OAKLAND — The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office’s chief of inspectors, who was hired two years ago despite questions over his truthfulness and credibility, is leaving his post, in the first significant staffing change since Ursula Jones Dickson took over as the county’s new top prosecutor this week.
Eric Lewis — the former Oakland Police Department deputy chief who arrived at the local district attorney’s office in early 2023 — is “stepping down from his role… and departing the office,” according to a source with knowledge of an email sent out to inspectors Wednesday. The email went on to thank Lewis for his work in the leadership role.
The email said that Robert Chenault, who served as chief of inspectors under former District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, is expected to fill the job at a future date, multiple sources said. Until that point, fellow Alameda County inspector James Rullamas is expected to serve as acting chief inspector, the email said.
The exact circumstances of Lewis’ departure remain unclear, and no public announcement of his exit had been made Thursday morning. Lewis was walked out of the office and driven home by fellow inspectors on Wednesday, multiple sources said. Attempts to reach Lewis on Thursday were unsuccessful.
When asked of Lewis’ employment status, Haaziq Madyun, a spokesman for Jones Dickson, said that “we typically do not comment” on personnel matters.
Lewis had been serving as the office’s chief of inspectors since being hired in January 2023 by Pamela Price, who had just won election to serve as the county’s district attorney. Price was later recalled in a landslide election last fall, just two years into her first term.
His hire drew scrutiny after a report was made public in fall 2024 that castigated the one-time Oakland Police Department deputy chief as “untruthful” and “not credible.”
The report claimed Lewis wasn’t honest when confronted about a series of disparaging remarks captured on a “hot mic” during a online OPD command staff meeting in June 2021, while department leaders were preparing for possible demonstrations during the sentencing of Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd a year earlier.
A handful of people heard Lewis call an officer a “dope fiend” and a “crackhead,” while referring to then-Chief LeRonne Armstrong and his wife, Deputy Chief Drennon Lindsey, as “Bonnie and Clyde,” the report said. Lewis also allegedly complained about “dumbass meetings” at the department — all of which appeared to violate OPD policies and rules, according to the report, which was first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Yet when pressed about the comments, Lewis appeared to either downplay the remarks or deny them, according to investigators with the firm Nossaman LLP, which was hired to investigate the complaints.
The investigators found that “not only was Deputy Chief Lewis not credible, but also untruthful” about the incident, the report said. It went on to suggest that Lewis’ “change in testimony was troubling and demonstrated a lack of credibility.”
Also on Wednesday, Jones Dickson rescinded two hallmark policies implemented by Price in early 2023 that proved deeply controversial throughout her nearly two-year term.
One policy mandated that prosecutors seek approval by leaders of the district attorney’s office when seeking to file sentencing enhancements, which can add decades to a defendant’s potential prison sentence for various aggravating factors, such as using a gun or causing serious injury in certain crimes. The other policy largely barred prosecutors from trying to transfer juvenile cases to adult court.
The staff change marked the second time in two years that an incoming Alameda County district attorney had replaced the head of the office’s investigative arm.
In her first few days in office, Price got rid of Chief of Inspectors Craig Chew and Assistant Chief of Inspectors Andrea Moreland. At the time, Chew’s firing highlighted an extensive staff shakeup in the opening weeks of Price’s tenure in January 2023. The newly-installed district attorney also placed seven veteran prosecutors on leave and announced a slew of job reassignments — all in a bid to undo what Price called a “hot mess” that was left by her predecessor, O’Malley.
None of the seven prosecutors put on leave in early 2023 faced any official findings of misconduct or discipline, according to Matt Finnegan, an attorney with the local union representing Alameda County prosecutors. Three of them were allowed to return to work nine months later, while a fourth was brought back after a 12-month absence. The remaining three prosecutors got jobs elsewhere, including with the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and the Napa County District Attorney’s Office.
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.
