A sheriff’s deputy was arrested this week, accused of possession of child pornography and an assault weapon, according to law enforcement.
According to the sheriff's department media relations team, 51-year-old Jose Soto was arrested by San Diego Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force on 5/2/23 at 4:38 p.m., the same day as his last day of employment with the department.
Deputies in Trouble
The task force served a search warrant at his home at 8 a.m. that same day.
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Bill Wanek has lived in the Chula Vista complex near Soto’s Benviana Drive address for one year.
“I was super surprised, like, we haven’t heard anything about it, which is troubling," Wanek said. "They communicate everything else so well. So to know that we live 100 feet away — I have a 1-year-old and one on the way in five weeks, so, for me, that really kind of hits home.”
Another neighbor, who said they wished to remain anonymous, said they saw several white vans pull up to the home. Officers then got out with guns drawn, then went and knocked on Soto's door. They said in the following days, other people were escorted out of the home but were not arrested.
Soto was originally hired on March 20, 1998, as a detentions and court services deputy and was assigned to the South Bay Courthouse, according to the sheriff’s department. He retired on Jan. 19, 2022, but was re-hired as a part-time employee on Sept. 1 of last year.
David Ladieu, with the San Diego Sheriff’s Department, provided this statement:
“The sheriff is deeply disappointed and frustrated in the arrest of the former employee. The sheriff knows any arrest of a deputy or former deputy casts a negative shadow on the department. We would also like to point out we understand the vast majority of deputies come to work every day and promote the mission of the sheriff's department and ensure the safety of the public. It is very unfortunate the hard work of so many is overshadowed by an incident such as this.”
In recent years, several sheriff’s deputies have been arrested for various charges. It’s something Sheriff Kelly Martinez has had to address multiple times following a scathing state audit revealing poor conditions in the county jail.
NBC 7 attempted to contact Soto, who faces two counts of possession of child pornography and one count of possession of an assault weapon, but was unsuccessful in its efforts.
