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Chula Vista police officer Deanna Mory has been fired from the department and has since taken a job as a security guard. The department refused to let her participate in a beauty pageant and her ex-fiancee accused her of taking a $17,000 engagement ring.
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Chula Vista police Officer Deanna Mory has been fired from the department and her attorney has filed an appeal with the city's Civil Service Commission.
Mory, 24, said she was fired last month after her former fiance accused her of stealing a $17,000 engagement ring she had given up after they split.
She has since taken a job as a security guard.
Mory said a lawsuit she filed two years ago against the city and its top police administrators for refusing to let her participate in a national beauty pageant and for retaliation still stands.
When asked if her legal battles had been worth the effort, she replied: “It's been difficult, but somebody told me a long time ago: 'Just remember you're not the one losing sleep at night, because you didn't do anything wrong.' ”
Bernard Gonzales, a Chula Vista police spokesman, confirmed yesterday that Mory had “separated” from the department, but declined to coment further.
Mory's attorney, Greg Petersen, could not be reached yesterday, but he has contended that Mory's firing was not justified because the city has no right to litigate who owns an engagement ring in a failed engagement.
Marsha Raskin, Chula Vista's human relations director, confirmed that Petersen has appealed Mory's firing and said a hearing may be held in March
The dispute over Mory's beauty pageant activity began in January 2006, when she advised her boss she wanted to compete in the 2006 Ms. United States Pageant in Las Vegas. Initially, she was told she could participate.
Later, another supervisor disagreed, and finally Mory was told to give up the Ms. California title she had won and to withdraw from the national contest, Mory said.
Mory went ahead and entered the national contest. Her suit against the city in July 2006 claimed her civil rights had been violated. A second lawsuit filed in March 2007 alleged that nine lieutenants conspired with top city and police officials in January 2007 to pressure the union into dropping the first lawsuit.
Mory since has won three pageant titles and is the reigning Miss California United States 2008.
Mark Arner: (619) 542-4556; mark.arner@uniontrib.com
