The Simi Valley Police Department spent more than $60,000 on a month-long security detail, primarily for an officer and his family after his teenage son committed a hate crime last year, according to records recently obtained by The Star.
On Aug. 1, 2025, the then-16-year-old son of Sgt. Gene Colato was involved in a racially charged attack on a young Black man outside a Simi Valley movie theater. Videos of the chaotic fight began circulating on social media within hours, with many users identifying one of the five perpetrators as the son of the officer.
The Star is not identifying the son because he is a minor.
In an interview, Sgt. Rick Morton, spokesperson for the Simi Valley Police Department, said the agency learned of numerous credible threats,
through social media and phone calls, to kill Colato and his family members as well as Mayor Dee Dee Cavanaugh.
As a result, Chief Steve Shorts ultimately approved his officers to provide a 24-hour security detail for Colato’s home from Aug. 4, 2025 through Aug. 29, 2025.
Combined with additional coverage for Cavanaugh’s home, the security detail cost the city $61,421.83 for 772 hours of overtime pay, according to records. Morton could not provide the cost breakdown for Colato's and Cavanaugh's security, though the records indicate the majority of the coverage was for Colato.
“Anyone that’s a victim of a threat that we can articulate or substantiate is a crime, we’re going to spend money and resources to protect those people,” Morton said.
Colato’s son ultimately pleaded guilty to felony assault with the special allegation of a hate crime and was sentenced in November to roughly eight months in juvenile detention, according to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.
His defense attorney, Andrew Kraus, declined an interview request, and Colato and Cavanaugh did not respond to interview requests.
The victim of the hate crime, then 18-year-old Michael Robinson, has spoken publicly about the incident, but his attorney, Jamal Tooson, did not respond to interview requests.
‘A slew of people’
Morton said he did not know the number of threats the Colato family received following the Regal Cinemas incident.
“We didn’t count,” he said. “It was a slew of people that were making threats — it wasn’t just one particular person — so I think that’s one of the reasons why these measures were taken.”
He did not know the date the chief first approved the security detail but said the department would have also considered alternative security measures for the family before deciding on the security shifts. Records indicate the highest-paid officer earned roughly $110 per hour for the coverage.
The duration of the protection, he said, is determined on a case-by-case basis, factoring in the frequency of the threats and any arrests resulting from them.
Three individuals, Morton said, were arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats to the Colato family.
A criminal threat is defined as a written or verbal statement that is “so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate and specific” that it causes the victim to reasonably fear for the safety of themselves or their family, even if the perpetrator does not intend to actually carry it out, according to the penal code.
A 34-year-old Thousand Oaks man was arrested Aug. 3, Morton said. Court records show the man later entered a no-contest plea to nine counts of annoying phone calls, and he was sentenced to one year of probation with the requirement to complete 30 anger management meetings.
Morton also said a 21-year-old Santa Paula man and a 19-year-old Simi Valley man were arrested Aug. 5, 2025 and Feb. 14, respectively, though there did not appear to be any charges filed.
The department, he said, has provided a similar security detail for public officials before, most recently in 2019 when then-councilmember Ruth Luevanos received death threats after sharing a video from her city office advising immigrants of their legal rights.
Morton said the department has also provided security measures for police officers in the past, though it may not have been a 24-hour security detail.
The sergeant did not know whether the four other perpetrators or the three victims in the Aug. 1, 2025 Regal Cinemas attack also received or reported threats but said the department did not provide any of them with a security detail following the incident."I do know if they did, it was not at the same level, frequency or severity," Morton said of the four other perpetrators.
‘Another mark against them’
Regina Hatcher-Crawford, president of Ventura County NAACP, said Simi Valley taxpayers should be concerned.
“I’m really right now speechless,” she said about the expense in an interview. “I don’t believe that the community will be very happy hearing this.”
She said that although she never condones violence, she said that as an unpaid volunteer for the local NAACP, she receives death threats and law enforcement has never provided her a security detail.
The president said she hopes that if Robinson had contacted the police department about threats following the attack, he also would have been provided the same level of protection.
“What those young men did to the young Black man was egregious. We shouldn’t be in 2026 where our kids are running for their lives,” Hatcher-Crawford said. “Because (Colato’s son) is a juvenile, his records will be sealed, and he will go on and live his merry life, but the other young man will always live in fear and trauma.”
The NAACP chapter previously called for an independent investigation into the hate crime, asserting that the relationship between the defendant and the police department was particularly concerning.
“Simi Valley is working toward, as a community, trying to get rid of that stigma,” Hatcher-Crawford said. “Sadly, this incident happened, and it shifted them back into the light and was another mark against them.”
'His actions were atrocious'
Simi Valley Police Department officers responded to the Regal Cinemas parking lot in the 2700 block of Tapo Canyon Road around 11 p.m. Aug. 1, 2025, after receiving reports of an assault, according to authorities.
Robinson, the victim of the hate crime, went to the hospital after suffering a concussion, a chipped tooth and abrasions. One of the two additional victims, who are both white, suffered cuts and abrasions during the incident and refused assistance at the time, officials said.
Four of the teens, including Colato’s son, turned themselves in to police Aug. 3, 2025, and officers identified and arrested the fifth teen Aug. 21, 2025, according to authorities. They were all cited and released.
Shorts previously said that the department employee was not at the scene of the incident or involved in the investigation and that the relationship to the teen would not impact the integrity of the investigation.
Colato’s son, as well as two of the other teens, were charged with one count of felony assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury with the special allegation of a hate crime.
Though court records for juvenile cases are confidential, courtrooms are open to the public in certain felony cases, including the teen's case.
The teen initially pleaded not guilty to the charge. On Oct. 16, more than two months after the crime, Judge Kevin DeNoce ordered him to juvenile detention to await trial.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Maureen Byrne, who requested detention, said during the hearing that the 16-year-old was the first of the five teens to approach the group of victims and could be seen on video repeatedly punching, pushing and kneeing Robinson.
When Robinson, a stranger to the teen, ran away, the teen chased him. He took out his phone and filmed the remainder of the altercation, calling Robinson the N-word about 16 times and sounding intoxicated, Byrne said.
“(His) actions were atrocious, violent and caused Michael to be in fear,” she told the judge.
The juvenile’s behavior after the fight, the prosecutor said, was equally appalling.
Byrne said that in a video he filmed of himself the night of the altercation, the teen could be heard saying, “Gangster s---. Yeah, I’m with all the cops. Yeah, we own this s---.”
In text messages, he acknowledges using the N-word and suggests lying to police, telling them that Robinson started the fight. Byrne said the teen said, “Just f--- up that Black fool.”
On social media, the juvenile posted that he would “do it again” and threatened murder, Byrne said during the hearing.
On Oct. 29, Colato’s son changed his plea to guilty. On Nov. 19, the then-16-year-old was sentenced to serve 240 days in the juvenile facility and 30 days on electronic monitoring, according to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office. He was also ordered to participate in a restorative justice program and a program designed to combat hate. The two other minors charged with a hate crime were both sentenced to 210 days in the juvenile facility and 30 days on electronic monitoring. The remaining two minors involved in the case were not charged with a hate crime, and their sentences have not been made public.
Makena Huey is an investigative and watchdog reporter for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at makena.huey@vcstar.com. This story was made possible by a grant from the Ventura County Community Foundation's Fund to Support Local Journalism.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Simi police spent $60K to guard family of teen convicted of hate crime
