Ex-SLOPD detective's informants take on the city 

Days before the San Luis Obispo City Council’s Jan. 7 meeting, the city posted two closed session items on the agenda that outed two of the police department’s confidential informants.

No reportable action was taken at the meeting, but the items were to discuss two claims against the city that allege Kip Holland and girlfriend April Stewart—who were informants for disgraced SLOPD Det. Cory Pierce—were forced into “indentured servitude.” The two allege that Pierce plied them with drugs and coerced them into dangerous and illegal activities, and they’re seeking monetary compensation from the city. Attached to the claim is the federal affidavit against Pierce drafted by the FBI special agent assigned to the investigation.

According to that sworn statement, Pierce never kept files on either informant, but used them to sell fake oxycodone pills stolen from the Sheriff’s Department’s evidence locker to fuel his own addiction to opiates.

The pair’s attorney, Santa Barbara-based Stephen Dunkle, declined to comment on the matter because it’s ongoing.

Stewart, 46, is currently serving time at the SLO County Jail on $57,500 bond, with a projected release date of Nov. 21, according to the jail website.

New Times was unable to locate Holland for comment, but Dunkle said the man is not currently in custody.

A third-party mediation hearing is set for February. Should the city fight the claims in the administrative process, Dunkle could file a civil lawsuit in SLO County Superior Court.

Pierce was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison in July and is scheduled to begin serving his time Jan. 27.

A representative for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, the agency that determines where an inmate will serve his or her incarceration, told New Times it’s their policy to not divulge where inmates serve their time prior to the beginning of their sentence.