CHULA VISTA (KGTV) — Chula Vista Police Chief Roxana Kennedy is suing Chula Vista's City Manager and four City Councilmembers, alleging they conspired to remove her from her position as police chief.
The lawsuit names Executive Officer and City Manager Tiffany Allen, District 1 Councilmember Carolina Chavez, District 2 Councilmember Jose Preciado, District 3 Councilmember Michael Inzunza, and District 4 Councilmember Cesar Fernandez as the defendants. It also alleges there may be more defendants that Kennedy will ask to add to the complaint in the future.
For the past six months, Kennedy has been on medical leave, and details in a complaint filed on May 12 what type of treatment she's been experiencing from City leaders. In that time, Kennedy needed to go through the proper channels and file paperwork, in order to be granted permission to sue City officials.
On May 11, she received her 'Right-to-Sue' notice from the Civil Rights Department.
In her complaint filed on May 12, Kennedy claims Allen and other city leaders took a harmless moment at a private Christmas party in December 2025, and embellished it as inappropriate behavior to justify her termination.
Allen called out Kennedy for acting inappropriately at the Christmas party when a dance contest kicked off. Allen said one officer took his shirt off while dancing, and Kennedy stuck two $1 bills on him. Kennedy maintains to this day that she did not touch the officer.
Kennedy alleged the real motivation behind the "fabricated allegation" was that she discovered city leadership was secretly vetting a younger, Latino police officer for her position.
Kennedy also accused Allen of violating her privacy by sharing personal information about her with at least one member of the public and making false statements about her job performance.
The complaint goes further.
Kennedy said that after she left on medical leave, city leadership launched two investigations against her and threatened her job if she did not appear for interviews related to those investigations.
Kennedy previously filed two claims requesting investigations into police officers she believed were part of the group conspiring against her. She alleged those investigations never took place.
She also alleged she was cut off from access to her own pay stubs and personal records, leaving her unable to adequately defend herself in the investigations launched against her.
For all those reasons, Kennedy is suing for damages related to harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. There is no set amount stated in the complaint that she is seeking in damages.
Kennedy is the Chula Vista Police Department's first female police chief, and she has been serving on the force for 33 years.
Kennedy's attorney, Cory Briggs, spoke to ABC 10News back in March and wasn't available for comment on Thursday.
"She has a clean record," Briggs said back in March. "She's not done anything wrong, but they came up with an excuse because of something that happened."
A spokesperson for the City stated on Thursday in response to the lawsuit.
"The City categorically denies the allegations and will vigorously defend against them in court. The City is confident the truth will show that no wrongdoing occurred," the city said.
Councilmember Fernandez also responded to the allegations in a written statement:
I was surprised to see these allegations because I believed Chief Kennedy enjoyed her job and was leading a police department our residents trust. The City has far more important issues to work on than changing leadership in a department that works well for residents. The claims against me are broad, unsupported, and bogus. The complaint throws around serious accusations without presenting facts that show I did anything wrong. I believe this lawsuit is a waste of time and public resources. What also concerns me is how casually race-based accusations are being made against me with little concern for the damage they cause. There is a real person on the other end of these claims. I participated in no such wrongdoing, and I believe the evidence, or lack of it, will prove that. When this is over, I hope people ask themselves whether they will have the integrity to apologize to those they falsely accused. Because this matter is in litigation, I will be careful about commenting further, but I am confident the facts will speak for themselves.
