Longtime County Employee Placed on Leave Following Alleged Unauthorized Deletion of Thousands of Files

EL CENTRO — A Long time Imperial County employee who has been employed for over 30 years has been placed on administrative leave after an internal review found that over 8,700 files were allegedly deleted from a County-issued computer without proper authorization, according to a statement issued Thursday by the Imperial County Executive Office.

“This activity raised serious concerns and prompted us to initiate an internal assessment of the facts,” the County stated in its press release. “The decision was based solely on objective facts and not on tenure or upcoming milestones.”

The employee, identified as Terri Gonzalez, works for the Imperial County Behavioral Health Department and addressed the Board of Supervisors during the public comment portion of Tuesday’s meeting. Gonzalez, who had been with the County for approximately three decades, expressed frustration and heartbreak over the allegations.

“Today is a very sad day for me,” Gonzalez told the Board. “Today was supposed to be the best day of my life because I was going to be recognized for 30 years of service with the County, which I was very excited to do. However, that was rescheduled due to some false allegations that I find to be malicious and false.”

Although Gonzalez stated that her 30-year recognition was planned for this year, a social media post by the County in April 2023 had already acknowledged her 30 years of service at that time.

She went on to say that she was notified of her administrative leave just three days before her planned retirement.

“Yesterday I was called into my CCT manager’s office… he gave me this letter that indicates I was going to be placed on administrative leave,” Gonzalez said, her voice trembling. “Due to allegations that I had deleted 9,000 files from a shared folder.”

While Gonzalez cited 9,000 files, the County press release officially confirmed the number at 8,700. The release did not specify the types of files involved or whether any have been recovered. 760 News Media has requested additional comment from the County but has not received a response as of publication.

Gonzalez strongly denied the accusations.

“People that know me know I work with ethics and I’m very professional,” she said. “In my 30 years working with the County, I have never been disciplined by any means by any supervisor.”

She also claimed retaliation by her supervisor, suggesting the action was linked to prior complaints she had made regarding workplace conduct.

“I have suspicions that my CCT manager was the one that orchestrated this situation toward me because of my reports of her unethical and unprofessional supervision,” Gonzalez said, adding that she had previously met with both supervisors and union representatives about the matter.

“She even went to the point of calling my medical doctor and asking information about me,” Gonzalez alleged. “I don’t have any doubt this letter was orchestrated to take my retirement after 30 years.”

She concluded by requesting a full investigation and expressing a desire to eventually return to County service.

Supervisor John Hawk acknowledged her comments, saying only that he would “look into it.”

Ramona Campo, a longtime friend of Gonzalez, also addressed the Board in her defense.

“These allegations are absurd,” Campo said. “Why would she do that after 35 years? This sounds just like a setup. This is gonna cost you guys another pocket full of money if this goes to court.”

Several other friends and family members echoed that sentiment during the meeting, expressing their full support for Gonzalez. The County has maintained that the investigation remains active and further details will not be disclosed at this time due to it being a personnel matter.

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Terri Gonzalez was an employee of the Imperial County Public Health Department. She is, in fact, employed by Imperial County Behavioral Health Services. The error was based on publicly available information at the time of reporting. We regret the mistake and have updated the article to reflect the correct information.