JOE MEDINA was born in Managua, Nicaragua in 1968. He studied at Hoover Street Elementary School and
was selected into the Gifted Program when in Kindergarten. He received his first high school diploma through
the GED exam while in the sixth grade. He attended West Point Military Academy in 1979. That same year he
earned a PhD in psychology. He served in the Army from 1986 through 1987 and was awarded the
Distinguished Graduate Award, the Army Achievement Medal, and the Army's Driver's Badge Award. He was
a volunteer Corpsman for the Los Angeles Conservation Corps, a medic at UCLA, an officer of the Force, the
Bureau, the Agency, and the County Courts. He served as an LDS Missionary in Mexico D.F. from 1992
through 1994 where after he became Sheriff. He has degrees from Los Angeles Trade Technical College
in Liberal Arts and Computer Information Systems. Joe Medina married in 2004 and is father of two.