WEST FARGO (KFGO) – After 48 years on the job, Greg Warren is calling it a day. The West Fargo Police lieutenant retires on Friday.
Warren worked in the Cass County Jail for a short time before joining West Fargo Police in 1975 where he worked under four police chiefs and was once a candidate for the job. He spent 19 years on patrol and currently has 23 people under his command.
Much has changed over the years for the retiring lieutenant.
“There were times, our cars would be broke down,” Warren said. “I can remember – I was still on patrol – one night we had the unmarked detective car. We had three officers in the car. So if we arrested anybody, we had to call the county to haul them to the jail. So, it was pretty unrefined at times.”
The most-high profile investigation of Warren’s career was the 1995 murder of 50-year-old Cheryl Tendeland. She was shot and killed outside her home as she, her husband, and a family friend were sitting in a car.
Street gang members from a Moorhead-based gang surrounded the car. Barry Garcia of Moorhead was convicted of firing the shot and is serving a life prison term.
“They ended up in West Fargo,” Warren said. “We never did find out if they were going to steal the car, or what they were going to do. They walked up to the car and something told them, ‘maybe we should walk away from this.’ Pat (Tendeland) saw them and thought they had a gun. He was suspicious, so he backed out of the driveway to leave. Of course, when he left, he drove by them. When he drove by them, Barry just pulled the gun up and pulled the trigger.”
Warren said the Tendeland murder was the impetus for the formation of a street gang task force that included all metro police agencies.
“Because of [that] murder, all the agencies got together and said, ‘it’s time to take the gloves off and start working these gang members and these gangs much harder,’” Warren said.
According to Warren, cooperation across state lines and multiple jurisdictions working together has served the Fargo-Moorhead metro well. He said the Regional Dispatch Center is just one example.
“Whether it’s a SWAT team or a CART abduction response team, the street crime unit incorporates not only the agencies and officers from the North Dakota side, but from the Minnesota side,” Warren said. “When you go to training and talk to other agencies that are bigger than us about what we have going on here, it’s hard for them to understand how we work together that well.”
Another prominent case was that of Fernando Sayasaya, a Catholic priest who fled to the Philippines after he was charged. It took 15 years before Sayasaya was arrested and returned to Fargo where he pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse charges for molesting two brothers.
East Central District Judge and former Assistant Cass County State’s Attorney Wade Webb called Warren “one of the good guys.”
“[Greg is] one of the finest public servants I have ever met,” Webb said. “He’s a hard-working and high-quality person whose love of our community shown through during his decades of service.”
One of Warren’s primary concerns upon retirement is what he says is a mental health crisis and how police officers are affected by what they have to contend with on the job.
Warren grew up in a law enforcement family and credits his father, who was a federal marshal, for encouraging him to consider a law enforcement career. Warren’s brother, Budd, was a long-time Cass County deputy.
Listen to the interview here or watch below.
