Sheriff, 6 others to take oath of office Monday

Sheriff Vern Warnke, a new deputy and five cadets will be sworn in Monday during a formal ceremony at the Merced County Sheriff’s Department.

It will be the second oath-of-office ceremony for the 56-year-old sheriff, who won election in November, capturing nearly 60 percent of the vote after a nearly yearlong campaign. Warnke was sworn in Dec. 16 during a private ceremony after outgoing Sheriff Tom Cavallero retired about two weeks early.

“It’s not uncommon to have two ceremonies, a private and a public, and we did it in this case when (Cavallero) decided to step down a little early,” Warnke said.

Monday’s ceremony will also include induction of a new deputy and five cadets, Sgt. Delray Shelton confirmed.

Mark Williams, 29, will be sworn in as a deputy sheriff after serving several years as a correctional officer with the Sheriff’s Department.

Five cadets – Andrea Alicuben, 30, and Tyler McCannon, 21, both of Merced County; Allen Samano, 29, and Joseph Royel, 22, both of Stanislaus County; and Damian Sparks, 37, of Fresno County – will also be sworn in ahead of their training at the academy at Fresno City College.

Shelton said the Sheriff’s Department has agreed to sponsor their training at the academy in an effort to bolster the Sheriff’s Department’s patrol roster, which has been an issue for the department for several years.

“It’s an important and significant investment and that’s why it was important for us to select the very best candidates possible, which is what we’ve been able to do,” Shelton said.

How much money the county would spend putting the five cadets through the academy was not available, but Shelton confirmed it was more than $50,000. Shelton said the cost of the academy is roughly $10,000 per cadet, plus each will receive transportation assistance and salary benefits.

In exchange, Shelton said, the county hopes all five will work for the Sheriff’s Department.

All five candidates have already passed written, verbal and physical tests, as well as exhaustive background checks.

“We know they’ll all be very solid deputies,” Shelton said. “We can help them get through the academy and they, in turn, will be able to help us and serve this community, hopefully for many years.”

This story was originally published January 4, 2015 at 4:38 PM with the headline "Sheriff, 6 others to take oath of office Monday."