{"id":245,"date":"2026-06-18T17:03:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T17:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\/?p=245"},"modified":"2026-06-18T17:03:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T17:03:37","slug":"arizona-police-board-approves-cop-who-allegedly-attacked-neighbor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\/?p=245","title":{"rendered":"Arizona police board approves cop who allegedly attacked neighbor"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In 2001, Chuck Trendle got into a fight with a neighbor because the neighbor was feeding pigeons. Trendle, then a Chicago cop, was accused of grabbing his neighbor by the neck and pushing him over a fence. An internal investigation sustained the allegations, and he was suspended for 20 days. He was never arrested.<\/p>\n

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Now, after Arizona\u2019s police certification board granted him a waiver, Trendle will be able to continue his career in the Grand Canyon State. At its June meeting on Wednesday, the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board voted to allow Trendle to be hired by the Kingman Police Department.<\/p>\n

The board, known as AZPOST, licenses all law enforcement officers in Arizona. With its ability to suspend or revoke law enforcement licenses, it is one of the few agencies with the power to discipline police. The 12-member board includes Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry Director Ryan Thornell and representatives from multiple sheriff\u2019s and police agencies around the state. Last year, it punished 42 former and current officers.<\/p>\n

Trendle\u2019s case wasn\u2019t before the board for disciplinary purposes, though. Kingman Police Chief Rusty Cooper needed AZPOST\u2019s sign-off to hire him despite the 25-year-old incident.<\/p>\n

Cooper\u2019s department had reviewed the investigative files, he said, and Trendle was honest about the incident in his application process. He went on to have a 29-year-long career with the Chicago Police Department and retired \u201cin good standing.\u201d He would not be a danger to the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur request is based on the totality of his career,\u201d Cooper said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trendle appeared before the board in person to argue his case. It was his first time being disciplined for anything other than minor infractions, such as accidentally missing a court date, and he hasn\u2019t been in trouble since. He said the incident happened because he\u2019d called animal control on his neighbor, who then ran at him from behind. He told them that the investigation, which was conducted by a civilian investigative unit in the police department rather than the department\u2019s internal investigative unit, was mishandled. Investigators didn\u2019t speak to important witnesses, he said, and he didn\u2019t have union representation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are the two big determining factors,\u201d he told the board.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Board chairman and Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels asked Trendle about an allegation that he lied to responding officers that he did not own an air pellet rifle, which the neighbor had accused him of using against the pigeons. Video provided later by the neighbor showed him shooting the rifle in the backyard. Trendle was off-duty at the time. In response to Dannels, Trendle admitted to killing birds with a blow dart gun, but insisted that he never fired the pellet rifle.<\/p>\n

When a board member asked Trendle why he didn\u2019t appeal the discipline, he said he was new to the process and didn\u2019t know that he could. He said he found out later that the department assumed officers would appeal, so it imposed harsher discipline that could later be walked back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The board voted in favor of his waiver. However, two members voted no: Dannels and Mayes\u2019 representative on the board, Chief Deputy Bill Mundell.<\/p>\n

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Sexual contact with a 14-year-old<\/h2>\n

The board also voted to open what figures to be a pro forma investigation into former Round Valley police officer Ismael Amaya-Molina, who is accused of having sexual contact with a 14-year-old.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In 2023, two \u201cconcerned citizens\u201d reported Amaya-Molina to the Apache County Sheriff\u2019s office for having sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl, compliance specialist Richard Bradshaw told the board. Amaya-Molina was 26 years old at the time. Deputies located the girl and her mother, the latter of whom told them that she\u2019d met Amaya-Molina at the police academy about a year earlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Deputies discovered that Amaya-Molina had engaged in sexual contact with the teenager about 20 times. He\u2019d told her she couldn\u2019t tell anyone about their relationship, which ended in early 2023, because he would go to jail and lose his job. Per Bradshaw, Amaya-Molina told the girl that \u201cif anyone asked, just tell them that she only babysits his kids and that they were only friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deputies arrested him that day. He was charged with three counts of child molestation and three counts of sexual conduct with a minor, both felonies. He was also immediately fired from the department. He is currently in jail pending trial, making the AZPOST review \u2014 which could possibly strip him of his law enforcement license \u2014 seem like something of a formality. Bradshaw said the case was only just being presented to the board despite being nearly three years old because of the ongoing criminal proceedings.<\/p>\n

The board voted to discipline three other officers:<\/p>\n