Riverside County Jail -Grand Jury Report -Citizens Say Under Bianco Record In-Custody Deaths!

➡ The “Take Your Power Back” show, hosted by Kim Yater, focuses on empowering individuals and demanding accountability from those in power. The show recently highlighted the crisis in Riverside County, California’s jails, where a record number of in-custody deaths have occurred under Sheriff Chad Bianco’s leadership. In 2022 alone, 18 people died in these jails, the highest number since 2005. The show aims to bring this information to the public, seeking truth and justice, and features guests like Joshua Frank Swart’s mother, who lost her son in the jail system.
➡ Joshua, a former inmate firefighter, was arrested for drug possession and died in jail due to a meth overdose. Despite showing signs of drug intake, he was not taken to a hospital but instead was taken to jail where his condition was ignored by the staff. His mother was not informed about the cause of his death for months. She hopes for a new sheriff and competent staff who can properly handle such situations in the future.
➡ A man named Joshua was arrested for minor offenses and showed signs of a medical issue while in custody, but the staff, including a nurse and the officers monitoring the cameras, failed to recognize his distress. Despite his symptoms, he was placed in a drunk tank where he tragically died. The incident has sparked a discussion about the responsibility of law enforcement to care for those in their custody and the systemic issues in Riverside county jails, including mismanagement and inadequate medical care. The show also featured a commercial for MyPillow and a discussion about the importance of buying American-made products.
➡ The speaker criticizes Sheriff Bianco’s leadership, citing a lack of accountability and honesty in handling cases of deaths in custody. They highlight discrepancies in the sheriff’s statements about specific cases, suggesting that the truth is often obscured or misrepresented. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of transparency and compassion when dealing with grieving families. They suggest that there should be a policy change to ensure individuals who have ingested narcotics are taken to the emergency room, prioritizing the preservation of life over prosecution.
➡ The speaker, a former lieutenant at two detention centers, discusses the need for transparency and accountability in the sheriff’s department. He criticizes the current sheriff for lack of honesty and favoritism, and suggests that the department’s failures, including the death of an inmate, could have been avoided with better communication and truthfulness. He also expresses concern about the diminishing importance of the Corrections Bureau and the need for more training and better observation to prevent future tragedies.
➡ The discussion emphasizes the importance of proper training for law enforcement officers to ensure preservation of life. It suggests that having a physician present 24/7 in correctional facilities could improve medical evaluations and potentially save lives. The conversation also advocates for an oversight committee to improve law enforcement policies and restore public trust. Lastly, it highlights the need for accountability and transparency in law enforcement, particularly in cases involving in-custody deaths.
➡ The text discusses concerns about Sheriff Chad Bianco’s conduct and the high number of deaths in custody under his watch. The speaker praises the courage and advocacy of Fonda, Ray, and Michael, who are involved in the issue. The text also mentions an upcoming event called “Take Your Power Back California Governor Face Offs” and encourages listeners to stand for truth and take their power back. The speaker ends by thanking the listeners and honoring Joshua Frank Swart.

Sa Foreign welcome to the take your power back show with peak performance breakthrough coach Kim Yater. Today’s empowering program will encourage you you to step into your power, to take action in your leadership and allow your voice to be heard. Listen in today as we speak to other freedom loving Americans that are making a positive impact in the world by standing in truth amid adversity. Learn how to take your power back. In your freedom, in your personal and professional life, in technology and creativity, and in your faith, be inspired, be encouraged, be transformed. Together, let’s take you your power back with our host peak performance breakthrough coach Kim Yer.

Well, good afternoon my freedom loving patriots. Welcome to the take your power back show. Today we are shining a light on truth, empowering our communities and demanding accountability from those in power. I’m your host, peak performance master coach Kim Yater. And today we’re diving into a heartbreaking and urgent issue right here in our home of California, Riverside County, California. The grand jury reports and citizens outcries have exposed a crisis in our county jails under sheriff Chad Bianco’s leadership. A record number of in custody deaths that cannot be ignored. We are bringing the information to you, the people, so that you can powerfully choose as we all are seeking out truth and justice.

In 2022 alone, 18 people lost their lives in Riverside county jails, the highest number since 2005. Among them over the past year was Joshua Frank Swart, a beloved son, friend and human being whose life was cut short. Today we honor Joshua and all those who’ve been failed by a system meant to protect. We’ll hear from Joshua’s mother, Rhonda Torres, his his family friend Ray Carney, and retired Sheriff Captain Michael Lugen, who brings 31 years of experience to this conversation. This is about truth and justice and taking our power back. Stay with us. We’re going to take a moment to thank our sponsors who make the take your power back show possible.

And when we return, we have Joshua’s mom in the room and that is Rhonda Torres. All right, my freedom loving patriots, Mike Lindell. Have you heard of Mike Lindell before? Mike Lindell has been paving the way for we freedom loving patriots to take our power back. When it comes to sleeping at night, let’s hear what Mike has to say. Just like all of you, I had problems sleeping. I had tried every pillow out there and nothing worked. I’d flip flop all night, use my arm for support and fall asleep. Or I’d wake up with a sore neck or maybe a headache.

Well, quality Sleep comes from keeping your neck straight at night. You have to fill in that space between your head and your bed. That’s why I invented MyPillow. MyPillow’s patented fill adjusts to your exact individual needs. And it doesn’t matter if you sleep on your back, stomach side or any combination of all three. When I got my pillow, I must almost immediately I stay asleep at night and I wake up more well rested in the morning. So go to mypillow.com or call the number on your screen. Use your promo code to get classic king mypillows for only $19.98.

Queen size just $18.98. Standard classic mypillows only $14.98. That’s right, only $14.98 plus all orders $75 or more ship and absolutely free. All right. We love our Mike Lindell and I gotta tell you, I had an incredible night’s sleep last night. I love my Giza dream bed sheets, I love my my pillow pillows and I don’t know about you, but I have the complete mattress sleep system and I feel great. Now that’s important. When we do the work that we do, we need a good night’s rest. So get your rest just like I get my rest.

Go to mypillow.com Kim that’s mypillow.com Kim you, my freedom loving patriots deserve a good night’s sleep. Now let’s talk about the midst of economic warfare that we’re in. We’re all spending money, right? We certainly are. And we vote with our dollars. So how can we take our power back in the midst of our everyday spending? Do we continue to shop with the big box retailers like Procter and Gamble, Colgate and Palmolive, Johnson and Johnson Unilever? If we do, we continue to feed into blackrock and Vanguard. We continue to feed into the pharmaceutical industry. It’s time for we the people to stop being sick by the heavy metals and junk in the everyday big box retailer products and make the switch to an American family owned debt free free USA manufacturer.

They are called patriots buyingamerican.com patriots buyingamerican.com will guide you to the resource USA Today just named them America’s Best Brand in 2025. Go to patriots buyingamerican.com where you can access over 450 products that are better, safer and a lot less expensive than the stores and you get results and you support farmers, ranchers, families, Patriots just like yourself. That’s patriots buyingamerican.com. and without further ado, we’ve got one more sponsor that you deserve to know about. That is Patriot TV Beef. Patriot TV beef. Are you sick and tired of eating beef that maybe just doesn’t taste as good as you thought it would? You keep buying beef and settling for for hormones.

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And without further ado, I’m going to pull us back in, guys. I’m releasing this here, and we’ve got a show for you today, A very special show. Now, you heard me mention earlier that Rhonda Taurus would be entering the room today. So I want to welcome each one of you back to the take your power back show. We’re going to set the stage before we bring Rhonda in. Riverside county jail system has been under scrutiny for years, but the spike in deaths 18 and 22. 20, 22. Nine more in the first 10 months of 23 has sparked lawsuits at California Department of Justice investigation and demands from groups like the ACLU for immediate oversight.

Chad Bianco has called these criticisms a disgusting political game, claiming inmates receive better medical care than the public and that deaths are often the result of individual actions, not systematic failures. But the families of those lost, like Joshua Frank Swart, tell a different story. Grand jury reports since 2014 have pointed to mismanagement, inadequate medical care and failure to implement basic recommendations like better video surveillance or improved mental health. Yet under sheriff Bianco, these issues persist. So today we’re here to ask the question, why? And what can we do to stop this? Let’s bring in our first guest, Rhonda Torres, Joshua’s mother.

Rhonda. I want to say thank you, Rhonda, for being with us today. Let’s pop you into the room loud and clear. Hello, Rhonda. Welcome to the take your power back show. Hi, Kimberly. I know it’s an odd name, but my first name is Fonda. F O N D. Oh, my gosh. Do you know Fonda you and I talked about this before. It’s very. It’s very rare and uncommon. You know, first of all, we love that name, Fonda. It is a beautiful name. Thank you for that correction. And I don’t know why I keep saying, you know, Rhonda.

And I have Rhonda here, and it is Fonda. So I’m to go in and correct that, because that’s not okay. That. That says Rhonda. So, Fonda, you are a rock star. You are a warrior. You have been through some intense adversity, losing your son. Now, I have four children, and I. I’ve not lost my children. And God willing, that that doesn’t happen anytime soon. So I can relate to you on that level of having babies. And to lose a baby, I can’t imagine what that’s like. So I just want to say I am so sorry for your experience of losing Joshua.

Thank you very much and thank you for this opportunity. It’s an honor to have you here today. So, Rhonda, why don’t you tell us a bit about your. Your story. Joshua’s struggles, what happened that led to his untimely death. There are details that you’re bringing to the table today that I think it’s important that we the people know. Well, Joshua found himself faced with a drug addiction. Okay. And also along his journey of the easily to get drug addiction, he found himself in a failed system to begin with. It didn’t work for my son under the, I’d say, California way.

And so Joshua, his addiction led to criminal activity involved in misdemeanors upon misdemeanors, a felony. Got involved in his criminal activity and put him in prison a few times. Okay. And so I, as a mom, respect the law. I’m on the side of the law. And I believe even through my Christian beliefs, that if you do commit a crime, you do the time Joshua did, He also, during his time, became a firefighter, an inmate firefighter for four years. He served the state of California during those years. And I was very proud of that opportunity to. That was given to him and the support that he got.

Joshua found himself in good shape. He was in good physical shape. He was in good condition. His. His mental release was good. He had found. When he was released, he found a person that he was going to marry and settle down. He had plans. His condition of going out and purchasing drugs came in to play. And he found himself in a situation where there was no hope for him behind bars, behind the sheriff who had arrested him, who found him in a condition. The officer acknowledged that Joshua had something in his mouth. He had. Joshua spit the object out.

It was a baggie that is very well known for drugs to be bought and sold. As a sheriff, you are qualified during training to hold that position to identify these situations. Clearly. The officer observed the baggie that had opened in his mouth and noticed in the coroner’s report and the sheriff deputy’s report that Joshua was jittery and sweating profusely. Joshua was placed although into the sheriff’s police car. He passed by. The officer did not say, look, I have a person who looks like he may have swallowed an amount of drugs and may be in trouble. Can I take him to the nearest hospital? The hospital was nearby the whole situation in his root to the jail.

The officer proceeded took him to jail. Joshua was admitted into the jail. He spoke with the nurse who saw the condition of Joshua and he was ignored. Once again placed into a sobering holding cell they call them. And within hours, Joshua was found dead in the serious circumstance of decomposing of his body. There’s an officer there. There’s no push buttons for help. His death was filmed on camera, which places an officer in control of these holding cells to view what happens to these individuals upon being placed in a holding cell. The incompetence of these people have cost many lives.

Many survivors of families who are devastated as I am. Many families. Okay. And his Chad Bianco remarks that I have heard have just about wiped me out mentally. The man is incapable of his job performing ease, period. He is responsible for who he hires, who is control of the camera, the nurse who is hired for these positions, who witnessed Joshua’s sweaty, his eyes, his contact and all of Joshua’s failures to communicate at that point due to his drug intake. Obviously I am. I am so sorry to hear this experience. It is. It’s so disheartening. What was the impact? Yeah.

Let me ask you. When. How soon did you find out about Joshua’s death and when did you. I, I. From what I understand there was a very long period of time before you found out what the cause of his actual death was. Can you kind of walk us through that real quick? Sure. I was con. Joshua died at 2 or so p.m. in the afternoon. They contacted me about 8:30 at night. All right. Okay. And when I received the call, of course I cried and I said why? How? Okay. And that’s how I found out. I got that.

Let’s fast forward. Did they tell you then the cause of your son’s death? No. He said he’s dead. That’s it. Okay. Now, did you proceed to ask the cause of the death? As the days moved on, the days, the weeks and months, every day, August 18th, September, October. Okay. Every day. I called and I was told that, well, he. It’s under investigation. You will receive no further information until the investigation is complete. I express some things about my son to them and they. Their reply to me was the investigator was no longer involved. Investigator Wendell. He went on leave and that he was no longer in charge of the case.

That took weeks. Then I called and found out another person whom I spoke to, who did not tell me how my son died at all this point. It was already November. Okay. I did not know how my son died. Through help from the sheriff that you have on your show, Mike. Michael. I was actually got a coroner’s report, say last week. Wow. And it’s been that time lapse. Yeah. Yes. As a mom. As a mom, I was not allowed any rights at all, period. Now, Joshua was how old? At the age of his death? Joshua was 41 years old.

And you’re still the mother. Yes, I am. Yes, I understand that. So for that time lapse from the death of Joshua until you getting those final records, was what lapse of time? Oh, months. We’re talking days, hours, minutes, months went by November. This is. May I just now got them. Wow. Due to the help and concern of your guest, Mike. Yes, Michael. Yes. Thank you, Michael. Yes. So good. So good. Well, let me ask you this. What changes? Well, actually, let’s actually land that. So the cause of your son’s death, which you just found out, was a meth overdose.

Okay. I’m at the overdose. Okay. And it’s common when you see. It would be to me like if I was in a position and I saw a person shooting up with a needle and it’s empty. Okay. That would show me as a human being. Look, this person has just, you know, administer drugs. Here’s the evidence. I will immediately take him to the hospital. Joshua didn’t have that choice. I got that. I got that. So let me ask you, what changes do you hope to see in Riverside county jails moving forward? Because this isn’t one incident. No.

It’s multiple incidents across the Riverside jail. So what. What is it that you hope to see in the Riverside County Jails? I hope to see a new sheriff. Okay. To put a point blank, a new sheriff. This needs to happen. Okay. And I also need to know that not under his authority of supervision of people that are being hired by his positions, involved in conducting business with these people, that they find people who are competent, who understand both sides of the law, and who are trained properly to acknowledge, hey, there’s a problem, and to be able to speak on that and not have fear for their jobs.

Yeah, that’s good. Fonda, Fonda, your strength is inspiring. And Joshua’s memory will live on through this fight for justice. I loved him. Yeah, I loved him. He’s your boy. And that love, that love doesn’t go away. So would you give us a word for those parents that are listening in right now that have a child, a young adult that is struggling with drugs or an addiction, and their child has, in that sense of losing hope and they’re just in that addiction. What message can you give to those parents today through the anger that arises with parents today and families and the disappointment and all caused by drug addiction? Hold them.

Hold them. Take their hand. Break away from that and hold them and tell them, I love you no matter what journey they are facing. Okay? That’s what I would do and pray. Thank you so much for being with us today. I pray that God gives you peace and blesses you. And today we honor Joshua and we honor you as a mom. Thank you, Kimberly. Well, I’m gonna have you switch on out because I know you’re sharing the camera right now with Ray. Let’s bring Ray directly in right now. We’re not going to take a commercial break here.

We’re just going to bring Ray right in and do a little swap out. There we go. Ray Carney. So Ray Carney is a dear friend of Fonda and Joshua. And Ray, you have been an advocate behind the scenes in support, support of Fonda. You’ve been that emotional support. You’ve also been. You have made multiple calls, right? Yeah. Let me give you a rundown here. I was there on August 18th when we received the call from Riverside County Sheriff. We got the call said Joshua passed away in detention in a lockup cell. I asked why. They said, well, we can’t tell you anything you don’t need to know.

So for the last six months after his death, calling, sending out letters, contacting everybody, I get nothing but run around in the big blue wall. Okay, Until. Thanks, Mike, for giving that information. I got the coroner’s report and I read the coroner’s report, and there’s five things that I noticed that are criminally negligent by the staff of the San Diego, by the Riverside County Sheriff, which is basically responsible. Sheriff Bianco is responsible for this his staff one is the officer should have noticed after pulling a bag out of his mouth, she said, oh, there’s no drugs in it.

I think, hey, 26, I gotta go to gotta get. I taken to Loma Linda Hospital. They would approved it. Okay. Or called for the paramedics. Two, they ignored that. He’s sweating profusely and everything else. Second he gets into jail, he gets into for a nurse. Well, I don’t know if it’s an RN and lvn, certified, whatever. I don’t know. Okay. They a nurse, an average first responder would have spotted these signs. Sweating profusely, high pulse, high blood pressure spasms, high body temperature. Those are all the signs of a reaction. What’d they do? Oh, no, no problem.

We’ll just throw them in a drunk tank. You can’t do that. And then like I said, you got, you got the sheriff, you got the deputy, the arresting deputy who is at fault. You got the, the nurse that was at fault. And you also have the guy, the three points. The guy who’s watching or guy or female who was watching the cameras, who didn’t see anything. They’re supposed to staff those cameras. They didn’t do it. So he passed away on his toilet throw with his head over the bowl and nobody caught it. Okay? You can’t have that when you.

When the minute those cuffs snap on your hands, you are the responsibility of those people. Okay? Now after going to the coroner’s report, I mean there’s a lot of stuff in there that just shocked the hell out of me. What were some of those things? Right? First of all, the arrest. Now, like I said, Joshua was basically pop for basic misdemeanors, failure to appear, which is a misdemeanor. You had accident, misdemeanor paraphernalia, the plastic bag, which really isn’t considered any then his since he was on probation. They put him on a felony hold, which is normal for California.

Sure. What happened was, is that all these were misdemeanors. And you know, if they would have noticed that he wasn’t drunk, but he had a chemical problem that was causing him distress. They should have picked it up. The deputy should have picked it up. The nurse should have picked it up. The people watching the cameras picking it up, nobody saw anything. Okay. For our audience right now, for those of those that have just joined in, we’re discussing the crisis of an in custody death. Some Riverside county jails. We’re honoring Joshua Frank Swart and amplifying the voices of those who loved him and we’re speaking with Ray Carney right now, a close friend and a family member of Joshua.

So, Ray, let’s continue on with what you were saying. Ray, did I lose you there? We got Ray frozen on the other side. Okay, so here’s what we’re going to do right now is we are going to take a moment and to thank our sponsors who make the take your power back show possible. And when we return, we’ll either have Ray back in the room, but we’ve got Michael Lugen. Captain Michael Lugen, who is on the back end, will be bringing him into the room in just a second. And without further ado, we’ve got Mike Lindell entering the room right now to share with us on the power of my.

Just like all of you, I had problems sleeping. I had tried every pillow out there and nothing worked. I’d flip flop all night, use my arm for support and fall asleep. Or I’d wake up with a sore neck or maybe a headache. Well, quality sleep comes from keeping your neck straight at night. You have to fill in that space between your head and your bed. That’s why I invented MyPillow. MyPillow’s patented fill adjusts to your exact individual needs. And it doesn’t matter if you sleep on your back, stomach side, or any combination of all three. When I got my pillow, I’m asleep almost immediately.

I stay asleep, sleep at night, and I wake up more well rested in the morning. So go to mypillow.com or call the number on your screen. Use your promo code to get classic king MyPillows for only 19.98 queen size just $18.98. Standard classic MyPillows only 14.98. That’s right, only 14.98. Plus all orders 75 or more ship absolutely free. I love it. Mike Lindell at MyPillow. That’s MyPillow.com forward slash. Kim, go get what you need for great night rest and support our patriot Mike Lindell@mypillow.com Kim, your support also supports the take your power back show that keeps freedom alive.

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And one of the ways we’re doing that is we are shining the light on what’s happening in our jail system. We’re joined now by Michael Lujan, a retired captain with the Riverside County Jail Sheriff Department who served for 31 years, including Chief of police for Lake Elsinore, Wildemar and Canyon Lake. Michael. Michael has an incredible bio. He grew up in a military family, learning integrity, hard work and dedicating decades to law enforcement. And I want to say in absolute, absolute honor to have him here right now on today’s show. The grand jury reports we are bringing it.

What’s happening, happening in the Riverside jails. So welcome Michael Lugen to the take your power back show. An honor to have you. Thank you. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. First and foremost, I’d like to express my condolences to Fonda and Ray. Sorry for their loss. It. It. It’s a tragedy. It should have never happened, quite frankly. And it’s important to understand that. I mean, I’m at, at all on their, in their story. You know, there as a retired captain with 31 years with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, I see some issues that, some training issues, of course, you know, on.

In the patrol section and within the corrections. So. And I’m definitely, and I can tell you that our correctional staff, I spent seven years, I think total in corrections. They work hard. They, they work hard. They give 110%. And whenever there’s an in custody death, we, we typically would have a debrief. And they, they feel remorseful and sorry for the loss because they are responsible. You know, Chad Bianco and his staff are responsible to care in custody. And nobody wants an in custody death. Nobody. Nobody wants. But, but mistakes are made. We have to acknowledge that and we have to address them and take steps or take steps to improve it to correct those deficiencies.

Now what, what really cuts, you know, to the heart, Sheriff Chad Bianco, is the way he insults, offends, and diminishes an individual’s life and at the same time praises God. You. Is beyond me. You can’t. To me, I go, you’re not really Christian, like when you do things like that. Because life is precious. Every life is precious. Michael, you, you are right. Every life. Every life is precious. And let’s share this big picture again so that people really understand what we’re looking at today. The grand jury reports and lawsuits point to systematic issues in Riverside county jails.

Mismanagement, inadequate medical care, failure to protect vulnerable inmates. So from your experience, what’s going wrong under Sheriff Bianco’s leadership? Leadership. That. That’s it. Leadership. You know, and I can tell you, during my 31 year career with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Farm, I worked for five sheriffs. Five. Five sheriffs. Chad Bianco being the last sheriff. I’ve never seen anything like this with the other four sheriffs. You know, and the problem is, I think is there’s no, no accountability in regards to the leadership. You know, you look at the grand jury report and, you know, it opens up with a statement from the sheriff that, you know, that they’re not basically not responsible for any of the deaths that occurred in custody.

Right. And so we have these grieving families, these mothers, these fathers, these brothers, these aunts, these uncles, you know, these nieces and nephews for their loved ones, you know, and what compounds that grief and torment and pain is the sheriff himself making those disparaging remarks and not only that, lying about what had occurred to their loved one in custody. For example, if you look at Christopher Damien’s reporting out of the Desert sun, the Upton, the Upton case, you look at the reports and look at the statements made by Sheriff Bianco, they’re totally different. You look at the, the individual that was thrown over the second tier banister, you know, he, there was a black inmate and a white inmate.

He said it was a, the victim of the homicide was a, was a black inmate and that they have, he had a long criminal history and that they were housed together in the same cell for, for, you know, some time. But this is, this just happened. This is, just happened. However, you know, what we’re seeing here is that, you know, through Christopher Damian’s reporting, you know, 75 reports and videos is a lot to obtain in my opinion, for an investigative reporter. The individual was his first day incarcerated and his last day of life. So the whole three months long criminal history and his criminal history turned out to be non, non violent.

Right. So I think the problem is leadership. I mean, you know, I always encouraged people when they, when they came to work both, you know, in corrections and on patrol. I had a simple philosophy. Come to work, make a difference in someone’s life and go home at the end of your shift. Right. Because that’s what we’re there, we’re there to make a difference in someone’s life to whatever degree. Yeah. Small degree or larger. We’re there to make a difference in someone’s life. But when you have leadership under Bianco, who has been repeatedly been proven to be dishonest, you know, and disparaging of people in, in custody, we all make mistakes.

You know, I’m not above making mistakes. I’m a sinner like everybody else. But, but, you know, I pray, I ask for forgiveness, you know, I say the rosary and hopefully I can get through the pearly gates, you know, Doing what? Doing good, at least. Trying to do good, at least. Being truthful. Yeah. And yeah, you know, the, the problem with, with in this particular case, right. You have a, you know, how fond of the mother, you have Ray the friend, and then you have the father, which I believe is out of state or Somewhere out of the county.

If I was sheriff, I would sit down, I would review the case. I would sit down with the family and say, this is what occurred. Because the truth will always come into the light. Right. And then if you’re going to start lying from the start, you can say a lie or you can withhold information. And omission is a lie. Right. We’ve always taught that you tell the truth, let the chips lie with their fault. I would sit with the family and say, this is what occurred. This is what we know. There’s more investigative investigations to do, investigative work to do.

And there’s. Things could change, but this is where we at. I don’t want. I would not want to prolong the pain and suffering and the grieving of a. Of a mother or a father or a family. Nine months. Nine months. Enough time to have a baby for them to find out how their son, Joshua Swart, died. And I, I’m so sorry. And I feel for Fonda and Ray because they’re, I mean, they’re begging for information to know. Yeah. At the end of the day, you know, my son has passed away and I just need to know.

Right. Yeah. Sheriff Bianco should have told him, you know, and, you know, the whole, there’s nothing more you need to know. You know, that’s unacceptable. I worked Homicide, the Central Homicide unit, for almost 10 years. I was involved in roughly 250 case Central Homicide UK. And thank you for your service, by the way. Very welcome, though. The privilege and honor was mine to bring, you know, closure and some solace to the surviving victims of Homicide. Right. And. And we did death investigations as well, non criminal death investigation. And they were relieved, just understanding what had occurred.

And I think that’s important because that’s part of the, the, not only the grieving process, but more importantly, the recovery process. You know, you’re always going to miss your loved ones. You’re always going to pray that he’s watching down, you know, and you’re always going to pray that the good Lord’s perpetual light continues to shine upon him. Right. But it just makes it a little easier during the grieving and mourning process that you know, and you understand what had occurred. And I blamed before leadership on that, you know, leadership of Sheriff Bianco. And you see it repeatedly, repeatedly, because he’s not held accountable.

Now, in regards to corrections, corrections is, you know, I view the Sheriff’s department my 31 years, four major areas that are important, that are equally important. You need to balance those. One is corrections Two is patrol, three is Court services. Right. And four is dispatch. Right. Those are the main four areas. Yeah. I believe those are the nuts and bolts that make the organization function. Right. I believe, you know, in this particular case, you know, I, I would, I would really look at what happened at the patrol level because Ray. Ray was hit the nail on the head, you know.

You know, the, the. You found a baggie in the person’s mouth. So what does that tell you? That tells you that person is, is ingesting narcotics, right? Yeah, probably a large, I mean the layman would know that. I, I mean I’m a layman. I would know that a large amount of product narcotics, you know, as to not get arrested. So you pulled out the bag. It would be interesting to me now as an investigator. What was the size of the bag? A couple other things is. Did you tell the, the intake nurse? Did you tell corrections of this? That’s important to know.

Right. And you know, and how long was, you know, how long were you with Joshua, if I remember. Yes. Joshua Frank Fort. How long were you. Because you should have taken, you should have called a blood nurse to draw blood. Now interesting enough, I, you know, when I was on patrol, people have done that. They, they tried to. Well, they have succeeded in ingesting narcotics way beyond my capability, way beyond my capabilities, way beyond the nurses capabilities. In my experiences, when someone swallows narcotics, we need to take them to the er. You know, that’s common sense.

We need to take them to the ER because the ER doctor is going to be more apt and more appropriate venue to really look and evaluate. And the symptoms, the objective symptoms that Ray was describing, you know, are spot on for that. And you don’t need permission to go to the hospital. You, you’re a deputy sheriff, you’re, you’re sworn, you’re, you’re gone. You, you can go, you can go to the hospital if you feel you need to. It is, it is a judgment call. You know, I think there should be a policy, maybe a policy change or really look at the training on when people swallow narcotics to, to avoid them being seized by law enforcement during an arrest and subsequent incarceration and prosecution that if something that like that occurs, they need to, need to go to the emergency room.

I mean. Okay, let me ask you this just for clarification. Is there a protocol already in place in training for that to occur? Okay. I’ve been retired for going on five years now. I don’t recall ever reading a policy. I think it’s just good public safety because first and foremost, you know, is the preservation of life. All our deputies in the sheriff’s department, deputies in the field, correctional deputies, is the first and foremost goal is the preservation of life. So you have to. And you have to identify what’s hazardous to an individual and swallowing baggie or baggies, because you really don’t know.

Right. The profuse sweating. Should I. The. The uncontrollable involuntary jittering. You know, obviously, if you’re evaluating someone for being under the influence of a controlled substance, the pupils are probably dilated. There’s, you know, nystagmus. If he did. If the patrol deputy did an evaluation, of course, they typically do a blood draw to evaluate, to use later on toxicology in any subsequent prosecution. So in my opinion, based on my 31 years and my experience is, is when you come across someone like that, you should have took them to the E.R. you know, in this particular instance. The.

The key for. The key for. For. For me understanding what occurred in corrections and the failures in corrections. Right. Would be what did the deputy tell the nurse and what did the deputy tell the. The correction. Right. Because I know the correctional. I was assigned. I was a lieutenant at the Koisberg Detention center, and I know those. Those deputies, and I was a lieutenant at the Robert Presley Detention Center. So I know the. Our correctional staff are dedicated and they work hard, you know, and that. That is not to. To minimize, you know, the pain and suffering that Fonda and Ray are experiencing.

That’s my experience. And I know those individuals, more than likely their character that they are more. They mourned or they regrettable of the loss of Joshua as well. Nevertheless, it appears failures were made and they need to be. They need to be addressed appropriately. That’s right. Yeah. And I think it’s important. Go on. That we, you know, we’re. So. We are very quick, you know, to. To voice out praise our accomplishments, but we also need to voice out and praise are, you know, deficiencies. And what we’re doing. And I think the grand jury. The grand jury report really kind of expresses that.

That these are your deficiencies. And the response was. We have the response from Sheriff Bianco, you know, is if you read the response, you know, it’s just, you know, what does it say? I know. Yeah. This is. Okay, so let me pull this up right now so that I can read it as well. It’s in the third paragraph, the last sentence. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Actually, hang on one second. Let me. Let’s pull this here. It’s a little small. I Want you to be able to see this. Can you see that? Okay. Yeah. Let me get close.

Excuse my. Okay. Excuse me. I’ll read that for you. I got it. Okay, you got it. We do an industry leading, fantastic job in our corrections divisions, and, and we are not responsible for any of these s. I agree with the first part of that sentence, but the bottom line is, you know, an individual was in the care and custody of the sheriff’s department, and we are responsible however you cut it. Now, a lot of times, you know, and Sheriff Bianco has been on the record and stated that, you know, the only badge that matters is his badge, and the only uniform that matters is his uniform.

He is the. The final say on what occurs. With that being said, he’s the one that can. Can. He is the one that says we’re going to withhold information or we’re gonna. We’re gonna, you know, brief up the family. Right. I can tell you lawsuits down the road, you know, agencies are always being sued, and a lot of times those lawsuits could have been avoided if we just spoke the truth. If Sheriff Bianca just told the truth about the incarcerated death, if Sheriff Bianco just told the truth about Mr. Van Miller, you know, there might not have been a lawsuit.

It could have been, you know, it could have been just a, you know, possession of a loaded firearm, a misdemeanor in the state of California. Perfectly legal. Let me ask you this. You ran against Bianco in 2022, right? Yes. And you’re calling for more transparency. So what did you see that made you challenge him? Well, I was seeing. You really saw it in the commander’s meetings. And all the commanders would talk after the commander’s meeting. So we, we saw this public, you know, this service above self concept, you know, that, that he. He developed. You know, I always say he stole it from the Air Force Academy because one of their models is service before self.

But we kind of got away from integrity, honesty, and professionalism. So what we were seeing is that people were being discriminated against in regards to the application of discipline. Right. We. We saw a little. A lot of the commanders thought there was some ticket fixing going on with vendors with his former assistant sheriff, Robert Gunzo, who put out an email. And so we were seeing a lot of favoritism going on, and we were seeing a lot of. Especially to the vendors. If, if you do look at the projects management Unit there, we used to have majority of the vendors who did our capital improvement projects within our corrections to Bureau, within our patrol Stations were all pretty much within Riverside County.

Now there’s nine of them. Seven of the nine are from Orange county. And there’s a guy on the, the projects management unit came over from Orange County Sheriff’s Department. And no one seems to know where the money’s going. You know, when you ask for a line item, line item cost. So we were all seeing that. Wow. What wow? You know, we have so much hope for Chad and we, you know, here we are, we’re 30 year veterans and he’s just. From an internal perspective, at the commander’s meeting afterwards, we’d be like, man, he’s lying his ass off.

Sorry, you know, sorry about that. He was lying. He was lying on. So, you know, we saw very. We were seeing the true character of it of Chad Bianco and how his dishonesty is. He says he’s the most transparent sheriff. Buddy withholds information. Right. He says, and I would ask the voters in Riverside county and statewide if, if how many candidates are saying, I’m honest, I’m the only honest one. I’m so on. The law says I have to tell the truth. Right. So someone keeps telling you you’re. They’re so honest, but yet you have, you have evidence, you know, through, through interviews and press releases and lawsuits that he’s not.

But he still runs around and says, I’m honest. I’m so honest. I come with the most integrity. I come with the most honesty. Right. Well, that used to be the sheriff’s department model. You should, you should see it. Integrity, honesty and professionalism. It also had. Integrity is non negotiable. All those have been wiped. Pretty much wiped out. Right. So I, I have concerns and, and the. To answer your question, I came in late at the last election. Right. I was getting a lot of calls from people and, and my, the reason why I ran for the office of the sheriff because I felt there was a need to restore to the integrity of the office.

But by this time, we’re seeing a lot of people questioning the statements that the sheriff made. You’re seeing, you’re seeing a little of the divide. There’s always been a little gap between the public. Yes. And law enforcement. That gap has, Is now a cavern. You know, you know, Chad Bianco talks about there’s no special interest that is, you know, campaign kickoff. Well, have you ever sat down with the aclu, you know, all these, you know. Right. You know, and you know, you know, it’s naacp ever sat down and talked to them, the Latino coalition? Have you have you ever sat down and talked to them? You know, I have during the campaign.

I learned a lot during that first campaign. I learned, I learned what the people really were just yearning for honesty. I can’t change what had occurred, but I can let you know I’m not going to lie about it. Right. And that’s why you’re seeing these lawsuits. And I think the leadership is, the importance of Corrections Bureau has diminished under Bianco’s leadership. The Corrections Bureau is so important to the department as a whole. It is a critical bureau within the organization. And they do, they are, they are. And they do incredible work and they do important work.

Right. So when I look at, you know, I saw a post that people were complaining about the 12 hour shifts. You know, the hardest part of being in corrections is the 12 hour shift. Well, I mean, that goes to staffing challenges. We always have staffing challenges, but we need, we need to strive to meet those challenges. And I think what caused this snowball effect, you know, of the staffing challenges by removing all sworn personnel out of it, the sworn deputy sheriff that you see out in the, on the community pushing the black and white, you know, that reduces the staffing, that puts great burden on them.

And I’m just speaking generally, you know, that you, that people do get burnt out and you have to have leadership in there that aren’t going to threaten them but encourage them to continue to do a good work. Right, right. Well, Michael, let me ask you this. Let’s go back just for a second. You know, how can the sheriff’s department prevent tragedies like Joshua’s? And what role can we the people play in holding our leaders accountable? Well, to prevent those tragedies, I think that it needs to come down to more training, more training, better observation and back to the, the foundation of the sheriff’s department.

The preservation of life comes first. Right. And see, I go back to the original. What caused this unfortunate incident is what was the training in the field, deputy, that when you swallow someone, you should be, you should be aware that, that, that could lead to a rather quickly overdose. Right. So training is important and empowering our deputies and they already have the discretion, but empowering them to just exercise that discretion, say, I think this guy needs more medical attention than I need a misdemeanor arrest. You know, when people, you know, when you get to the point where you’re, you can’t stand, you know, right.

You need to go to the hospital. There was a standing rule. If a person can’t stand or if a person Was in an accident. Accident. Right. If I remember right. If I. If I remember right, reading the. The deputy coroner’s report, the car was found on an embankment or a hill that was probably indicated with some kind of, you know, accident. Right. It’s not normal. And that, you know, and Joshua had. Had exited the vehicle. So when you’re in a collision, that’s an automatic trip to the emergency room. You can’t book anyone in the jail. Right.

If you go to the jail and you say, hey, he was in a collision, they’d be like, hey, where’s your okay to book? Where did you take them to the er? Well, it’s a great point. Great point. You know, you know, my managerial hat is, you know, back on, and my investigative hat is on, and I’m thinking about what’s going on here. Yeah. So training is important. Reinforcing to our staff that they’re here, they’re doing a good job, and we need to reinforce the fact that the preservation of life supersedes everything else. I love it. Michael, that.

That is just sounding onto me. The preservation of life, that is the most significant thing that we need to look at here. And do we have processes in place to support that? Michael, I want to thank you. Your experience shines a light on what’s possible when leadership prioritizes people over politics. I want to thank you for your service again, your courage to say speak out, your support for Fonda and Ray. And we’re actually going to bring Fonda and Ray back into the room right now just for our final discussion. We’ve got about three minutes remaining. And we got, you know, Ray had popped off.

They lost Wi Fi, but they are back in. Hi, Fonda. Welcome back. It’s so good. It’s so good to see you guys. And for those who are just joining on, you are with us at the take your power back show. We’ve got mighty warriors in the room like Fonda Torres, Ray Carney, retired captain Michael Lugen. And we are here honoring Fonda’s son today, Joshua Frank Swart. And we are talking about the Riverside county jail grand jury report record, the in custody record deaths. And that has absolutely got to change. So I’ve got just a couple questions before we close up the show today that I think are really important.

Rhonda, let’s start with you. What would justice look like for you and Joshua right now? Well, you know, I wouldn’t be in this position if the sheriffs did their jobs right. Okay. If they were properly trained and saw a situation and Held that situation, my son wouldn’t be dead. Okay. And then when he got to the jail, they allowed him and okayed him to go into a cell where he, his body was decomposing hours before they even found him in that position. Although he was on camera held by a sheriff who is supposedly to be trained in this position.

Right, right. Bianco needs to go. His time is up. Whether he’s become numb to his situations and his power to go ahead and run for governor is more important. It shows in what’s happening in these deaths. Thank you, Fonda. Thank you. Reinforcing the importance of that leadership and that training. Stay with us on the camera. Don’t go anywhere. Get close to Ray. We want to see your beautiful face stick. Stay with us, Ray. You all are examples of what it means to be tenacious, what it means to persevere. From daily phone calls, weekly phone calls, months to nine months of finally getting the information of how Joshua passed away, what would you advise to all of our freedom loving patriots today that are, that are listening in of what they can do in Riverside county to get involved in holding our leaders accountable? Okay.

I just got a call from Riverside county sheriff asking for his property and now I get a voicemail. So I just thought during the show. I got it. What would I do? Well, first of all, I’m not a fan of, of this is personally from my opinion. I’m not a fan of deputies running jails and I’m not a five in a drive through justice. So the only thing I can safely say is if you’re going to go from San Diego to Interstate 10, go through Orange County. I got that. I got that. I got that, Ray.

I got that. Michael, what’s one policy change, one policy change that could save lives tomorrow? I think when regards to corrections, I, I think you should require an, an actual physician, you know, at either, at the, at the correctional facility. And there’s five of them, which is gonna, people are gonna be like, oh my gosh, that’s gonna cost a lot of money. But they are, they are highly educated, highly experienced physicians, you know, at evaluating individuals. You know, the RNs and the LVNs do a good job, you know, and then anyone under the influence caught ingesting, ingesting narcotics should, should have went to the ER and a friend of mine just text me because he’s watching, says there is a policy on it.

So in regards to this. And there’s a policy on it. Yeah. And this topic, I think it’ll be money well spent. Taxpayer dollars well spent by assigning a physician 24 hours a day, you know, incurring the cost for a physician 24 hours a day at our facilities to medically to do a little more extensive medical evaluation. Because when people get ill in the corrections, you know, when I was in corrections, we had the nurse, nurses do a great job, but at some point in time, we have to make an evaluation on whether they need a higher level of medical care, right? And that.

That higher level of medical care usually occurs at a hospital. So that if I was the sheriff, I would work diligently with our correctional health care system and say, what would it. Is it going to cost to, you know, we have a doctor there during the day during what’s called sick call, right? What would it cost to have a doctor there 24 hours a day to do evaluations and be able to address issues like this, Right? Because you know what they say when there’s. There’s an incident, you know, there’s that first golden hour, and you have a doctor there can do a lot more procedures than.

Than RN or lvn. Not. Not. Not knocking them. They do a great job. I work with them, you know, side by side. When I was assigned to corrections, you know, and I also would. Would really push, like, if you look at the grand jury report, I really push for. For, you know, I’m a big proponent of an oversight committee, right? A big proponent of someone else looking at us to let us know, you know, that, hey, you might do this better. You could do this better. We recommend this. And then when you evaluate and implement it.

Because when I. When I would read a policy, you know, my boss, the chief will say, this is a good policy, it’s okay. And I’m like, okay, if you say it is, because, you know, we’re policing ourselves in the policy arena, right? But it doesn’t hurt to ask for help. It doesn’t hurt to ask someone look. Look over our shoulder and say, are we doing this? Can we do this better? And I know. I know Sheriff Bianco is totally against that, and I don’t know why. And I know the board of supervisors has the discretion to, you know, create an oversight committee.

And I would encourage, you know, our board of supervisors to really do a study and embark on that, because not only do we want to preserve life, but we want to rebuild the trust of the public trust. And that. That. That gap that was always there has turned into a cavern. And I think it’s. It’s the poor leadership of Chad Bianco. And the mistreatment of deputies and the surviving victims of those who have passed in. In our. In our custody, whether it be in the field or in corrections. I. I just think the. We need that.

I just think we need that to restore that trust that law enforcement. You know, we used to be a secret society where you do what we tell you to do because we told you no. That worked in the 50s, but it doesn’t work in 2025. No, it does not. No accountability and oversight where, you know, we. We. Yes. And that’s how we’re going to restore the. The public trust. Not lying to Rhonda or. Sorry, Fonda. You got Fonda and Ray. Not lying. Sorry. That’s okay. Yeah, that’s okay. It’s an unusual name, sir. That. That’s. That’s how we build public.

We need to restore the public trust. Right? Yeah, that’s right. And it’s that, you know, I worked for five shares. The first four, they had their faults. Like, we all have our faults. You know, we have to balance what’s going on. But, you know, Chad Bianco has made this. He has took it to a whole nother level of. Of unethical, you know, lack of integrity and really disingenuous conduct and statements. Well, I. I did. For the record, I did reach out to Sheriff Chad Bianco today in regards to the Riverside County Jail grand jury report and the comments from the citizens with the record saying that, you know, the record in custody death, it is the largest amount.

Right. So. And saying that Bianco is responsible for that. So I have not heard back from Bianco. I’m looking forward to getting a word back. And if Sheriff Bianco is listening in, we’d love to hear your take on this. And, you know, I always want to believe the best in people. I. I really pray that, you know, these breakdowns lead to breaks, breakthroughs in the system so that families are taken care of, that lives are preserved. I want to thank each one of you for being with us today. You really help shine the light on an area that needs a lot of light and a lot of truth being exposed because the current system does not work, as we can see, and Joshua’s case.

So, Fonda, thank you for your courage, your bravery. Thank you for being an amazing mama. And my heart just goes out to you. Ray, thank you for being a great friend and an advocate for the family. You have been right beside Fonda the whole way through. And, Michael, thank you so much for just support of these guys and for continuing to behind the scenes. You’re retired. You don’t need to do anything, any of this. You’re not running for office. You get nothing out of this. You, no, you’re just a stand for truth. So I want to thank you for your service and I want to thank you for being with us today.

You’re very welcome, very welcome. And I’m looking forward to your link on your November in person. Oh yeah, yes, yes. We do have an event coming up. We can’t forget that. So we have been doing the Take your power back California governor face offs. We’ve done round one, we’ve done round two and you can find them at the take your powerback show.com click onto the rumble. You’ll find them there. Last night we were up quite late finishing round two off. We have round three coming up June 12th and a few more after that and then the live in person event on November 1st.

That’s going to be a big event in Carlsbad, California. Details to follow. So Michael, God bless you. Thank you. Ray, thank you, God bless you. Thank you. And we will be in communication and in touch. Well, you guys heard it from the horse’s mouths today. Wowza Kabowsa. This is the time that the truth is being brought out into the light. This is the time that everything is being exposed. So I want to encourage every single one of you to continue to stand in truth, continue to go after taking your power back. I want you to join us next week for another episode of the Take youe Power Back show where we’ll tackle the water issues in the state of California and a live update from outside the White House in D.C.

so stay tuned for our June 12th event coming up as well, the Take youe Power Back California Governor face off round three. We have David Serpa, Ryan Tillman, Brandon Jones. You can find round one with Bianco, Leo Zaki and Naranjo. Round two with Hilton, Daniel Mercury and Kobe Markham. On the take your powerback show.com click onto the rumble. You’ll find it there. Until then, freedom loving patriots. Keep on fighting. Keep on loving. Keep on taking your power back. I’m Kim Gator signing out today. May God bless you abundantly. As you see, stand in truth and remember that he who began a good work in you will carry it out to the very end of the age.

And the time is now. Stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord for your work of the Lord is not in vain. And again, we honor Joshua Frank Swart. God bless you and God bless your family. Family, thank you for joining us for the Take your power Back show as peak performance breakthrough coach Kim Yater speaks to other freedom loving Americans that are making a positive impact in the world by standing in truth amid adversity. Listen in weekly and learn how to take your power back. In your freedom, in your personal and professional life, in technology and creativity, and in your faith.

Be encouraged, be inspired, be transformed as you step into your power and take action action in your leadership and allow your voice to be heard together. Let’s take your power back. To sponsor and support the Take your power back show, go to take your powerback show.com that’s take your power back show.com and take your power back. Sam Sa.
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