Ex-enforcement officer charged

The city's first code enforcement officer was arrested on five counts of annoying or child molestation, all misdemeanors, a month after he resigned from his position.

Matt Maldonado, who moved from being the code enforcement officer in Wasco to the same job in Shafter, has also been active in helping coach youth wrestling. He assisted in coaching Shafter High School wrestlers, the Shafter Youth Wrestling team, and wrestling camps, such as the Summer

Wrestling Camp put on by the Shafter MennoniteChurch most recently in June.

He quit working as a volunteer with the Shafter High team last year.

Maldonado made the $50,000 bail and is no longer in custod. A call to Maldonado for comment was not returned. The county District Attorney's Office would not elaborate on the circumstances of the charges.

Both Shafter Mayor Cathy Prout and City Manager Gabriel Gonzales confirmed that Maldonado is no longer employed by the city. Gonzalez said that Maldonado resigned in late December of last year.

According to Assistant Police Chief Diana Burnett, the Shafter Police Department served Maldonado with an arrest warrant on Sunday, Jan. 9, and he was booked into the Kern County Ex-enforcement officer charged Central Receiving Facility. Charges of annoying/child molestation can be punishable by

up to a year in jail and a fine for each charge, according to the California Penal Code.

Actions leading to the charge can include making provocative sexual comments or actions involving at least one minor under the age of 18, according to attorneys involved in defending such cases.

Maldonado is scheduled to appear in the Shafter Municipal Court on Feb. 9 for his first appearance.