Ex-fire captain pleads guilty to misdemeanor

A former San Francisco fire captain who currently serves on the Rancho Adobe Fire Protection District board was sentenced to one year of supervised probation and ordered to pay restitution after falsely reporting on Feb. 3 that he had witnessed a police officer masturbating in a vehicle in Novato.

Penngrove resident Edward Gee, 64, pled guilty in Marin County Superior Court on Sept. 30 to the misdemeanor charge of false report of a crime. The amount of the restitution he will pay will be determined later, said Sgt. Keith Helden of the Novato Police Department.

An anonymous caller notified the Novato Police Department on Feb. 3 that he witnessed a man masturbating in his vehicle near Pleasant Valley Elementary School, while students were playing on the playground. The caller provided descriptions of the suspect and vehicle, and its license plate number. Novato police found that the vehicle was registered to a Sonoma County police officer.

An investigation conducted by the Novato Police Department’s patrol and investigations personnel revealed that Gee had made the anonymous call, and that his adult son had previously been arrested by the Sonoma County officer to whom the vehicle was registered. The arrest appears to have been the motive for Gee’s anonymous call, as it was determined that the officer was not involved in any illegal activity and had not been in Novato at the time of the alleged crime, Helden said.

The case was forwarded to the Marin County District Attorney’s Office, and criminal charges were filed against Gee on July 21.

Gee remains on the Rancho Adobe board, and any decision to remove him would need to be made by board members.

Novato police did not release the name and agency of the Sonoma County officer.

(Contact Dan Johnson at dan.johnson@arguscourier.com)