Riverside County Ordered to Pay $2.25 Million in Retaliation Case Over Harassment Report

Riverside County has been ordered to pay $2.25 million to a former sheriff’s sergeant who said he was pressured into early retirement in retaliation for reporting workplace harassment by a superior.

The civil jury verdict, delivered on Tuesday, April 21, 2026, concluded that Frank Lodes resigned involuntarily from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department after reporting a hostile work environment. The award includes $1.25 million for past emotional distress and $1 million for future emotional distress, as stated by his attorney, Bijan Darvish.

Lodes said he was forced to resign in 2022 after internal affairs Sergeant Mike Hamilton spent approximately four hours at a restaurant attempting to persuade him to retire or face an investigation for allegedly violating department policies. Feeling he had no choice due to an intolerable workplace, Lodes wrote his resignation letter on the hood of his car in a Del Taco parking lot, according to the lawsuit filed in 2023.

The jury found that the department’s retaliation began shortly after Lodes reported harassment, contradicting the department’s claim that issues predated his complaints. Attorney Darvish noted jurors were troubled by the lack of documentation supporting the department’s timeline and the circumstances surrounding Lodes’ attempted retirement and eventual resignation.

Darvish described the award as a “significant number” that adequately represents the harm inflicted on Lodes, calling the period since his forced retirement the “darkest four years” of his life. Lodes’ attorney said his client did not wish to comment on the verdict, as discussing the events remained painful.