No charges ever filed against Goleta man accused of having inappropriate communications with teen
On July 9, 2014, Oxnard police arrested 30-year-old Patrick Bryan Kennedy after accusing him of having inappropriate communications with a 14-year-old girl.
The Oxnard Police Department claimed at the time they had conducted a two-month investigation into Kennedy after the mother of the teen told police her daughter was having sexual conversations with Kennedy through Facebook. Police even went as far as to charge Kennedy with traveling for the purposes of engaging a minor for sex, delaying and obstructing a police investigation, conspiracy to commit a crime, and child annoying.
However, on May 16, 2017, the Oxnard Police Department rescinded the arrest labeling it as a “Detention Only” in a letter they sent to Kennedy, and no charges were ever filed with the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office.
So where did police go wrong? The police department would not say. They would not elaborate on why charges were never filed. They also would not elaborate on their investigation into this case and what led them to issue the letter to Kennedy and/or why it took so long to do so.
In the letter to Kennedy, Oxnard police state: “This notice is being sent to you in compliance with 851.6(b) of the California Penal Code which requires a certificate to be issued by a law enforcement agency to an individual who is released in accordance with the Section 849(b) of the California Penal Code.”
California Penal Code Section 849(b) authorizes peace officers to released arrested individuals from custody due to insufficient grounds to file a complaint against that person.
Kennedy is a free man still haunted by the actions the Oxnard Police Department took against him. He contacted NewsChannel 3 and said he looks forward to just moving past this incident. Until investigators come forward on how their investigation unraveled, we may never know the answers to this bizarre incident.
