Newport Beach Police Accused of Using Hotel as Free Party Pad

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Orange County billionaire Don Bren's Island Hotel gave multiple command-staff officers at the Newport Beach Police Department (NBPD) free suites, massages, spa services, booze and food, as well as agreed to erase hotel-surveillance footage when the cops didn't want any record of who they were partying with in rooms.

Those allegations are contained in a new federal lawsuit filed by a former highly regarded parking-control officer, who claims he was fired in retaliation for instigating personnel investigations into high-ranking NBPD cops taking gratuities at the swank, ocean-view hotel at Fashion Island in Newport Beach.

In exchange for free, discreet use of the luxury resort, police management quietly eased license processing for massage therapists operating at the hotel and ordered parking violations ignored at the property, according to the lawsuit filed Sept. 23 inside Orange County's Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse by Zachary McEligot, who worked at NBPD for more than 12 years.