A former deputy chief for the Redlands Police Department was the highest paid city employee in California in 2025, yet never worked a day that year and retired four months into it.
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State Controller’s Office records released on June 30 show Travis Martinez received $1.2 million in total wages in 2025, including $890,467 in “other pay” and $231,099 in lump-sum compensation, in addition to $81,804 in regular salary. The city also contributed $55,864 toward his retirement and health benefits, bringing his total compensation package to roughly $1.26 million.
Martinez came in above a Los Angeles Fire Department battalion chief, who earned $921,050 in total wages, and a district supervisor for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, who earned $779,192.
The Controller’s Office annually publishes compensation data for state and local public employees, including salaries, overtime, benefits, pension contributions and total pay, based on information submitted by more than 5,000 public agencies.
The Controller’s Office does not identify employees by name. And while neither Redlands city officials nor Martinez would confirm the compensation was his, Transparent California, a nonprofit database of public employee pay, reported that Martinez received $1.2 million in total wages in 2025. By comparison, Deputy Chiefs Stephen Crane and Jeremy Floyd earned $304,000 and $270,000, respectively
Martinez had been on paid leave for 18 months prior to this retirement in April 2025 — after he signed a settlement agreement to retire within 10 days and collect roughly $872,000 from Redlands in exchange for dropping a claim he filed against the city in June 2023.
In his claim, Martinez, the second-highest ranking member of the department, alleged city officials retaliated against him for reporting misconduct, including efforts to conceal evidence of safety hazards linked to a fatal Metrolink train collision that killed a Redlands woman and her 11-year-old daughter.
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Martinez also alleged city officials retaliated against him after he reported allegations of sexual misconduct involving then Deputy Chief Mike Reiss to the FBI. He contended in his claim that he sought federal intervention because he believed the allegations were not being adequately addressed internally. He accused city leaders of pressuring him to ignore misconduct and remain silent.
Martinez was placed on paid leave in October 2023 — 10 months after he submitted the case to the FBI — and never returned to work again, according to sources close to the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Reiss retired on March 4, 2023, amid allegations he preyed upon, groomed and sexually harassed several department employees over several years. Two days before he retired, then-Police Chief Chris Catren abruptly retired, citing a work-related back injury. He denied his retirement was in any way connected to the sexual misconduct scandal.
The city has paid out more than $3.3 million to settle sexual harassment lawsuits against Reiss filed by four current and former employees in the past three years, the latest being a $475,000 settlement approved by the City Council on June 2 to settle a lawsuit filed by former forensic specialist Geneva Holzer. The settlement was contingent upon Holzer agreeing to resign and withdraw her lawsuit.
Martinez noted in his claim his “exemplary 29-year career” with the department, during which he said he helped develop crime-fighting programs later replicated nationwide. Despite that record, he said he was repeatedly passed over for promotion and singled out for refusing to turn a blind eye to misconduct.
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