My editor called early one June morning in 2012. Eric T. Fresch, the former top administrator for the city of Vernon, had been found dead at the bottom of a cliff in the Bay Area.
At the time, state auditors had been attempting to subpoena Fresch for an investigation. That day an audit had been released criticizing the city's contracting and investment decisions while he was running Vernon. It's likely that one of the last voicemails on Fresch's cellphone was from a Los Angeles Times reporter.
The Marin County coroner would find three weeks later that Fresch, who had made $1.