Lawsuit alleges deputies ignored evidence of mistaken identity
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A Coachella Valley man says he was wrongfully arrested and detained overnight by Riverside County sheriff’s officers who searched his home without a search warrant in search of a nonexistent gun, according to a new lawsuit filed in federal court.
Genaro Bautista was eventually released without charge.
The case was filed in U.S. District Court on Monday. Riverside County and several deputies from the county’s sheriff’s department are listed as defendants. Deputy Adonis Glasper is the only person named in the case, while the other department employees are listed as John Does.
The case, which accuses him of unlawful imprisonment, unlawful search of a vehicle, false arrest and excessive use of force, stems from an incident in September 2023 when Bautista says he instructed a licensed service of process agent to serve an eviction notice on a tenant of his La Quinta rental property.
The assigned bailiff, who legally carried a handgun as part of his job, went to the home on Sept. 14 to serve the notice, but no one answered. The home was equipped with Ring doorbell cameras, according to the complaint.
Bautista, now 54, believes his estranged brother and sister filed a report with the sheriff’s department sometime in the next few days, saying that Bautista – not the court courier – went to the rental property and was caught on the Ring camera brandishing a gun.
A few days later, on Sept. 18, Bautista claimed he was approached at his workplace by sheriff’s officers posing as customers to verify his identity. When he later left work, Bautista was stopped and handcuffed, injuring his shoulder, according to the complaint.
Bautista demanded to know why he was being arrested, but officers refused to tell him and instead demanded to enter his Bermuda Dunes home, which he refused, according to the complaint.
Officers then told Bautista that he was suspected of carrying an illegal firearm and impersonating a police officer, the complaint states.
Bautista reiterated to officers that he did not go to the property and gave them the name of the licensed court server he had hired to deliver the eviction notice.
After taking Bautista into custody, officers “forcibly dragged” him into their patrol car and again ordered him to search his apartment, saying they would “storm” it if he did not comply, the indictment says.
The officers then entered Bautista’s home without his consent or a search warrant. They had drawn their weapons and pointed them at his wife and young children, but they “found no evidence of a firearm or a false badge or vest,” the indictment states.
After searching the home, officers detained Bautista overnight at the Thermal police station, despite his repeated requests to call the bailiff and confirm his story. According to the complaint, Bautista was handcuffed for three hours after he was first stopped.
Eventually, a department official called the delivery driver who came to the thermal station and confirmed he was the one on the Ring camera. (The complaint states that the assigned delivery driver is black, while Bautista is Hispanic.)
“(Bautista) was then released at 6 a.m. the next morning after being wrongfully detained for 11 hours,” the complaint states.
According to the complaint, officers had “no credible information” that Bautista had committed a crime or injured anyone, nor were there any arrest warrants against him.
In the lawsuit, Bautista seeks unspecified damages, attorneys’ fees and other costs. A lawyer for Bautista did not respond to a request for comment.
A spokesman for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the pending litigation but confirmed that Glasper still works for the sheriff’s department. (The complaint did not provide details of Glasper’s alleged actions.)
Riverside County spokeswoman Brooke Federico said Friday that the county has not yet received the lawsuit but will “review it thoroughly to determine next steps” once it does.
Tom Coulter covers Palm Desert, La Quinta, Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells. Reach him at [email protected].
