First Hispanic Tulare County sheriff's captain retires after 35 years

When Robert Lomelli got his first assignment in the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department it was in the Main Jail, where he learned inmates’ faces and, eventually a couple of decades later, the faces of their grandchildren. For him, multi-generational crime was an unfamiliar notion.

He was raised by austere, hard working, migrant farm workers in Terra Bella who bore eight children. Four of them made law enforcement their career, but Lomelli nudged further than the rest, rising rank by rank to the position of captain — the first Hispanic to do so in Tulare County.

He put on his Captain’s bars for the last time on Friday, welcoming retirement to the coast and reflecting on 35 years of service.

“Being first generation Hispanic, obviously I knew and heard of the struggles my parents lived through in the old country. Being able to reach a high level in any agency, not only makes me proud, but my family proud,” he said. “In today’s world, where you see so many Hispanics in trouble, it’s nice to see people in this line of work.”

He said his childhood was filled with good memories, of lessons on morals and educational standards. His parents — mom a fruit packer and dad a foreman for citrus ranchers — set a specific goal for each of their children: graduate from high school.

He recalled a time when one of his four brothers, at a young age, stole something from a local store. When their mom found out, that item immediately found its way back on its shelf, along with an apology.

“They were obviously strict,” Lomelli said, but even after a full day of work, they would make it to baseball practices and games — a sport that Lomelli said their family was well known for.

He surpassed their expectations by graduating from Porterville College where he was recruited by deputies who recognized the importance of hiring fluent Spanish speakers.

“I figured it could be time well spent. I wanted to make a difference, drugs were really becoming a problem at that time and then I really started to impact peoples’ lives,” he said, but a job with the sheriff’s department also enabled him to raise his own family the way he wanted to.

With a wage exceeding that of a farm laborer, Lomelli and his wife Hilary — who he married in 1973 — decided he would provide the bread while she stayed home in Porterville with their two sons.

His son, Robert Lomelli, is a current deputy at the Porterville Substation.

“I saw how difficult it was for my parents,” he said, not to mention what he witnessed in the jails, on the streets and  as a sergeant overseeing juvenile sexual assault cases, and later homicides.

“To me it’s obviously disturbing that there are so many dysfunctional families that are not taking good care of their children,” he said.

That decision was made early in his career, which includes what seems to have been a whirlwind of promotions.

“He started at the bottom and has worked his way up to the top,” Sheriff Bill Wittman said. “I consider him to be not only an excellent employee, but a good personal friend as well.”

Hired in 1974, Lomelli spent two years in the jails, then two years in Porterville on patrol, became a detective, and then a sergeant in 1984, a promotion that sent him back to the jails.

Nine months later he was back on the streets as a patrol sergeant where he spent 15 years overseeing an influx of young officers. His next move was to juvenile sexual assaults (the most difficult job he ever did) where he spent four years, then a double assignment to also oversee the homicide division.

Another promotion, this time to lieutenant, sent him back to the Main Jail for a year, leading him to the commander post at the Cutler-Orosi substation and, finally, to captain in 2003.

“You know, sometimes the term ‘giving 110 percent’ is a cliche,” Capt. Jim Hinesly said. “But it is not a cliche when it comes to Robert. He has lived and breathed the Tulare County Sheriffs Department.”

In the wake of Lomelli’s retirement, Lt. Robin Skiles, currently the commander at the Porterville Substation, will be promoted to captain. A formal ceremony will be held in the lobby at the Sheriff’s Headquarter’s at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Visalia.

Contact Jenna Chandler at 784-5000, Ext. 1050, or jchandler@portervillerecorder.com.