San Mateo County officials are questioning whether Millbrae Police Chief Eamonn Allen is living inside the city’s police station during the week and regularly commuting home to Idaho, according to a report from ABC 7. Six other sergeants also reportedly live somewhere other than California.
San Mateo County Board President David Canepa this week called for an investigation into Allen, who is allegedly living in Idaho while sleeping during the workweek in the Millbrae bureau, ABC7 reported Friday.
The TV station shared photos, reportedly from a fire inspector, showing potentially illegally constructed living quarters with beds. A note from the inspector, who reportedly visited the station on Tuesday, asks the police station to “please stop using rooms for sleeping.”
A photo also appeared to show a half-empty half-gallon bottle of liquor sitting on a shelf of one of the suspected living quarters. In order to have living quarters in the station, the police department would have to get certain permits, modify the construction of the rooms and pass inspection, ABC 7 reported.
The fire inspector reportedly could not access one of the living quarters because it was locked with an “in use” sign outside the door, according to ABC 7.
“If it’s permanent housing, my understanding is that’s not permissible,” Canepa said in a interview with this news organization Saturday. “Essentially what you’re doing is you’re having the taxpayer pay for your housing.”
He said on Monday he plans to send a letter to County Undersheriff Dan Perea, calling for him to investigate Allen and the suspected living arrangements at the Millbrae police station. Canepa, who serves on the Caltrain Board of Directors, said “the undersheriff really needs to look into this.” Canepa said the public should know if Allen or any other police or sheriff’s employees throughout the county are wrongfully using any of the government’s facilities as permanent residences, or if they are overstaying their welcome on any beds.
He said he knows it is “common practice” for some police departments to have beds for their officers to use if they’re working overtime and have another shift soon, or have an early court date and need to get some rest overnight. Although, he admitted he doesn’t know the county’s policies regarding how long they can sleep there consecutively.
He also said he didn’t know Allen was potentially living in Idaho until the ABC 7 report came out.
“But in ideal circumstances, it’s always good to have a chief or police officers that live within the area…I don’t know if there’s a set policy on that, but ideally you want people to live and work in their community,” Canepa said. “There’s a lot of questions that need to be answered.”
Millbrae contracts with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office for its police services. Allen was appointed as chief by former Sheriff Christina Corpus, who supervisors removed this month after a judge ruled she violated conflict-of-interest laws and retaliated against deputies. Her removal by the board — a first in the state — capped off months of investigations into complaints of an alleged inappropriate relationship she had with her chief of staff, and allegations she used racist and homophobic slurs in the workplace.
A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.
According to ABC 7 reporter Dan Noyes, six other sheriff’s sergeants are living in other states, including Idaho, Nevada, Texas and Tennessee. This includes two sergeants who work on the department’s bomb squad, which requires them to be able to respond to an emergency within an hour, Noyes said.
When asked about the allegations against Allen and the other sergeants, Millbrae Mayor Anders Fung in an interview Saturday “this came as a surprise” and called the photos of the living quarters “highly alarming,” especially considering the potential implications of an open container of alcohol in the station. He said he agreed that city and county officials should take up their own investigations into this potential scandal.
“Obviously our chief needs to be highly responsive to any emergency or situation,” Fung said. “What’s more concerning for me at this time is the use of our police station as a living quarters and where the funding is coming from.”
He said he will soon be taking up a public discussion on the allegations with his colleagues on the council, as well as with the county’s supervisors.
“This will need to be discussed sometime in the near future, as quickly as possible…I’m looking forward to having a productive discussion with my colleagues on the city council coming up.” Fung said. “The people of Millbrae have always had high expectations of our police chief, and this is disappointing. We need to figure out a pathway forward to make sure that our people continue to have high expectations of our chief and Millbrae Police bureau and police services in general.”
If found to be true, the allegations against Allen wouldn’t be the first time a public employee has faced consequences for constructing illegal living quarters in government buildings.
In 2024, a former Caltrain director, Joseph Navarro, and a Caltrain contractor, Seth Worden, got caught building their own apartments in Burlingame and Millbrae train stations.
Navarro received 120 days in jail and two years probation for embezzling nearly $40,000 to build his secret Burlingame train station apartment, which was equipped with a bedroom, office, gym, bathroom with a shower, and other furniture, such as a sofa and coffee table. Navarro also reportedly moved his ex-girlfriend into the residence for a short time during his years-long stay in the station. A jury found him guilty of one felony count of misuse of public funds.
Worden received 60 days in jail and one year probation, and was ordered to pay back over $8,000 in restitution for his hand in helping construct the apartments. He accepted a plea deal for a lesser misdemeanor embezzlement charge in exchange for testifying against Navarro.