions. Allen said that she did not meet with Blume’s CFO Jay Kennedy or any of the executives named on the Blume Media website during the sale negotiations. She said, “I met only with Zach Stroud during the entire process.” Allen added that her employees met on several occasions with members of the Blume executive team named on the Blume website to discuss future plans and the direction of the company. When asked what her plan would be to avoid conflicts of interest, should the sale of ETA to Blume fail to close, Allen responded, “Oh, its closed. I’ve got the money. I’m already out of there. I have nothing to do with ETA business any longer.” Allen said that all ETA employees are now employees of Blume Media. When asked if her top ETA executive, Adam Carrillo – husband of former Garcia council field deputy, Long Beach councilmember and recently elected state senator Lena Gonzalez – would speak with the Beachcomber about his meetings with the Blume executives, she said, “Of course he will” and later provided a contact number. Messages left with Carrillo on Feb. 18 had not been returned by the time of publication. Adam Carrillo and Allen’s adult son are listed in public documents as contributors to the Allen campaign. Each lists their employer as Blume Media. Amber Polega also made contributions to the campaign on the same date and listed her employer as ETA, not Blume. Cindy Allen is currently featured on the ETA website as Founder. Adam Carrillo is featured as ETA’s executive VP, strategy. Public records indicate that there has been no change in ownership of ETA, nor has Blume Media registered as a corporate entity doing business in California, Los Angeles, Culver City or Long Beach. Following the Feb. 17 email communication with Allen, the Beachcomber discovered that she electronically filed form 700 amendments later the same day and updated financial details on two bank loans. The Beachcomber emailed Allen on Feb. 20 and posed the question: “If the agency has been sold, as you said in our telephone conversation, and you thought to update existing bank loans, why is it you did not file an amendment to register the sale of your business? At the time of this publication Allen has not responded to the question nor provided the Beachcomber with a copy of the confidentiality agreement. Since publication of the original online version of this article, the following has occurred: The Airbnb advertisement for the rental of Allen’s one-bedroom condo has been removed from the Airbnb website. The photos of the “Team” featuring the four fictitious executives on the Blume360.com website have been removed and replaced with the image of a coffee cup bearing a “B” logo. On Feb. 22 the LB Post published a responsive article to the Beachcomber exposé. LB Post’s Jeremiah Dobruck’s interview saw Allen morph from savvy business woman to helpless victim who knew nothing about the con-man to whom she sold her million dollar business. The Gazette’s reporting, published Feb. 27, delivered even more contradictions when comparing her statements to all prior articles. On Feb. 26 the Beachcomber emailed Allen and asked if she would like to retract or clarify several of the statements she made in our Feb. 18 interview that were in conflict with those she made in the LB Post and Gazette interviews. Allen did not respond. At the time of publication none of the 18 elected officials or the Los Angeles Democratic Party are known have withdrawn their endorsements supporting Allen’s bid for the LBD2 council seat. https://www.cindyallen.com/endorsements. On Feb. 25 multiple sections of the Blume Media Group website were removed, leaving only a presence for Blume TV, which proclaims a (false) association with ROKU-TV. (Editor’s Note: This article was originally published online Feb. 19 and updated online Feb. 22. ] Stephen Downing is a resident of Long Beach and a retired LAPD deputy chief of police. stephen.beachcomber@gmail.com SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM. CLICK HERE TO DONATE .

[Editor's Note: Text below was posted online last week when this story was "breaking news."]

The Beginning

On June 7, 2017 the Beachcomber broke a news story surrounding the scandal involving Long Beach councilmember Jeannine Pearce involving drunk driving, domestic violence and the LBPD/city manager cover-up that followed.

In addition to the months-long fallout surrounding the scandal, the chatter among those who pay close attention to Long Beach City Hall politics quickly focused upon Pearce’s weakened ability to be re-elected in 2020.

The chatter, especially among those close to Mayor Robert Garcia’s Long Beach political orbit, focused upon one name in particular as a potential candidate to replace Pearce when the time came – Cindy Adele Allen.

Evolution of a Council Candidate

It is rationally feasible that Ms. Allen also heard the chatter.

Twenty-six days later, on July 3, 2017, Allen changed her 21-year Orange County status as a Republican voter to Democrat and her primary address from the family home she and her husband have owned in Fountain Valley over that 21-year period to a one-bedroom condo they purchased in 2008 – and rent though Air BnB – at 488 E. Ocean Blvd., in downtown Long Beach.

In addition to documents establishing Ms. Allen’s residence being the one-bedroom condo, current voter registration records dated Feb. 18, 2020 reveal “other voters in the household” to be David Allen and Amber Polega; reported to be Allen’s adult children.

Public records also indicate that Randal Allen – “as a married man as his sole and separate property” – purchased a two-bedroom condo in 2018 at 388 Ocean, unit 1116.

Cindy Allen’s form 700 filed on Dec. 6, 2019 as a statement of economic interest with the Fair Political Practices Commission reveals that both condos provide an Air BnB rental income of between $10,000 and $100,000 annually and that the Allen Fountain Valley home in Orange County provides no income.

Shedding a Conflict of Interest

The next event that suggested Ms. Allen might have had her sights on the Council District 2 vacancy came on the heels of the Nov. 1, 2019 announcement by Councilmember Pearce that she would not run for re-election.

Ms. Allen is the founder and owner of Agency ETA; a Long Beach based advertising business.

According to public records the business is valued at $1,000,000 with rollover production contracts with the City of Long Beach valued close to $700,000 annually.

In addition to several public and private entities, reports indicate that other Agency ETA income is derived from servicing the media needs of the Garcia Measure A tax committees, the Measure M utility tax and the various re-election campaigns and political events associated with the Garcia political machine as well as other city hall interests, all making it clear that Allen’s Agency ETA business relationship with City Hall posed a clear (and possibly illegal) conflict of interest if she were to be elected to the 2nd District Council seat on March 3.

Agency ETA Sold – Or Was It?

On Oct. 2, 2019, 30 days after the Pearce announcement, Zachary Stroud, president and CEO of Blume Media, announced via a PRNewswire press release that his company had “entered into a definitive agreement as of Oct. 1, 2019 to acquire Agency ETA, in order to deepen the company’s talent base and capacity to take on the biggest and most challenging creative project for emerging and global brands across southern California and the western region of the U.S.”

Nine days later, on Oct. 11, 2019 Cindy Adele Allen announced that she “will soon sell her downtown Long Beach advertising and marketing firm, Agency ETA, to Zachary Stroud’s Blume Media Group.”

At the time Allen declined to confirm whether she was considering a run for the Second District City Council seat.

Three days later Allen announced that she would in fact run for the council seat.

Between the Zachary Stroud/Blume Media announcement and Allen’s Oct. 11 declaration to run, Beachcomber research found that on Oct 4, 2019 the Blume Media Website, Blume360.Com, was registered and created for the first time.

Public records in the State of Georgia revealed that one month later, on Nov. 11, 2019, – 41 days after announcing the Blume Media acquisition of Agency ETA Zachary Stroud, representing himself as the registered principle business agent, formed Blume Media Group as a Georgia Corporation and recorded his private home in Roswell Georgia as Blume Media’s headquarters.

Beachcomber review of the Blume360.com website revealed it to be a highly professional, full motion web presentation that painted Blume Media, Inc. as a thriving multifaceted media-based business enterprise with global headquarters in Los Angeles.

The website features photos with impressive mouse-over resumes of Blume’s top executive team, including Hannah Cook, COO, Brock Williams, CEO, Gavin Atkins, Chief Product Officer and Jay Kennedy, Chief Financial Officer.

The contact information on the Blume Media website did not include a telephone number, but a telephone contact for the company was found via a separate web search.

That number (310-853-8700) is registered to a temporary space rental location near Culver City.

An automated answering device provided a touch-tone directory to reach individuals in the company or a designated dial key to reach media relations.

The Beachcomber was unsuccessful in finding a directory number for Zachary Stroud so a voice mail and call back number was left with the media relations voice mailbox.

An hour later, on Sunday, Feb. 16, Zachary Stroud returned the call.

Beachcomber research determined that the number Stroud called from (678-613-2286) is registered to Stroud in the State of Georgia.

When asked about his acquisition of Allen’s Agency ETA and when the sale closed he said, “it’s not closed yet.”

When asked when he expected the sale to close he said, “I’d rather you talk to my Chief Financial Officer, Jay Kennedy, about that. He’s closer to all of our business negotiations with Cindy Allen and ETA.”

The Beachcomber asked how to go about reaching Mr. Kennedy and Stroud said, “Use the same Los Angeles number you called to get me (310-853-8700). He’s in the automated directory.”

Stroud then declined to answer further questions about his company or the Agency ETA buyout and ended the conversation.

The Beachcomber called the Blume Media Los Angeles number again and used the touch-tone directory to connect to the company CFO, Jay Kennedy.

The automated operator responded, “No match is found.”

The Beachcomber then entered each of the other three Blume Media Executives named along with Kennedy on the Blume360.com website and again received a “no match is found” response.

A public record search in the State of Georgia revealed that Zachary Stroud has an extensive criminal history for crimes such as bigamy, eluding police, probation violations and warrant arrests.

The Beachcomber asked Joe Mello, a Long Beach community correspondent and KB4D blog writer/publisher to apply his computer skills to the photos of the four Blume executives pictured on the company website to determine if matched images could be found on the world-wide web.

Mello reported back (and provided documentation) that an exact image of each executive pictured – as well as other head shots of company employees on the website – was found in other, unrelated, web advertisements and stock photo collections.

None of the stock images grifted from web collections for the Blume website and identified by Stroud and/or the mouse-over resumes were of persons the website information represented them to be.

Back to the Cindy Allen Condo

The 1-bedroom Long Beach condo attached to Cindy Adele Allen’s voter registration – referred to at the top of this article – has been listed over the years on the Air BnB website as available for rent at a daily, weekly or monthly rate.

The owner – identified as Adele - is listed as a Superhost.

On Feb. 16, 2020 the Beachcomber established that the Air BnB listing was still active on the web.

On Feb. 17, at 5:30 p.m. the Beachcomber sent an email to Ms. Allen questioning the validity of 488 E. Ocean Blvd, unit 1502, as her primary residence as required by election law, a timeline as to when she expected the sale of Agency ETA to close and an explanation of how she intended to handle the conflict of interest if Agency ETA did not sell if elected.

At 11:48 p.m. Allen corresponded by email asking for more detail as to the documents regarding residency the Beachcomber was looking for. The email did not address the Blume Media issues. The Beachcomber responded to her questions via return email.

On Feb. 18, the condo listing was no longer advertised on the Air BNB website.

On the afternoon of Feb. 18 Allen called the Beachcomber to provide assurance that she was researching the residency documentation and would provide detailed answers by the Beachcomber’s Feb. 19 noon deadline “if at all possible.”

During that phone conversation the Beachcomber asked Allen several questions related to the sale of Agency ETA to Blume Media.

Ms. Allen said, “I’d prefer that you address those questions to Zach Stroud. I am under a confidentiality agreement with Zach and don’t want to say anything that will get me into legal trouble. I had the same kind of agreement when I bought the Long Beach Post from Robert (Garcia).”

Allen was asked if she would be able to provide a copy of the confidentiality agreement to the Beachcomber. She said, “I don’t see why not. But, let me talk to my attorney about it first and I'll get back to you.”

Allen was asked if she suspected anything about Stroud or the business deal to be fraudulent. She said that the business arrangement was fully vetted and that she had no suspicions.

Allen said that she did not meet with Blume’s CFO Jay Kennedy or any of the executives named on the Blume Media website during the sale negotiations. She said, “I met only with Zach Stroud during the entire process.”

Allen added that her employees met on several occasions with members of the Blume executive team named on the Blume website to discuss future plans and the direction of the company.

When asked what her plan was to avoid conflicts of interest if elected and the sale of Agency ETA to Blume Media did not close, Allen responded, “Oh, its closed. I’ve got the money. I’m already out of there. I have nothing to do with Agency ETA business any longer.”

Allen said that all Agency ETA employees are now employees of Blume Media.

When asked if her top ETA executive, Adam Carrillo - husband of former Garcia council field deputy, Long Beach councilmember and recently elected state senator Lena Gonzalez – would speak with the Beachcomber about his meetings with the Blume executives she said, “Of course he will” and later provided a contact number asked for by the Beachcomber.

Messages left with Carrillo on Feb. 18 had not been returned by the time of publication.

After speaking with Allen on Feb. 18, an attempt to reach Zachary Stroud by telephone was unsuccessful. His phone was auto-answered on the first ring with the message, “this mailbox is full.” The line disconnected.

Adam Carrillo and Allen’s adult son are listed in public documents as contributors to the Allen campaign. Each lists their employer as Blume Media.

Allen’s daughter also made contributions to the campaign and listed her employer as Agency ETA.

Cindy Allen is currently featured on the Agency ETA website as founder. Adam Carrillo is featured as ETA’s executive VP, Strategy.

Public records indicate that there has been no change in ownership of Agency ETA, nor has Blume Media registered as a corporate entity doing business in California, Los Angeles, Culver City or Long Beach.

On Feb. 19 at 1:21 p.m. Allen responded to the questions originally emailed to her on Feb. 17 with follow ups on Feb. 18 regarding her Long Beach residency. The content of the last email exchange follows:

Beachcomber: The documents to which I refer include the California form 700 entitled Schedule B, Interests in Real Property from the Fair Political Practices Commission and documents related to your change in voter registration on June 3, 2017.

Allen Response: Per the county records I have been registered at 488 E. Ocean Blvd. #1502 since 2008. The 2017 reference i believe is a change in mailing address for the absentee ballot.

Beachcomber: The inconsistencies to which I refer go to the nature of the information contained in the filings. Your voter registration change in June 2017 indicates a change of address from your Fountain Valley home to one of the two condos you own in downtown Long Beach; that being the one-bedroom condo at 488 E. Ocean – unit 1502.

Allen Response: Again, I was registered at this address (488 E. Ocean Blvd.) and was not registered at a different address.

Beachcomber: The Form 700 (as well as county property records) indicates that you continue to own the Fountain Valley home with no income derived from that property…

Allen Response: This is the home of my adult son and the property is in my name.

Beachcomber: …and that you have an Air B&B annual income of between $10,000 and $100,000 on each of the condo properties in Long Beach, including the two-bedroom located at 388 E Ocean – unit 1116.

Alle Response: I own 2 condo units in the same complex in downtown Long Beach. The 488 unit I purchased in 2006, and the 388 unit I recently purchased in 2018. Over the last year and a half, I have been remodeling the new unit and have lived in both units on and off. I recently moved to 388 full time now that my renovations are done. My primary residence is 388 E. Ocean. I do not Airbnb 388 E. Ocean, nor has it ever been listed to be Airbnb. I fixed that clerical error right after the filing and that can be seen on the 700-AM form.

Beachcomber: The Air B&B pattern of rental and the level of income reported on each condo appear to be inconsistent with one using either condo as a primary residence.

Allen Response: My primary residence is 388 E. Ocean and I do not Airbnb it nor has it ever been listed to be Airbnb. I fixed that clerical error right after the filing and that can be seen on the 700-AM.

Beachcomber: With that said, if you in fact have established your primary residence in either condo, we would appreciate an explanation as to the Air B&B income/advertising/rental pattern as well as specifics as to the date you moved from your Fountain Valley home and the address where you established your primary residence in Long Beach along with any documentation that may support that change of primary address and the status of occupancy at your Fountain Valley home.

Allen Response: 488 E. Ocean is the only residence that has any rental income from Airbnb. It is mainly used for family, friends and occasionally Airbnb. We bought our property in 2006 and I registered to vote in district 2 in 2008 per the Voter Registration Application.

Beachcomber: (What is) the status of occupancy at your Fountain Valley home today?

Allen Response: This is the home of my adult son and the property is in my name.

Beachcomber: Thank you in advance for your prompt reply to these questions as well as those addressed in my prior email related to the Blume Media acquisition.

Allen Response: I have a sales agreement with Blume. I no longer work at ETA and have helped with the transition. This was a private sale and I am bound by a confidentially agreement; please contact Blume with any specific questions.

This story is developing and will be updated as new information is received.

UPDATE: February 22, 2020

The Beachcomber located Form 700 Amendments for the Cindy Allen campaign on the California State FPPC Disclosure Docs eRetrieved website and confirmed her statement that on Dec.11, 2019 she corrected her Dec. 6, 2019 information by removing the rental income entry on the 2-bedroom condo.

However other public records contradict her Feb. 19 statement (above) when Allen wrote, “We bought our property in 2006 and I registered to vote in District 2 in 2008 per the Voter Registration Application.”

Since receiving her Feb. 19 email the Beachcomber reviewed state of California form 460 contribution records and found that both Ms. Allen and her husband used the Fountain Valley address when donating to Robert Garcia’s campaign for mayor on Aug. 22, 2013 and Ms. Allen used the Fountain Valley address again on Feb. 8, 2016 when donating to the Al Austin campaign for City Council.

Additionally, at the time of the FPPC web search we uncovered public records indicating that just prior to Allen’s Feb. 17, 2020 email response to the Beachccomber she also electronically filed another 700 Amendment at 11:14 p.m., and updated financial details on two bank loans. We noted that there are no FPPC form 700 amendments filed that record the “disposal” of “ETA Advertising,” as would be required if that asset was sold.

The Beachcomber emailed Ms. Allen on Feb. 20 at 11:28 p.m. and acknowledged the correction on the 2-bedroom condo as having no rental income. We also posed the question: "If the agency has been sold, as you said in our telephone conversation, and you thought to update existing bank loans (in the Form 700 file), why is it you did not file an amendment to register the sale of your business?

As of this update Allen has not responded.

The Beachcomber also found that the photos of the “Team” of the four fictitious executives on the Blume360.com website has been removed. In its place is a picture of a coffee cup bearing a “b” logo.

Stephen Downing is a resident of Long Beach and a retired LAPD deputy chief of police.