King City police officer fired

One of the King City police officers at the center of a scandal in the department has been fired.

Jaime Andrade is no longer with King City police.

Andrade was one of the 6 officers arrested in February for various charges. He was charged with possessing assault weapons and illegally storing a gun. He’s expected in court in December for trial.

The city had conducted its own investigation through the internal affairs process, which was done through a contracted third party.

After the recommendation from the third party investigators, Chief Dennis Hegwood decided to terminate Andrade several weeks ago.

Andrade appealed his firing and had his hearing last week. We should hear back on that ruling in 60 days.

The latest from the King City police department is that 11 officers are still working. 7 officers are on various types of leave such as criminal investigations or medical reasons.

The Monterey County Sheriff’s department is still patrolling overnight hours, 7 days a week.

Meanwhile, a recruiting firm is talking to applicants for the new Chief of Police position. The applications deadline is the first week of December.

The city has a 16 week timeline with the recruiting firm to land a new Chief of Police and City Manager Michael Powers says they’re on schedule.