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Sheriff Wendell Anderson

Anderson, W


Sheriff Anderson was born and raised in Yuba County and graduated from Lindhurst High School in 1987.  He and his wife Tammy have been married for 26 years and have two children. Their son Zachary is 24 and in the US Air Force; and 20-year-old daughter Mikayla is in her final quarter at UC Davis.  Sheriff Anderson attended the modular Police Academy at Yuba College and graduated in 1996, where he also earned his AS.  He has also been involved with the academy in recent years as an instructor.

Sheriff Anderson made a conscious decision to live and work in Yuba County and to raise his family here. The Anderson’s have called Loma Rica home for the past 18 years.  Sheriff Anderson has been very active in the community and coached youth sports for many years. He is currently a member of the Marysville Kiwanis Club, and coached at Marysville High School for several years as well. 

Wendell Anderson began his career at the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department as a Reserve Deputy in 1996 and was promoted to a Community Service officer in 1998, before becoming a Full Time Deputy Sheriff on patrol from 1998 to 2002.  In 2002, Anderson was promoted to Sergeant and worked as a patrol supervisor for several years.  During his time as a Sergeant, he had several different assignments including FTO Coordinator, SWAT Assistant Team Leader, Investigations Supervisor, and METYU Coordinator.  Sheriff Anderson was a Resident Hill Sergeant and oversaw the Resident Deputy program for several years before being promoted to the rank of Lieutenant.  As a Lieutenant, he began in the Operations Division by overseeing the day-to-day patrol activities, the Reserve program, and Search and Rescue.  In addition to those duties, he was promoted to the rank of SWAT Commander, overseeing tactical operations and training.   He was then assigned to the Investigations Unit where he was in charge of overseeing the investigations of the most serious of crimes in the County. 

Over the course of Sheriff Anderson’s career, he has worked several large-scale emergency operations.  He was involved in the Williams Fire (1997), the Pendola Fire (1999), the Yuba Fire (2009), and most recently the Cascade Fire (2017).  As a reserve Deputy, he worked during the flood of 1997 and was on duty on the night of the break in the Levee.  Sheriff Anderson has experienced both being on the frontlines of such emergencies at the operational level, such as conducting door-to-door evacuations; to the planning and oversight that occurs at the Executive Management level. 

Some of Sheriff Anderson’s Career Accomplishments:

  • Officer of the year (2007)
  • Lead detective on numerous homicides that resulted in conviction and sentencing of the perpetrators.
  • One of the lead detectives in a case involving a serial killer that began in the State of Nevada.  The suspect was identified as having murdered several women, including two in Yuba County in the late nineties.  A multi-jurisdictional task force was formed in which he had an active role in the case from beginning to end.  The subject was found guilty on several counts of murder and in prison awaiting the death penalty.
  • Sheriff Anderson was Instrumental in the merging of the Yuba County Regional SWAT team and the Yuba City Police Department SWAT team into the Yuba Sutter Regional SWAT team.  The team is comprised of Officers from Yuba City Police Department, Yuba City Fire Department, Marysville Police Department, Linda Fire Department and Yuba County Sheriff’s Deputies.  The regional SWAT team provides emergency tactical response to the incorporated areas of Yuba City, Marysville, Wheatland and Beale AFB, along with the unincorporated areas of Yuba County.

Sheriff Anderson states, “Public Safety in Yuba County has been my top priority for the past two decades. As your Sheriff, I plan to continue to work hard and will dedicate my time towards enhancing it in any way that I can.  Having been raised in Yuba County I have an appreciation of the area, its people, and the challenges that we face.  I have worked in every beat within the County and understand the unique problems in each.  I truly look forward to serving the constituents of Yuba County.”