The Fresno Police Department’s top woman has been put in charge of the agency while the police chief is under investigation for an alleged “inappropriate relationship.”

Deputy Chief Mindy Casto has “operational control” of the department, City Manager Georgeanne White said Wednesday in an internal email to all members of the Fresno Police Department. In the same email, White announced that Police Chief Paco Balderrama had been placed on paid administrative leave for the duration of the investigation.

Last week, city officials announced that Balderrama, 47, has been under investigation since February for an alleged “inappropriate off-duty relationship involving him with a non-city employee,” city officials said in a statement. At the center of the city’s investigation is Balderrama’s roughly two-year affair with an officer’s wife, sources told The Bee.

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It is not immediately clear how long Casto will be in charge or how long the investigation will take. It is also unclear whether Casto would be selected as interim police chief if Balderrama were separated from the police department following the investigation.

Fresno Police Department spokesman Felipe Uribe declined to comment for this story and The Bee’s request for an interview with Casto. He referred questions to city spokesperson Sontaya Rose.

Rose declined to comment for this story, saying she was not authorized to comment beyond the city’s initial statement on June 6 confirming the investigation.

In a statement to The Bee, Brandon Wiemiller, president of the Fresno Police Officer Association, said, “FPOA has full confidence in Deputy Chief Casto to continue our department’s mission and lead this department.”

Who is Mindy Casto?

Casto is a veteran of the Fresno Police Department and the highest-ranking woman in the department of 900 officers.

According to a March 25, 2022, post on the Fresno Police Department’s Facebook page, Casto fell in love with police during a ride-along with Fresno Police when she was 16.

She became a cadet in 1996 and was hired into the department in 1997, the post said. In 2003 she became a sergeant.

She was promoted to lieutenant in 2015 – and was the only woman serving as a lieutenant in the department at the time. Three years later, she was promoted again to captain and then deputy chief in August 2022.

City data analyzed by The Bee in 2019 found that 76% of Fresno police were male.

Casto told The Bee in 2019 that being a woman influences the way she interacts with her male colleagues. She keeps her workplace relationships professional, while her male colleagues sometimes engage in activities together, such as golfing or socializing. “I’m not going to hang out with them and drink beer,” she said at the time.

According to Transparent California, Casto’s husband, Steve, has been a sergeant with the department since 2022.

In 2022, Balderrama pledged to bring more gender diversity to the force, promising that 30% of officers will be women by 2030. Women make up 12% of the nation’s sworn officers and 3% of leadership positions.

Casto serves on the board of directors of the Marjaree Mason Center’s domestic violence shelter, which honored her as Professional Woman of the Year in 2022. That same year, she was selected Woman of the Year by District 6 Councilman Garry Bredefeld.

City declared Mindy Casto Day in 2022

Shortly after her promotion to deputy chief, the City of Fresno, Mayor Jerry Dyer and the Fresno City Council declared September 1, 2022 as “Mindy Casto Day.”

“I probably had the privilege of knowing Mindy the longest because I knew her before she actually came into the police department,” Dyer said in the proclamation. “And the ride, I think she’ll say, is the first ride she took with my sister, who is a police officer in Fresno.”

“It is inspiring to see women like you, especially in law enforcement, where we see very few,” said former Councilwoman Esmeralda Soria after the 2022 proclamation. “What is amazing and remarkable about your story is that you have stayed in it , and that you have shown courage and leadership, and that there are now many little girls in this community who can say, ‘Hey, I can be deputy chief.’ in this great city. ”

“This department and this city have been so good to me over the past 25-plus years, and I look forward to continuing to serve the community (and) everyone in it,” Casto said in 2022.

Fresno Bee reporter Thaddeus Miller contributed to this report.