MADERA – Here is another lesson in the power of one social media post’s ability to ruin your life, a Madera County Deputy Sheriff has been fired for using the “N-Word” in a Twitter post he wrote (about a car) when he was nineteen years old, five years before joining the Sheriff’s Department.

Damian Tabatabai has been with the department for nearly six months, but that ended Saturday when acting sheriff Tyson Pogue personally fired the deputy 90 minutes after becoming aware of the post with the racial slur. Department Public Information Officer Sarah Jackson said in a press release, “This conversation involved a deputy sheriff who was hired about 6 months ago and contained an extremely offensive racial slur. This conversation is believed to have occurred about 5 years before his employment with our agency.”

Because this is a personnel issue with the county, Jackson could not confirm the identity of the fired deputy, but a source within the department confirmed the identity after Fresno media released the deputy’s name about 3:30 pm Saturday.

Tabatabai graduated from the State Center Community College Police Academy with then Undersheriff Pogue and Madera County Sheriff Jay Varney by his side on December 6, 2019.  He was officially sworn in a month later at a ceremony at the department with seven other new hires and five other promoting officers.

Pogue stated, “Everyone at the Madera County Sheriff’s Office wants you to understand - there is zero-tolerance for racism or discrimination within our ranks.”

Last year the Madera County Sheriff’s Department settled a four year, six-figure harassment lawsuit with a deputy of the Jewish faith who brought accusations against his sergeant following months of anti-Semite and sexual comments. The sergeant was demoted following the accusations but reinstated to his command position following a hearing of the Madera County Civil Service Commission. In that situation, both the deputy and sergeant are still employed by the Madera County Sheriff’s Department. (Click Here)