Palm Springs Unified School District patrol officer arrested in domestic extremism probe

A Palm Springs Unified School District patrol officer, who investigators say has exhibited “allegiance to QAnon conspirators” and an extremist militia group involved in storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, was arrested last month as part of an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation into domestic extremism.

Alfredo Luna Jr., 41, a former Cathedral City police officer,was arrested on Inauguration Day,Jan. 20, after an earlier search of his Cathedral City home by federal investigators turned up an unregistered assault rifle.

According to Riverside County jail records, Palm Springs police arrested him near the Palm Springs Unified School District building on District Drive.

He was held at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning and then released Jan. 21 in lieu of $250,000 bail, according to jail records. 

He is charged with felony possession of an assault weapon; if convicted, he could face as many as three years in prison.

Palm Springs Unified School District Coordinator of Communications Joan Boiko said Luna has been placed on paid administrative leave while the case is being investigated.

Boiko said the district was aware of the charge filed against Luna and that is the reason he has been placed on leave.

“All staff members undergo a background check prior to being hired,” Boiko said. “Mr. Luna passed the background check.”

The district has 43 patrol officers who patrol and respond to calls throughout the entire district, Boiko said, adding that they “have been protecting staff, property and limited number of students on campus during the pandemic.”

According to Riverside County Superior Court documents filed Jan. 19 in support of an investigator’s request for an arrest warrant, Luna’s “behavior is consistent with pre-incident indicators of extreme violence.”

John Candias, a detective with the Rialto Police Department and member of the FBI-JTTF-Riverside, which is investigating Luna, added in the documents that Luna “advocates violence and is an adherent of emerging domestic extremism organizations. He has gone as far as posting messages and images of his discontent for government officials and advocates others to carry out violence.”

Candias said Luna “is a former U.S. Marine and fully capable of inflicting lethal violence. His online threats are extremely alarming and include allegiance to QAnon conspirators and 3-percenters militia extremists.”

The documents did not detail the online posts nor specify where they were found.

According to the arrest warrant, Luna was being investigated on suspicion of domestic extremism as part of a larger investigation into threats to the Inauguration of President Joe Biden.

A firearms and ammunition restraining order against Luna was issued on Jan. 13. Two days later, authorities searched his home and served him with the restraining order.

Authorities seized six firearms that Luna was permitted to own. One firearm registered to him, a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol, was not found at the time his home was searched.

During the search, authorities discovered a Smith and Wesson assault rifle under Luna’s bed, according to the arrest warrant.

Luna told authorities he bought the rifle from a coworker at the Cathedral City Police Department while he still worked there, but said he could not remember the name of the officer.

When asked if he applied for an assault weapon registration, he again said he could not remember, according to the warrant. Authorities could not find a registration, which is required by law.

The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office charged Luna with one felony count of possessing an unregistered assault weapon on Jan. 19.

QAnon is a widely discredited conspiracy theory that baselessly claims that there is a “deep state” apparatus run by political elites, business leaders and Hollywood celebrities who are also pedophiles and actively working against Donald Trump.

And the Three Percenters are an anti-government militia group espousing far-right ideology.

Both groups have been linked to the Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol. However, it is not alleged that Luna was involved in that action.

Candias wrote in the arrest warrant that Luna admitted he did make several social media posts he was questioned about.

Before being hired as a patrol officer with PSUSD in the summer of 2020, Luna was an officer with the Cathedral City Police Department. He was terminated from that job on Jan. 7, 2019, according to City Manager Charlie McClendon.

The Desert Sun reported in 2019 that Luna had testified in the criminal trial of several defendants charged with robbery and gang affiliation. Luna served as the prosecution’s expert witness on the alleged gang membership of the defendants, including Cathedral City resident Sergio Guzman. 

But on the eve of Guzman’s sentencing, the prosecuting attorney informed the judge that Luna was under criminal investigation at the time he had testified. 

Luna had allegedly failed to report child abuse, which is illegal as he was a mandatory reporter at the time. That investigation started on April 16, 2018, and continued through Guzman’s trial until the end of June 2018. No criminal charges were filed against Luna as a result of the investigation.

Luna was also under internal investigation by his department during the time he testified. On Dec. 18, 2017, an internal affairs investigation found that Luna had violated department rules against unexcused absences, unauthorized leave and accurate submission of payroll records. He was found to have violated the department’s ethics, conduct, performance and attendance codes by falsifying work-related materials.

Guzman’s attorney, Leonard Cravens, filed a motion to have his client’s conviction for gang membership dismissed, claiming Luna’s credibility had been called into question.

“The Cathedral City Police Department knew of such evidence before the trial and were investigating said evidence before, during, and after the trial,” Cravens wrote. “How is cheating on your time card not relevant to your believability on the witness stand? And, how is not filing a police report related to child abuse not relevant to your believability on the witness stand?”

While Guzman’s conviction for robbery stands, his sentencing enhancements for gang membership were thrown out. He has yet to be retried on those charges, Cravens said.

Desert Sun reporter Christopher Damien covers crime, public safety and the criminal justice system. He can be reached at christopher.damien@desertsun.com or follow him at @chris_a_damien.

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