New D.A. cleaning house?

One of Glenn County's more polarizing law enforcement officials has reportedly been let go from the Glenn County District Attorney's Office, authorities said.

Veteran Assistant District Attorney Dwayne Stewart was reportedly fired Tuesday morning, less than 24 hours after the newly elected District Attorney Robert S. Maloney took the oath of office.

Maloney would neither confirm nor deny Stewart's present job status.

"It's absolutely a personnel matter that needs to be worked out," Maloney said. He declined to elaborate.

A phone call to Stewart's cell phone was not returned.

Efforts to reach the Glenn County Personnel Department and County Counsel Houston Carlyle were also unsuccessful.

However, multiple courthouse employees confirmed that Stewart came by their offices Tuesday morning to say goodbye, informing his former colleagues he had been fired.

Stewart, 43, received his bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Arkansas and joined the District Attorney's office in 1994 after spending time with the public defender's office and, later, the District Attorney's Office in Orange County.

Stewart's responsibilities increased, along with the office's overall caseload, each year, until he assumed control of prosecuting violent and sexual crimes three years ago.

In 2008, Stewart made a failed bid for a judge's seat in Glenn County Superior Court, losing to then Commissioner Peter B. Twede in what was considered Glenn County's nastiest political fight of that year.

Stewart's campaign suffered from his frequently tense relationship with both Willows and Orland police, Glenn County sheriff's deputies and the California Highway Patrol, many of whom endorsed Stewart's opponent.

Many officers and deputies believe Stewart was wildly inconsistent in his management of cases and frequently wrong about the law, which only added to their overall frustration with the District Attorney's Office in general.

Those same agencies also endorsed Maloney's candidacy last year when he defeated 20-year incumbent Robert S. Holzapfel in June.

Stewart was highly active in the implementation of Glenn County's new drug policies over the last decade, participating in the "Drug Court" and "Drug Store" educational programs.

In recent years, Stewart has been at the center of several high profile criminal cases in Glenn County. Perhaps most notably in 2010, Stewart won a child molestation conviction against a former Baptist pastor from Willows in October.

However, it was Stewart's leading role in a highly controversial truancy case in Orland that garnered him the most attention.

In March, Stewart ordered the arrests of two sets of Orland parents for reportedly forging doctors notes to excuse their children from school.

Stewart said at the time that he was only advocating for the children's education. However, critics said from the beginning that he was simply wrong about the sections of law he was citing.

The highly emotional and publicized cases ended with one set of parents, Anthony and Cherrie Hazlett, paying $100 fines each.

The other set of parents, William and Shannon Anderson, denied all wrongdoing, accused Stewart of picking on them only for personal reasons and fought to have their charges completely dismissed.

The case was eventually thrown out in May by Twede based on the grounds that Stewart's interpretation of the law regarding forgery was incorrect.

Stewart initially tried to appeal the Anderson ruling, but withdrew his appeal after major financial cutbacks were announced for the prosecutor's office over the summer.

Stewart, who has a wife and two children, was also highly active in the Glenn County Theater Company in Willows each year, participating in dozens of local theatrical productions in lead and supporting roles.

Contact Rob Parsons at 934-6800 or rparsons@tcnpress.com.