Embroiled in FBI investigation, Caldwell Police Department finds its new leader
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Hoadley Series
The FBI began investigating at least two Caldwell Police Department officers in 2021. So far it’s led to four federal charges against one Caldwell police officer: Lt. Joey Hoadley, who since has been fired. Here is our coverage since the investigation began.
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For the first time in seven years, the city of Caldwell will have a new police chief.
It has been months since former Caldwell Police Chief Frank Wyant retired from the department amid an FBI investigation. After one failed attempt by Caldwell Mayor Jarom Wagoner to appoint a chief last month, the City Council voted unanimously to appoint Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Rex Ingram to the job.
The Caldwell Police Department has been embroiled in scandal over the past several months, since a grand jury indicted one officer, Joseph Hoadley, for allegedly hitting a man he was arresting and lying about it on a police report, and the city announced an FBI investigation into the department. Lawsuits also have been filed against some officers.
The city has said Wyant was not the subject of any investigation.
In a council meeting on Monday night, Ingram told members and the audience that he plans to “lead the charge in the city of Caldwell to restore professionalism” and “community trust.”
The council denied Wagoner’s first appointee to lead the department, Jason Kuzik, a captain in the Henderson, Nevada, Police Department. Some of the council members who voted no on Kuzik’s appointment said there were systemic problems within the Caldwell department that needed to be solved. They also worried that Kuzik was too close to retirement to be in the job very long.
Councilwoman Diana Register, who voted no on Kuzik’s appointment, praised Ingram during the meeting.
“He has already lived in the Treasure Valley for two years, he was born in Los Angeles, is bilingual and has an appreciation for the diversity in Caldwell,” Register said.
Ingram has more than 20 years of experience in law enforcement, Register said. He lives in Eagle and is employed with the Los Angeles Police Department, according to a news release from the city of Caldwell.
In his speech to the City Council, Ingram mentioned the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and the rise of mass shootings in the United States.
“I bring a lot of overall training to those types of incidents, especially in school shootings,” Ingram said. “I have children and I want to ensure they go home safe every day. I want to know that they are going to come home at the end of the school day.”
Ingram also spoke to the large Latino community of Caldwell, saying, “To the gente Latinos, Saludos” — to the Latino community, greetings.
While working with the Los Angeles Police Department, Ingram made headlines earlier this year in a eulogy at a fallen officer’s funeral. Ingram mentioned that LAPD officer Fernando Arroyos told him he was frustrated with anti-police rhetoric and what he called a “woke narrative.”
“You shared with me your worries over the anti-police climate, the refusal to hold criminals accountable and a woke narrative that only seemed to make things worse, not better,” Ingram said during the funeral service, the Idaho Statesman previously reported.
Ingram will begin his new job in Caldwell on Tuesday, July 5.
This story was originally published June 21, 2022 at 12:37 PM.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct the number of years Caldwell Police Chief Frank Wyant was chief. He served for seven years.
