South Pasadena Police Dept. Tries to Shed Sex Scandal

In this genteel city where cops on bicycles glide past stately homes and immaculately landscaped lawns, the South Pasadena Police Department is being roiled by a scandal more out of “NYPD Blue� than “Mayberry RFD.�

In a claim filed against the city last week, a 28-year-old local woman alleges that she carried on a two-year sexual affair with two on-duty officers, whom she says in legal documents she sometimes met for trysts in police vehicles.

After the alleged liaisons ended (with bitter remarks at the “Pig Bowl,� a football game between the South Pasadena and San Marino police departments), the woman, Theresa Goldston, fired a pistol in the South Pasadena police station and was arrested, according to police documents.

Goldston is in counseling and on probation for the firearms violation. One officer named in the complaint has been fired from the force and the other, a sergeant, has resigned--according to Police Chief Thomas Mahoney, though he would not say if the departures were linked to the alleged affair.

And a city that once boasted the slogan, “A church or school on every hill, but no saloons,� looks a bit grittier, although officials say all will be righted.

“I did not expect this to happen,� said City Councilman Dick Richards, who received a copy of the claim last week. “I have a very high regard for the Police Department here. . . . Any time there’s something like this it can reflect on an organization,� he added.

Interim City Manager Linda Holmes said, “The South Pasadena Police Department has an outstanding reputation and I am certain the outcome of this case will continue that reputation. When the police chief has found any procedural violations, he has always taken swift action and I have confidence he will continue to do so.�

Mahoney said he considers the case closed. “We heard the allegations and took all appropriate steps afterward.�

In a telephone interview from her South Pasadena apartment, Goldston said her affair began when she joined the small department as a civilian volunteer in 1994.

Goldston said in her claim that she had sex with Sgt. Jeremy Kitbajian and Officer Bob Mesch while they were on duty--sometimes in their police cruisers. Neither Kitbajian nor Mesch could be reached for comment.

Mesch, a 13-year veteran of the force, was fired in May and Kitbajian, with the department for eight years, resigned the same month.

“It was sweet in the beginning,� Goldston said, but the relationships soured by Jan. 21, 1996, when she attended the “Pig Bowl.� She says she tried to talk to Mesch at the game, but he made snide comments to her in front of his family.

In her claim--which is required before a lawsuit can be filed against a municipality--Goldston alleges that this incident sent her “into a state of severe emotional shock which resulted in bizarre conduct over the next few weeks and culminated in the now infamous incident at [the] police station.�

Early on Feb. 1, Kitbajian received a call from the South Pasadena police dispatcher asking him to help Goldston with a flat tire in Pasadena, but he said he wouldn’t go, according to his testimony in a preliminary hearing. Hours later, Goldston entered the station, carrying the small-caliber pistol she says she bought after the 1992 riots. The dispatcher called Kitbajian to deal with her.

Goldston held the gun to her head as Kitbajian urged her to drop the weapon. She then fired a shot out of the station before handing over the gun and being arrested, police documents say.

“Sometimes I wish to God they hadn’t been such a bunch of [cowards] and had shot me,� Goldston said Wednesday.

Goldston pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and served nine days in County Jail and is on three years probation.

She said she is only seeking money to pay for therapy to deal with the double break-up. Goldston said the department took advantage of her and she is wounded that Mahoney, whom she once considered a friend, has ostracized her since she filed the claim.