Two Menifee Police officers who have been on paid administrative leave for a combined total of 19 months are scheduled to meet with City Manager Armando Villa in January as their grievances against the department continue, Menifee 24/7 has learned.
Officers Rob Cultera and Lance Willison are contesting the internal investigations against them and appear headed for arbitration in court, according to multiple sources. Both have already been given termination notices by Chief Chris Karrer, sources said, but Villa has the power to overrule the police chief as the officers’ cases near litigation.
Cultera and Willison are two of at least six officers who have been placed on paid administrative leave during internal investigations this year. Another officer currently on leave is Juan Pesina, who will be in court Dec. 9 and is facing eight counts of sexual assault — including rape, sodomy, and oral copulation – all allegedly while on duty with Menifee PD.
The disciplinary actions against multiple officers were first reported by Menifee 24/7 in May. At that time, city documents and responses from anonymous sources within the department indicated that at least 15 officers left the department between mid-2024 and May 2025. Some of those departed officers, in addition to others still with the department, have accused high-ranking PD officials of abuse of power and misconduct in several instances.
At the heart of the controversy is an employee survey that was conducted in 2024 by Cultera, who sources say was given permission by department leadership to do so as part of a project toward his pursuit of a PhD degree. Results of the survey were reportedly so negative and accusatory of leadership that Cultera was given a “cease and desist” letter by City Attorney Jeff Melching, prohibiting him from commenting on the situation. Cultera was placed on paid leave in January 2025 for reasons city officials will not disclose, citing privacy concerns.
According to sources, Willison was placed on leave in April after being accused of lying to another officer and interfering with arrests in a case in which he was assisting. When Willison cited department policy in defending himself to a superior, the department placed him on paid leave and launched an internal investigation.
Villa and Karrer acknowledge that the survey exists, but city officials have repeatedly refused to provide it in response to public records requests. Menifee 24/7 is pursuing legal action to obtain the document.
Villa has said the city cannot comment on personnel issues such as internal investigations, but Public Information Officer Phil Southard confirmed previously that “there are active internal investigations on specific claims in process through the City’s Human Resources Department.”
Southard issued a “no comment” statement Thursday in response to a request from Menifee 24/7 of Villa and Karrer regarding the length of the investigations. Considering that the average pay of a Menifee PD officer is about $10,000 per month, the City has paid an estimated combined total of $190,000 (plus annual bonuses) to Cultera and Willison while they have been on leave. And that doesn’t include the cost of overtime or salaries for officers who have replaced them in the interim.
Because city officials have declined to comment on these disciplinary actions, there is no explanation of why the investigations have gone on so long and why a meeting with Villa won’t take place until next month. Neither has there been any comment on allegations of misconduct in other instances by the very superiors who are conducting the internal investigations.
The only indication that an outside agency has been involved in the investigations is the city’s announcement in August that the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department is handling the investigation of Pesina. City of Menifee officials have no comment on allegations by multiple sources that Pesina was previously placed on administrative leave by the City and was later returned to active duty.
Because potential litigation is involved, Cultera and Willison have chosen not to comment to the media.
“We have a problem between who’s ‘in the know’ and who isn’t,” said one officer, requesting anonymity, when the allegations were first reported. “That’s the issue. It’s people getting away with misconduct. From what I have seen, the people who align themselves with the people that are causing the bulk of the issues do not get in trouble. But the people actually doing the job here are the ones getting in trouble.”
