As Not Seen in the Riverside Press-Enterprise, the Frank “Drone Boy” Taylor Caper, Fraud? Kickbacks?

by | May 4, 2018 | 2018 Elections, Riverside County Sheriff's Race, Stan Sniff | 1 comment

Stan Sniff himself in 2009 said the following:

“This is one of the few professions in which tenured employees can destroy their careers with but a single misstep in ethics and integrity. … Hear me clearly at the start of your careers. Violations of integrity and ethical standards are literally `death sentences’ to law enforcement careers.”

My how times have changed with Stan Sniff, look at 2018 now. Crooked donors, crooked employees, corruption…

from a confidential informant contributor:

What’s interesting on your latest drone boy article is this. Why is there a TAP – Captain, never heard of this before in my 35 years. It’s typical handled by a LT who reports to a captain. This LT is assigned a county “rescue” 4×4 unit that’s valued around $85k. I wonder what drone boy is driving. (Prior to Captain Taylor the…) last two (were) Lt’s assigned to this spot. Makes ya wonder. Adds credence to sniff taking care of his buddies. This is drone boys third program he has headed. His last as captain was the license plates readers which he received monies directly from the company.

Stunned, I asked a follow-up question: He was being paid by the reader company while running the RSO program for it?

Yes when he was in palm desert then when promoted / transferred to thermal it continued. He would wear their collared shirts to work and other functions lol. I don’t recall the company name

So, while writing a breaking news post a couple weeks ago, I seemed to have stumbled across more corruption as the information on Frank “Drone Boy” Taylor came in fast and furious.

It also looks like Taylor performed in the time-honored tradition of workplace sexual affairs.

Mr. Taylor also appears to have gotten himself fired at some point for excessive use of force, and common for fired deputies got his job back somehow after being fired.

In the first post about Taylor, I mentioned that Stan Sniff was laying off a whole bunch of “TAP” employees in order to try and look good related to budget issues, yet Taylor – a friend of Stan – was going to be allowed to stay on either in the Tap program or by billing commensurate consulting fees.

Well, we got another problem. Taylor is Quadruple-Dipping the taxpayers!

First – His Pension, Second, His “TAP” program pay, $60ish an hour X 960 Hours a year. Third, his “Consulting” business with the county running the now 4-year-old Drone Program (which is not operational yet). Fourth? Oh mama, that’s the potential felony, read on…

Enter another Anonymous Source (Known to me, like the first one): (I did not correct the typos to ensure authenticity of the source’s comments)

Aaron,

Here is a photo from a recent failed drone operation.  Drone Boy lost the $45K drone in the hills.  If radio connection is lost, the drone is “designed” to return to base.  Well, this did not happen…the drone disappeared in the hills and could not be found.  It took 7 different Deputies, over 4 hours to find this toy.   It was in pieces on the side of a steep hilside.  
Most drones are helicopter style; however, Drone Boy convinced Sniffles to buy a plane type, why.  Wait for it, because Frank Taylor was a representative for the same company.  So after commission for selling the Sheriff “two” drones, at a cost of 45K each, he was hired as a TAP employee to run the program.  All while collecting his retirement.  Cost of training, another 100K.
Several submissions were suggested, including a $5k model helicopter.  So the only reason to go with the more expensive plane model, would be some type of kick back ? Why spend 45k for somethimg that had not been proven to work in our evironment.   Bannings Drone (helicopter style) can fly 5 miles and still be controlled.  Distance on the Sheriff’s drone, “line of site”
Let’s unpack this.
First off, Frank Taylor is alleged to be a salesman / representative for Sentera, the manufacturer of the Drones.
Did Frank Taylor sell the County of Riverside a product that was ill-suited for its’ needs and way more expensive because he was a paid salesman for Sentera?
Note that the two Drones have severe limitations that helicopter style drones do not. One is line of sight, which is a severe limitation in mountainous terrain.
The City of Banning got a drone program up and operational in a matter of months. Was Frank Taylor milking the taxpayers of Riverside County, aided and abetted by Stan Sniff? It is a fair question to ask, as this apparently not the first time he has been a commissioned sales person for a company who is directly involved in a project he is running. Taylor has been working on this program since 2014. As you can see from emails I posted, they are just now getting the Riverside Sheriff’s Drone Program operational.
Lastly, a check of Sentera’s website reveals that the Drone that the County of Riverside paid $23,999 base cost for can be had on the website for $8,499$18,989 a piece!
The Website indicates that the $18,989 pricetag is for a complete system. Note that the County of Riverside paid $39,999 for that.
Did Frank Taylor disclose his financial conflict of interest? Did he disclose his commissions on any of the projects he has worked on? Does the County of Riverside know about the price disparity? Did they look at other options or did they just blindly go with what Drone Boy recommended?
See the final pricetag – $105K. I think we got ripped off. And it will have taken 4 years to get a drone program operational at the cost of how much in salary and benefits? The world of Stan Sniff.

Why did this never appear in the Press Enterprise? 

John Bender, Editor for the Press Enterprise of Riverside was in charge of making sure the Chad Bianco retaliation story came out.  After it came out (01-04-18) sometime in late Jan 2018, he was transferred to the PE Rancho Cucamonga Office (located in San Bernardino County). He was with the PE of Riverside for 15 years.

When I spoke to him….  I asked him:  Did they transfer you because of the Chad Bianco story.? His response: “Appears to be.”

1 Comment

  1. Not surprised by any of this. Taylor was a horrible Captain while at the Indio jail. He tanked Morale, stepped on toes, violated policy, and let inmates run the asylum. He even had a suggestion box for staff ideas. Here’s a suggestion, tell those Dingle berries on sketchy’s ass hair to be prepared to be picked off and flushed with the turd their hanging on too. Go Bianca Go! Drain the outhouse.

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