Ex-felon, Fraudster, & Sexual Predator: The Secret Life of Baldwin Park's School Police Chief - Jill Marie Poe

Jill Marie Poe - Baldwin Park School Police Chief

Baldwin Park's Unified School Police Chief, Jill Marie Poe had a secret life, which she doesn't want you to know about. Besides being fired from the Los Angeles Police Department for being a sexual predator - she's also an ex-felon, who pled guilty to auto insurance fraud and filing a false police report. Now, she's around children from age 5 to 18. One has to wonder how this happened.

According to her felony complaint, case number YA043015, on January 7, 1999, Poe, a working Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer, was hurting for money. So she had the brilliant idea of defrauding State Farm Insurance of $10,731.30 by faking the theft of her Toyota Four Runner - which had the license plate "POZWAY". She broke glass by her driveway and filed a false police report to the Torrance Division of the LAPD alleging that someone stole her car. After some time, the insurance paid off over $3,000 on bank liens on the car, and Poe received $7,648.51 in cash and went on a trip to the lake with another woman officer named Anderson.

Cover page of Jill Poe's Felony Complaint.

At the lake, Anderson asked Poe what happened to her car. Poe replied that her brother was "fixing it up."

About three months later, Poe took her friend "Marsha", a civilian, to her brother's house, where they were watching the Oscar De La Hoya match. There, Marsha saw Poe's car parked in the backyard of her brother's house. She clearly remembered it, because it had the license plate "POZWAY".

About three months after the De La Hoya fight, Anderson and another officer were talking about if Poe ever got her car back. Anderson was confused, because Poe told her it was being fixed. But now, the other officer told Anderson Poe reported the car stolen.

Hence, Anderson confronted Poe about the car. Poe admitted, "I did something stupid. I reported it stolen, because I needed the money."

Anderson reported Poe to LAPD Internal Affairs.

After Poe discovered she was being investigated internally, she went back to Marsha and told her not to talk to the investigators, because she might lose her job.

A month later, LAPD detectives served a search warrant on Poe's brother at his house. In the backyard, the detectives found the Toyota Four Runner.

Poe was then arrested and charged for a felony count of auto insurance fraud and a misdemeanor of filing a false police report.

Poe represented herself at court, according to retrieved expunged court records. Between July 7 and July 28, 2000 - Poe pled guilty to a count of one felony of auto insurance fraud and one count of a misdemeanor for filing a false police report.

Jill Poe's 17 counts of personnel misconduct committed
at the LAPD. Affirmed by LA Sup. Ct.

Also, during this time, Poe was also fired from the LAPD. Besides her felony charge, former LAPD Chief Bernard Parks filed 17 counts of personnel misconduct, which mainly centered on Poe's stalking and sexual harassing of another woman police officer. For instance, when she saw the other female officer in the locker room, Poe would grab her and state "You know when you wear those underwear, you know what you do to me. Don't be wearing those underwear around me. They look good." Officer Poe then made a "Hmmmm, Hmmm, Hmmm", remark. (See proof.) The Los Angeles Superior Court affirmed Parks' firing of her in Case No. BS064440. The victim obtained a restraining order against Poe at the victim's residence.

On July 7, 2000, after pleading guilty to auto insurance fraud, Poe was ordered to pay back $12,346.23 to State Farm Insurance. The court sentenced Poe to three years of formal probation.

Then on July 15, 2003 - being represented this time - Poe expunged her record under Penal Code Section 1203.4.

Poe's guilty plead entered in open court.

What's off about the entire court proceeding was that the court reduced the auto insurance fraud to a misdemeanor count of grand theft auto. Curious, how that deal was worked out and whether the court even has the power to do that under law.

After her firing, Poe worked for a private company called Master PI Detectives for awhile, allegedly owned and managed by another former LAPD officer.

Around September 8, 2014, all BPUSD board members voted for Jill Poe five-to-zero to become police chief. One of the votes was cast by Blanca Rubio, now California State Assemblywoman. At the time of the vote, however, she was a BPUSD school board member, who approved of Poe's hiring.

Witnesses say that Rubio is a strong supporter of Poe. (In fact, Rubio called Poe to take the police report, when Roger Hernandez started punching and belting her sister, Susan.)

Previous to her hiring, Mark Skarvany was both superintendent and school police chief. (Recently, Skarvany was investigated for bond fraud by the Security and Exchange Commission in Montebello. Also, while serving as Superintendent, Skarvany laundered $1.5 million of education funds according to an audit.)

There are disputed accounts of how Poe passed her background check. One anonymous source says she did her own background check, because she was a former private detective. (Incidentally, a different source says that Poe also signed off on Skarvany having a concealed weapon.) And even another source says because they started her as safety supervisor, she didn't have take a background check. Although Poe alleges she worked for the BPUSD as captain for three years, California Transparency contradicts her. According to it, Poe started in 2013, and after about a year became police chief.

In totality, however, the evidence strongly suggests the school district never ran a background check. This is because around September 8, 2014, after Poe was appointed Chief, a former LAPD officer who worked with Poe as a rookie, called Skarvany, and explained to him, (through his secretary, because the superintendent didn't want to personally hear the facts) that Poe was a convicted felon with a serial history of sexual harassment and abuse. Still, Skarvany refused to investigate Poe's past, suspend, or fire her.

Unsurprisingly, Poe's been a source of controversy for poor decision making. For instance, Poe's ordered semi-automatic weapons for the school. Although Poe alleges that these weapons were returned, proof is still being sought as to where these weapons are.

Type of weapon Poe ordered for the district.
Getty image.

To be sure, Poe can allege that her misconduct happened years ago. Therefore the argument would go, her criminal history and her firing because of sexual harassment is no longer relevant to her professionalism now.

But this is still a current issue. Cal. Gov. Code Section 1029 prohibits anyone who has a felony from being a peace officer, even if the record has been expunged. Also, Cal. Gov. Code Section 1031(d) requires good moral character and a thorough background check.

Again; the question is: How is a proven ex-felon and sexual predator like this is allowed to become a police officer, let alone promoted to Chief, and allowed to work with children, who are as young as 5 years old?

Poe's past haunts her even now. She appears to be a creature of habitual sexual predation. According to court records, a civil lawsuit was filed and settled by a former school officer in 2017 because of Poe's sexual harassment against another former woman officer at the BPUSD.

Poe is still working at the school district and still has access to children. In fact, EdData states that as of the 2017-2018 school year, there were 16,695 students enrolled. At the end of 2017, she was making $157,229.14.

In examining this case, Jesus's teaching becomes clearer: "Be on your guard against false prophets; they come to you looking like sheep on the outside, but on the inside they are really like wild wolves. You will know them by what they do. Thorn bushes do not bear grapes, and briers do not bear figs." (Matthew 7:15-16).

Jill M. Poe far right with her school police officers.