Ex-Officer Accused of Unlawful Arrest : Crime: Fired highway patrolman charged with falsifying police report, illegally arresting man for drunk driving.

SANTA ANA —  A former highway patrol officer falsified a police report and unlawfully arrested a man on suspicion of drunk driving, according to a county prosecutor.

Paul Wanlass, 25, was fired from the California Highway Patrol after the alleged false arrest on April 18 and has been charged with six counts of unlawfully filing a police report, false arrest, obstructing an investigation and falsely reporting a crime, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Marc Kelly.

Wanlass allegedly falsified his report “to support a drunk driving arrest and get a drunk driving conviction,” Kelly said Thursday.

Wanlass, who worked out of the CHP’s Santa Ana office, is scheduled for arraignment in Municipal Court in Santa Ana on Tuesday, according to court documents. He could not be reached for comment.

The misdemeanor charges filed Nov. 6 spring from Wanlass’ arrest of motorist Jorge Marroquin, 36, of Corona along the Riverside Freeway between the Gypsum and Coal Canyon roads exits, Kelly said.

An unidentified passerby called the CHP and reported Marroquin lying next to his disabled car at the side of the freeway, Kelly said. Wanlass was dispatched to the scene about 6:30 a.m. and found Marroquin seated beside his car with an apparent head injury, Kelly said.

Wanlass called an ambulance, which took the man to a nearby hospital, and the officer later filed papers to have Marroquin arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, Kelly said.

Marroquin, who died two days later at the hospital, appeared to have been beaten on the head during a robbery at the side of the freeway, Kelly said. Investigators said Marroquin’s wallet and car keys were missing from the scene.

Brea police, who patrol the area where Marroquin was discovered, are investigating his death, Sgt. Ed McDonald said. Detectives arrested a Corona man in May in connection with the case but he was released later for lack of evidence, McDonald said.

Wanlass is not a suspect in the assault or the robbery, Kelly said.

Wanlass’ Santa Ana attorney, Doug McFarland, said: “I don’t think we can say too much about (the charges) except that when all the facts come out it will be rather bizarre.” McFarland declined to elaborate.

McFarland has filed a petition with the State Personnel Board in Sacramento asking that Wanlass be rehired as a CHP officer. That petition is pending, McFarland said.

After an internal CHP investigation, Wanlass was fired Nov. 10 for falsifying official documents, a CHP spokesman said. Wanlass, a CHP officer since May, 1989, has not been named in other complaints, said his attorney and highway patrol spokesman Sam Haynes in Sacramento.