Advocates demand action after internal report alleges Riverside code officers mistreated street vendors

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In the wake of an internal report alleging that Riverside code enforcement officers mistreated street vendors and entered homes without warrants, advocates have questions:What actions did city officials take upon receiving the report last year?And what will the city do to make whole the alleged victims of the officers, who are accused of deploying aggressive tactics and improperly seizing property over a period of years?“We need to figure out how we can provide a sense of justice to vendors in the immediacy,” said Eddie Torres, policy director at the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice.“And then we can focus on providing policy and other reforms down the line.”City officials said they were working to launch an independent review of the Community and Economic Development Department, which includes the Code Enforcement Division, and to examine past fines and fees issued to vendors.The report was created in August by an investigator hired by the city to probe a whistleblower’s complaint, which alleged that senior code officers Mark Ilagan and Mark Hernandez engaged in potentially unlawful behavior toward citizens, and that supervisors Chris Christopoulos and Jennifer Lilley failed to take action in response.The whistleblower, a code enforcement officer, was escorted from City Hall the day after she filed the complaint.

In the report, the investigator described her removal as “retaliatory” and alleged that Christopoulos and Lilley had created a hostile work environment.The investigator also identified potential legal violations by Ilagan and Hernandez, including allegations of theft, robbery, kidnapping, unlawful entry, impersonating a peace officer and, in the case of Ilagan alone, battery.Ilagan has denied the allegations, and Lilley has said the report contained inaccuracies.

Neither Christopoulos nor Hernandez could be reached for comment.The four no longer work...