King City inspection of phone system finds no evidence of alleged city manager eavesdropping.

King City is the kind of small town where plenty of people say everyone knows everything—but even that has its limits. 

According to a search warrant served on King City City Manager Michael Powers by the District Attorney, other officials in City Hall—namely Acting Police Chief Dennis Hegwood—suspected Powers of eavesdropping through the city phone system. 

After the warrant was unsealed and released publicly, City Council ordered an investigation into the phone system. 

They called in the city's phone service provider, The Maynard Group, to look at eavesdropping capabilities.

According to owner Dean Maynard's Aug. 21 report, the phones do indeed have microphone capabilities, but neither the city manager's nor chief's phones had microphones enabled at the time of inspection. 

No word from Deputy District Attorney Steve Somers on the ongoing investigation, and whether there's more to the alleged eavesdropping. Powers has not been charged with any crimes, but the retired police chief, former acting police chief and his brother who owned a tow company, and four officers were arrested in February. 

One of those officers, Jaime Andrade, has been terminated. Acting Chief Bruce Miller and Mario Mottu, Sr., are on paid administrative leave pending personnel investigations into the allegations raised in the criminal charges.

Another four police employees are on disability leave: Bobby Carrillo (charged in the alleged towing sceme); Mark Baker, who was also arrested in February on unrelated charges of making a threat; and Chris Craig and Venuscia Ortega, who have not been charged with crimes. 

The city contracted with the Monterey County Sheriff's Office to provide law enforcement support, with about a third of the department on leave.