Former officer accused of defrauding clients, conspiracy to sexually assault an animal [updated]

A Fountain Valley man and former police officer is expected to be arraigned July 7 for more than 60 charges related to defrauding clients of his unlicensed private investigation business and soliciting women online to have sex with his dog.

His original arraignment was supposed to have been Monday.

Kevin Michael Sianez, 53, a former police officer in Santa Ana and Stanton between 1979 and 1986, is charged with 51 felony counts and 12 misdemeanors, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office. He faces sentencing enhancements for aggravated white collar crime of more than $100,000 and property damage of more than $65,000. His maximum sentence is 38 years in state prison.

Sianez is accused of operating a private investigation company in Fountain Valley under multiple names between November 2005 and June 2010 without a business license.

He allegedly took clients’ money and then did little to no investigation on their cases, or subcontracted them out to a real private investigator, never paying them, according to the district attorney’s office.

When clients or employees threatened to report him, Sianez is accused of trying to intimidate them into keeping quiet by threatening to use his police background. He allegedly threatened to file false police reports and in one case, to burn down the house of a private investigator who left comments online exposing him to the public.

Sianez allegedly fabricated online reviews of his businesses to attract clients and make them think he ran a nationwide business.

The California Department of Consumer Affairs received a complaint about Sianez in March. The ensuing investigation also uncovered ads he posted from October and January on Craigslist looking for women to engage in bestiality with his Labrador retriever.

He is charged with 20 felony counts of felony grand theft by false pretense, 12 felony counts of fraudulently using an access card, two felony counts of second degree commercial burglary, five felony counts possession of a firearm by a felon, four counts of theft with a prior conviction, four counts of obtaining electricity services through false representation and felony identity theft, perjury by declaration, computer access and fraud, and possession of ammunition by a prohibited person.

He is also charged with misdemeanors for conspiracy to commit sexual assault on an animal, dissuading a witness from reporting a crime, obtaining electricity services through false representation, criminal threats, unlawful representation as private investigator, engaging in the business of private investigation and doing business without a valid license.

Sianez has a 1998 conviction for stalking and a 1999 felony theft conviction.

Britney Barnes