Ex SoCal police sergeant arrested for kidnapping, sexually assaulting colleagues as disturbing details emerge

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A former California police sergeant is accused of turning on two female colleagues in a pair of disturbing sexual assaults, including allegedly dragging one officer out of a bar and attacking her in a parking lot.

Charles “Chuck” William Starnes, III, 52, was arrested Oct. 29 by the US Marshals Service and charged with four felonies, including multiple counts of sexual assault and kidnapping, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced.

The alleged attacks span more than a decade, with prosecutors accusing the former Garden Grove police sergeant of assaulting a fellow officer in 2007 and another department employee in 2020.

In the first alleged attack, Starnes, then a police officer and president of the local police union, allegedly kidnapped a female colleague as she was leaving a women’s restroom at a Stanton bar in March 2007.

Prosecutors said he dragged the woman outside and into the parking lot, where the alleged assault continued until two fellow officers intervened.

Starnes is also accused of sexually assaulting a female department employee in March 2020 while driving back from an “off probation” party at a Long Beach bar.

The alleged attack happened as the pair were “driving to the Garden Grove Police Association Stress Release Center, a makeshift bar/lounge for police personnel run by the police association,” according to prosecutors.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said Starnes’ former position did not put him above the law.

“The badge is not a shield from accountability, and we are grateful that these acts of sexual violence have finally come to light so that justice can be pursued on behalf of these victims who suffered in silence,” Spitzer said.

“Sexual assault is an act of cowardice, and it takes incredible courage for victims to come forward and speak out against someone in a position of power.”

Starnes joined the Garden Grove Police Department in 2005 after serving as a Riverside County sheriff’s deputy. He later became president of the Garden Grove Police Officers’ Association and was assigned to the department’s Traffic Operations Unit as a sergeant in 2025.

He retired in May 2026 while on administrative leave and under investigation for sexual harassment, prosecutors said.

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Starnes pleaded not guilty to all charges during his Friday arraignment and remains jailed on $5 million bail, according to the Los Angeles Times.

His attorney, Brian Gurwitz, told the newspaper his client denies the allegations and was “eager for the truth to be presented in a courtroom.”

The Garden Grove Police Department said it would continue cooperating with authorities as the investigation proceeds.

If convicted on all counts, Starnes faces up to seven years to life, plus 14 years in state prison.

The California Post reached out to the department for additional comment.