CHICO — A Chico police sergeant engaged in numerous sexual relationships while on duty before his termination in January 2025, public records from the Chico Police Department show.
Documents acquired by this newspaper state Sgt. Michael Williams received previous discipline for an on-duty relationship with a subordinate officer. The revelation of his continued on-duty sexual relationships with multiple women indicated “a very concerning progression,” of behavior, stated Chico police Capt. Omar Pena in one of the documents.
According to the documents, Williams had sexual relationships with what appears to be five women while on patrol in 2023. The department became aware of these relationships through a number of avenues.
Williams met one of the women while responding to her report of domestic violence.
Another woman was involved in dozens of calls with the department, including various arrests, and told investigating officers about the relationship. It wasn’t until her mother, concerned the relationship might be illegal due to her daughter “being severely mentally ill,” informed Sgt. Dave Bailey that an investigation began.
Another woman was also involved in calls with the department, and told an officer about the relationship while in the back of his police car. A different woman disclosed her relationship with Williams to Chico police through an ethics reporting platform.
“The system (ethics reporting platform) is designed for members of the public to report waste of City of Chico resources,” wrote Lt. Peter Durfee in one of the investigation reports.
And in another instance, an ex-girlfriend of Williams informed the department he engaged in on-duty sexual relations with her.
Chico police Capt. Jeramie Struthers addressed the legality of Williams’ conduct in a termination notice he sent him on Oct. 23, 2024:
“Your known conduct was not found to be illegal, but rather extremely undesirable. Although no facts in this investigation were proven to be criminal misconduct, your serious misconduct represents a grievous breach of the public’s trust and is wholly unbecoming of your position as a peace officer and as a supervisor.”
The department corroborated the women’s stories by reviewing GPS data from Williams’ patrol vehicle, which was stopped at or near each woman’s house on various occasions for time periods ranging from minutes to upwards of an hour. The department also confiscated Williams’ work-issued cellphone and used its GPS to further corroborate his location.
The department also verified Williams contacted some of the women on his work phone as well as his personal phone.
The woman who filed the ethics report allowed Chico police to view her text messages with Williams during an interview. Over 80 photos of her texts with Williams detail numerous meetings they had for sex while he was on duty, along with exchanges of naked pictures and messages of a sexual nature, according to the investigation report.
These text exchanges were on Williams’ personal phone.
Lt. Peter Durfee holds the phone of a witness in an internal investigation to view and photograph her messages with former Sgt. Michael Williams on Dec. 28, 2023 at the Chico Police Department in Chico, California. (Chico Police Department)Through his relationships with these women, Williams also violated department policy by viewing their personal records with Chico police, according the investigation reports.
In a final memorandum on Williams dated July 7, Struthers wrote, “Sgt. Williams no longer has the means to abuse his position as a police sergeant to exploit citizens, especially potentially vulnerable victims seeking the protection of police.”
The department listed the following reasons for Williams’ firing in his termination notice:
• Violating city of Chico personnel rules• Engaging in sexual relations while on duty• Continued association on a personal basis with a person who engages in violations of state/federal laws• Using personal communication devices to conduct personal business while on duty
Chico Police Chief Billy Aldridge shared this statement with this newspaper: “I do want to share that we take all allegations of misconduct seriously and are committed to ensuring accountability and transparency within our ranks.
“As the records show, once we learned of the allegation of serious misconduct, we followed our established processes, current law, and regulations and acted to conduct a fair and impartial investigation. Ultimately, we sustained the allegations of serious misconduct (as defined by section 832.7 of the Penal Code) and separated Mr. Williams from his employment with the Chico Police Department.
“We understand the importance of maintaining public trust and want to assure our community that the behavior of this individual does not reflect the values or expectations of this department, or the community we are entrusted to serve.”
Williams began working at the Chico Police department in 2013. He was promoted to lieutenant commander in July, 2019 when he began working as a school resource officer. Sometime after, he was demoted to sergeant and placed back on patrol.
While Chico police declined to verify why he was demoted due to policy and personnel regulations, an instance of previous discipline is noted in the documents: “His first misconduct investigation detailed in PCN 21-11, was of an inappropriate relationship (a romantic relationship) with a subordinate officer.”
This newspaper requested documents from this investigation regarding the inappropriate relationship with the subordinate officer, but was denied due to government code section 7922.000.
The most recent OpenPayrolls listing for Williams lists his sergeant pay as $109,181.48 in 2022. The most he was paid, according to the site, was $130,339.53 in 2021 as lieutenant.
This newspaper requested comment from Williams and his attorney, Julia Fox, on Thursday and has yet to receive a response.
Investigation 1
The first investigation, documented as IA 23-0027, detailed relationships he had with four women. This investigation was completed by Durfee.
This investigation was launched, as previously stated, when the mother of one of the women notified Bailey expressing concern about the relationship due to her daughter’s mental illness. The IA 23-0027 document states the woman was well known by Chico police officers through numerous calls for service.
This document — dated Sept. 13, 2024 — states she was involved in 56 calls for service since January 2023.
“The calls for service range from assault with a deadly weapon, welfare checks, battery, theft, trespassing, DUI drugs, resisting arrest, and mental health evaluations,” stated the report.
Throughout these calls for service, she informed 11 police and Butte County Sheriff’s Office officials of the relationship, according to the report.
On Nov. 20, 2023, this woman was being held at Chico Police Department’s temporary holding facility for various charges. Detective Miranda Pierce interviewed the woman, who told her she was having a sexual relationship with Williams and that they slept together on her yoga mat.
Durfee interviewed her the next day at the Butte County Sheriff’s Office Detective Bureau, according to the report. Durfee writes that he struggled to keep the woman focused on his questions, and that she continued going on tangents about the recent crimes she was held for and other unrelated topics.
When Durfee was able to get her to focus on Williams, she stated: “He would bring me over a bottle of whiskey and a burrito and we had sex, I don’t know, like 10 times.”
Durfee asked her if Williams came over in uniform and she said “yea.” He asked if they did anything while he was in uniform, and the woman said Williams let her try it on one time. Durfee asked if they did anything while she wore the uniform.
“No I was just smiling,” replied the woman.
Durfee pulled GPS data of Williams’ patrol vehicle to check his visits to this woman’s residence and found, “On five separate occasions Sgt. Williams patrol vehicle was stopped at this location for an extended period of time, between 24 and 33 minutes.”
Durfee reviewed William’s police issued telephone to further corroborate this woman’s story. During the same time period that his car was at her residence, Williams called her 11 times, received four calls from her and exchanged 199 text messages, according to the report.
The second woman listed in the report was previously investigated by the department as a suspect in a stabbing incident. This woman reportedly told Officer Austin Jones about the relationship after he arrested her for an incident in June, 2022.
Durfee interviewed Jones about the arrest and detailed their conversation in the report:
“Officer Jones indicated (redacted) made a statement regarding her arrest that was something similar to, ‘please don’t tell Officer Williams.’ Officer Jones asked why and she responded by saying something similar to ‘because he’s been f—ing me every night.’”
Durfee attempted to interview this woman in the investigation but she did not comply. Durfee reviewed Williams’ patrol vehicle GPS and noted 10 times his vehicle was stopped at her residence over a two-month time period in 2023. Two of the stops exceeded 30 minutes.
The third woman mentioned in the report is the one who filed the ethics report. She stated she had sex with Williams “five or six times,” while he was on duty, according to the report. This woman stated she met Williams while he was off duty at Anthony’s Liquor.
“(redacted) Stated they had sex on each occasion and she stated he was always on duty, in uniform, and in a marked patrol vehicle,” stated the report.
GPS data from Williams’ patrol vehicle showed Williams parked at this woman’s residence nine times.
“Of the nine separate instances, April 12, 2023, April 19, 2023, May 10, 2023, and September 11, 2023, are days Sgt. Williams vehicle GPS coordinates are in line with dates he and (redacted) were communicating via text,” stated the report.
Durfee interviewed this woman at the Chico Police Department on Dec. 28, 2023. In this interview, she allowed Durfee to view and take photos of her text messages with Williams.
“Included in the text messages is a photograph of Sgt. Williams in a Chico Police uniform, a photograph of Sgt. (Williams) in a swimming pool, multiple photographs of a penis sent from Sgt. Williams’ personal cellular device, and multiple photographs of (redacted) nude and showing her vagina,” stated the report.
A memorandum on the first investigation completed by Pena states this woman’s claims of on-duty sexual relations were corroborated by the GPS data and her messages.
“In fact, (redacted) messages outright accuse WILLIAMS of only wanting to have sex while he is on-duty, a communication that is not challenged by WILLIAMS,” wrote Pena.
The final woman listed in the report was an ex-girlfriend who lived with Williams. On April 1, 2024 she reached out to Durfee wanting to give a statement.
“I’m just now realizing all the lies he told me,” she said, according to the report.
Durfee interviewed her on April 10, 2024, and asked her if she and Williams had sex while he was on duty. She replied, “yes.”
“When questioned as to how many times she and Williams had sex on duty (redacted) stated ‘a lot,’” stated the report.
In his memorandum on this investigation Pena wrote: “It should be noted that the definition of serious misconduct, per 832.7 PC, does not exempt sexual acts with one’s spouse or significant other. Any sexual act on duty is defined as a sexual assault for purposes of misconduct investigations.”
Investigation 2
Chico police initiated the second investigation into Williams on Oct. 20, 2024, three days before the department notified him of their intent to fire him.
This investigation addressed the woman Williams met while responding to her domestic violence report on Sept. 26, 2023.
“It is not only a policy violation to engage in a romantic relationship with the victim of a crime, but also generally accepted principle in law enforcement that these types of relationships are out of bounds,” wrote Pena in a memorandum on the investigation. “Victims, particularly those of domestic violence incidents, are usually experiencing trauma and may be in a vulnerable state.”
Chico police became aware of this relationship when this woman’s ex-boyfriend informed the department asking, “Is that legal?”
“The preponderance of the evidence is that he (Williams) carried out this relationship while he worked on-duty,” stated the report. “It is not explicitly clear that he engaged in sexual acts while on duty, but the behavior is consistent with that previous conduct and meets the preponderance of the evidence.”
Ratto interviewed the woman in question about the relationship. She stated that their sexual encounters all occurred while Williams was off duty. Ratto asked her if Williams used any type of coercion or his position of authority to have sex with her.
“No, absolutely not, I wish he would have used his handcuffs once or twice, but no, no he didn’t,” said the woman.
While this woman said their sexual relationships occurred off duty, the report noted GPS evidence showing Williams’ vehicle at her residence while he was working along with evidence from his phone’s GPS.
“The location data from his work cellphone shows that on at least one occasion he was there for just over an hour; of concern was the fact that his vehicle’s GPS was not operational for over 4 hours during this time period (it is not possible to identify if this was a deliberate act or a mechanical issue),” stated the report. “The coincidence is suspicious.”
While the woman denied the on-duty relationship, Pena wrote in his memorandum: “I find that there is enough evidence that WILLIAMS engaged in sexual acts on duty consistent with IA#23-0027.”
“It is important to note that this incident was reported late to our Professional Standards Unit, and the conduct investigated here, occurred during the same time frame as the other instances investigated in IA#23-0027,” wrote Pena.
“This relationship would have been later than some of those investigated and is indicative of a progression, from inappropriate relationships at work, to inappropriate conduct during duty hours, to now using the work contacts as a means of facilitating these relationships,” he further stated. “This progression is a significant concern and highlights the potential for continued progression into further unacceptable and concerning conduct.
“This begs the question, what type of conduct will this escalate into?” wrote Pena.
Investigation timeline
Nov. 21, 2023: Chico police notify Williams he is under administrative investigation but permitted to keep working.
Nov. 24, 2023: Williams goes on leave “due to a work-related injury.”
January 17, 2024: The department sends a request to Williams asking that he come to the department for an investigation interview.
May 29, 2024: The department sends its sixth request that year for Williams to attend an interview.
April 18, 2024: Williams’ attorney emails Durfee saying Williams will not be participating in an interview.
April 19, 2024: Aldridge orders Williams attend an investigation interview. He never does.
Aug. 14, 2024: Durfee notifies Williams his police powers are suspended and he is to turn in his police gear.
Aug. 19, 2024: Pena retrieves a box of Williams police gear from his front porch.
Oct. 20, 2024: Chico police initiate a second investigation into Williams regarding another woman.
Oct. 23, 2024: Struthers notifies Williams of the department’s intent to fire him.
Oct. 31, 2024: Fox submits a Skelly hearing request.
Jan. 27: Aldridge and Struthers hold Williams’ Skelly hearing with Fox on Zoom without Williams.
Jan. 28: Williams is terminated.
May 16: Williams voluntarily surrenders his peace officer certification.
Aldridge wrote in Williams’ final termination notice: “During the conference, the following points were addressed by Julia Fox”:
• You do not deny the behavior was egregious and accept your mistakes
• You are seeking (redacted)
• You could not attend due to (redacted)
• You feel there is a disparate treatment in the organization with discipline
• You will appeal if terminated
Background on Williams
Williams has two LinkedIn accounts, one with his job title listed as “sergeant,” while the other lists “lieutenant.” The sergeant one appears more up to date, and lists his current location as Bend, Oregon.
According to his LinkedIn accounts, Williams graduated from Chico State with his bachelor’s in public administration and criminal justice in 2003. That same year he began working at the San Mateo Police Department.
In 2010, he received his masters in public administration from Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California.
This newspaper requested documents from the San Mateo Police Department regarding Williams time at the department.
“Michael William’s personnel records were purged in March 2025 as he separated from SMPD on March 1, 2014. We hold personnel records for 10 years from termination date per our city retention schedule, therefore we have no responsive records,” stated Jen Maravillas, the department’s support services captain in an email to this newspaper.
In 2013, he began working at the Chico Police Department, according to his LinkedIn. Williams later received a master’s degree from Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California in 2022.
In his “about” section for the more recent appearing LinkedIn account he states: “With a steadfast commitment to public safety and community service, my role as Police Sergeant at the City of Chico encompasses leadership, crisis management, and fostering trust between law enforcement and the community.”
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