He first wanted to teach but the pay was too low to raise a family.  So he started looking for a career that had benefits and a future, and a friend suggested the California Highway Patrol. Less than a year after applying, he started with the CHP Academy in August of 1990.

He graduated from the academy in January 1991, being assigned to the Central Los Angeles Office, his last choice. While in Los Angeles, he participated in the Rodney King Riots, became a field training officer and a drug recognition expert, and welcomed two sons: Jarryd in 1992 and Kyle in 1994.  In July of 1995, he transferred to the Riverside office, and later to the Temecula office in October of 1996, where he remained and called home.

He retired in December 2021 and over the course of my 31-year career, was named the Riverside County Officer of the Year for Community Service four times as well as the recipient of several Commander’s commendations.

Retirement was short-lived.  On September 22, 2022, he had a major heart attack, requiring a quadruple bypass.  He spent the remainder of 2022 and most of 2023 recovering.  During that time, he was home to spend more time with his beloved dogs, Brody and Zoey.  Soon after he recovered Zoey became sick and had to be put to sleep in July 2023.  The loss of Zoey was painful.

To ease his grief, he adopted another rescue dog, Lola, in August of 2023.  Lola was his soul mate and shadow.  She followed him everywhere. But Lola became too attached and aggressive to other people.  Because of several near misses and a few family members being bitten, Lola had to be put down.  This devastated Tony.  To help him deal with the loss of Lola he wrote a poem about dog rescues and this led to his first book, “My Name is Charlie.”