Couple arrested during search for former SLO police chief’s missing gun plead no contest to endangerment, drug charges

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - A couple who was arrested and charged with child endangerment after their home was searched by law enforcement looking for former San Luis Obispo police chief's missing gun has pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor count of child endangerment.

The home of Cheyne Orndoff, 35, and Vanessa Bedroni, 32, was searched on July 10, 2019 by law enforcement as part of an ongoing search for then-chief Deanna Cantrell's service firearm which she had left in a restaurant bathroom.

The home was searched and Orndoff and Bedroni were arrested after police said methamphetamine and heroin were being kept where "children were easily able to touch or ingest them."

"Officers discovered deplorable living conditions throughout the entire house during their search. Inside of the defendants’ bedroom, officers additionally located controlled substances and hundreds of syringes strewn throughout the house."

San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow

Their arrests were the subject of scrutiny after details emerged that the two had no connection to Cantrell's stolen gun. The city later denied allegations made by CalCoastNews that the police department engaged in a cover-up to keep both the loss of the gun and the search of the home quiet from the public. The City later called those claims unfounded. The police department later said that the search was lawful and that one of the defendants was on "active searchable bench probation."

Orndoff and Bedroni appeared in court Tuesday and pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor count of child endangerment. Additionally, Bedroni pleaded no contest to possession of heroin and Orndoff pleaded no contest to possession of methamphetamine and possession of heroin during a previous instance. Those sentences will run concurrently, the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney's Office said.

As part of a plea agreement, the two will be sentenced on April 13. They are expected to be placed on formal probation for four years which will require them to serve 60 days in county jail, complete a one-year parenting class and submit to search and seizure and chemical testing.

In the investigation into the theft of Cantrell's firearm, a man was later arrested and confessed to taking the gun from the restaurant bathroom. Cantrell was later disciplined by the City Manager. She has has since left the department to be the Chief of Police for the city of Fairfield.