Security Guard at Sweetwater Union HS District Meeting Had Cancelled Gun Permit

JDS Exclusive Security Services was contracted by the Sweetwater Union High School District to provide guards for the May 7 board meeting. The company also provided guards for the April 16 meeting, after which John McCann claimed he was threatened by Stewart Payne, one of five people who took corruption allegations to the district attorney.

The incident was detailed on these pages on April 17.

JDS security guard Jorge Sanchez was present during the conflict. He subsequently provided McCann with a statement that enabled McCann to request and have granted a temporary restraining order against Payne. (Though, the night of the incident, Sanchez told this reporter that he didn’t call police because “at no time did I feel it was necessary.”) The hearing will take place on May 9.

At the May 7 board meeting, Payne presented documents to the board from the state’s Bureau of Security and Investigative Services that demonstrated Sanchez, who was wearing a holster the night of the April 16 incident, had his firearm permit cancelled. (The bureau confirmed May 8 that Sanchez’s permit had been cancelled.)

When the board did not act on the matter, Payne took his concerns to Chula Vista police, who were stationed outside the Sweetwater board meeting. Sgt. Kelly Harris took the complaint and said he would give it to Sgt. Michael Walden of the Special Investigations Unit the next day.

Sgt. Walden said in an interview on May 8 that he had verified Sanchez’s permit was cancelled “for personal reasons.” Walden said it was unlikely that there would be an investigation because it was a “stale misdemeanor and was not in the presence of an officer.”

Walden said if there was a gun in Sanchez's holster, it might not have been loaded. Why not ask Sanchez if he had a firearm and if the firearm was loaded? Walden said in the case of a cancelled license, he doubted that a truthful answer would be forthcoming.

He said, however, if there were a similar incident, in the presence of an officer, “by all means we would take enforcement actions.”

JDS did not return phone calls.

In the interest of full disclosure: The author has provided a statement for the May 9 hearing based on her observations and the April 17 interview with Sanchez.