ANAHEIM, Calif.—The Orange County Sheriff’s Department honored 24 individuals who went above and beyond the call of duty at the department’s 34th annual medal of valor ceremony.
Each of the honorees received a medal for actions such as lifesaving, courage, and merit, as well as a distinguished deputy award, with a surprise Sheriff’s award at the end of the ceremony for a civilian woman who helped save a boy after he was kidnapped.
Attendees of the event—held at the Hilton in Anaheim—were comprised of deputies and their family members. They were shown videos of deputies detailing their medal-worthy acts.
Following each video presentation, the awardees went on stage where they were personally awarded their medals by Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes.
“What you heard today is just a fraction of the tremendous work accomplished every day by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s 4,000 members,” Barnes said at the event on April 14. “Each day we have an opportunity to serve, and as your sheriff, I can’t be more proud than I am to be here today working with this great team of people.”
For the lifesaving medal, 15 deputies received it based on eight different events, which included rescuing a prison inmate from suicide after he attempted to jump off a second-story railing with a sheet tied around his neck, a deputy saving a fellow deputy from fentanyl exposure, a deputy saving a teenage boy following a sudden cardiac event at his home, rescuing a man trapped under a car.
For the medal of courage, five deputies received the medal based on three different events, including rescuing a man off a cliff in Dana Point using an extension cord he found nearby, rescuing a couple from a capsized boat, and rescuing a family from a fire at a condominium complex fully engulfed in flames.
For the metal of merit, two investigators received it after tracking down a suspect who had attacked an elderly couple, by robbing them of their money and vehicle after holding a knife to the man’s throat and shoving the woman.
The distinguished deputy award was given to Capt. Ash Abdelmuti, who has been with the department since 1999. Abdelmuti was described by colleagues as a deputy who puts his all into every position he served with the department.
The finale of the event was when the Sheriff’s Award was given to Julia Bonin, a Dana Point resident who helped deputies find 3-year-old Noah Clare after he was kidnapped from Tennessee by his father and brought to San Clemente.
In mid-November 2021, Bonin said she might have spotted young Noah with his father while on her way to her son’s middle school at Doheny State Park, a boy resembling the description on an amber alert which was national news.
After arriving to her son’s school, she told her son she had a gut feeling that she had to return to the park, which she did.
She found the boy with his father, called dispatch, and waited nearby and watched until deputies showed up and arrested the father.
“The story of Julie Bonin willingness to trust her instincts is something that we don’t see happening very much in our culture today,” Sheriff Barnes said. “She is an exemplary example of what the community should be, and the community we need it to be, and the partnership we enjoy here in Orange County.”
After Barnes gave her the medal, young Noah, the boy she helped to save, suddenly came on stage with his mother, a total surprise to Bonin. Noah ran into Bonin’s arms and the three hugged on stage.
