Charles Starnes
Introduction
Charles “Chuck” William Starnes III, 52, a former Garden Grove, California, police sergeant who once led the department’s officers’ union, has been charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting two women who worked for the Garden Grove Police Department — a fellow officer in 2007 and a civilian department employee in 2020. He was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service early on October 29, 2026, pleaded not guilty to all four felony counts at his arraignment on October 30, and remains jailed on $5 million bail.
Background Information
Starnes began his law-enforcement career as a Riverside County sheriff’s deputy before lateraling to the Garden Grove Police Department in 2005. He rose to serve as president of the Garden Grove Police Officers’ Association, the department’s police union, and in 2025 was assigned as a sergeant to the department’s Traffic Operations Unit. He retired in May 2026 while on administrative leave and under an internal investigation into sexual harassment allegations, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Charged; pleaded not guilty. Starnes faces four felony counts — kidnapping to commit a sex offense, sexual penetration by a foreign object by force, sexual penetration by a foreign object involving an intoxicating or controlled substance, and assault with intent to commit a sexual offense. The charges are allegations he has denied through his attorney; no conviction has been entered.
According to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, Starnes was charged on October 16, 2026, with the four felony counts, and an Orange County Superior Court judge unsealed the charges on October 30. Prosecutors allege the attacks span more than a decade. In March 2007, Starnes — then a police officer and the local union’s president — is accused of kidnapping a female colleague as she left the women’s restroom at a Stanton bar, dragging her outside into the parking lot, and sexually assaulting her there until two fellow officers intervened. In March 2020, he is accused of sexually assaulting a female civilian department employee during a car ride back from an “off probation” party at a Long Beach bar, while the pair were driving to the Garden Grove Police Association Stress Release Center, a makeshift bar and lounge for police personnel run by the police association.
Starnes was taken into custody around 4:15 a.m. on October 29 at his Eastvale home by a U.S. Marshals Service task force working with the California Highway Patrol, and he was booked into Orange County Jail on $5 million bail, according to the Orange County Register’s account. The criminal case arrived roughly a week after a civilian Garden Grove Police Department employee filed a lawsuit alleging she was subjected to “severe and pervasive sexual harassment” from July 2025 into early 2026, identifying Starnes, who the suit says was her direct supervisor in the traffic division, as the harasser; those civil claims remain allegations.
Public Reaction and Consequences
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer framed the charges around Starnes’ former authority: “The badge is not a shield from accountability, and we are grateful that these acts of sexual violence have finally come to light so that justice can be pursued on behalf of these victims who suffered in silence,” he said, adding that “sexual assault is an act of cowardice, and it takes incredible courage for victims to come forward and speak out against someone in a position of power.” Starnes’ attorney, Brian Gurwitz, said his client denies the charges and was “eager for the truth to be presented in a courtroom.” The Garden Grove Police Department said it would continue cooperating with authorities as the investigation proceeds.
Current Status
Starnes pleaded not guilty to all four felony counts during his October 30 arraignment and remains in custody at Orange County Jail on $5 million bail. He faces a maximum sentence of seven years to life plus 14 years in state prison if convicted on all counts. Senior Deputy District Attorney Sarah Rahman of the District Attorney’s Sexual Assault Unit is prosecuting the case. The department Starnes served for two decades says its cooperation with the prosecution continues.
Impact on Their Career/Life
A two-decade career that carried Starnes from deputy sheriff to department sergeant and union president has ended in a jail cell pending trial, with the department confirming he retired while under investigation for sexual harassment. The criminal charges — brought fourteen years after the first reported assault and unsealed after his retirement — now sit alongside the pending civil harassment suit filed by a former subordinate, and any conviction would carry a potential life term.
Sources
- New York Post, “Former Garden Grove police sergeant charged with kidnapping, sexually assaulting two colleagues,” October 31, 2026 — source
- Los Angeles Times, “Ex-Garden Grove police sergeant kidnapped, assaulted coworker, prosecutor says,” October 31, 2026 — source
- NBC Los Angeles, “Garden Grove sergeant charged with sexually assaulting two women,” October 31, 2026 — source
- Hoodline (citing the Orange County Register), “Ex-Garden Grove Sergeant Jailed on $5M Bail in 2007 Bar, 2020 Car Ride Assaults,” October 31, 2026 — source
- OC Clipper, “Former GGPD Sgt. is arrested on multiple sex crime charges,” October 2026 — source