Dr. Ruben C. Fuentes began his law enforcement career in 1988 with the Lindsay Police Department, where he worked as Patrol Officer, Field Training Officer, Detective, and Shift Supervisor.  In 1990, Ruben joined the Fresno County Sheriff's Office, where he worked as a Patrol Deputy, an Undercover Narcotics/Stolen Property Detective, and a Robbery-Homicide Detective.  As a Robbery-Homicide Detective, Ruben investigated violent crimes against persons, including homicides, suicides, questionable deaths, robberies, assaults with deadly weapons, and custodial death investigations.  He also investigated officer-involved shootings and other use of force incidents involving death or serious injury before transferring to the Fresno County District Attorney's Office as a Senior District Attorney Investigator.  At the DA's Office, Ruben assisted Deputy District Attorneys with investigating and prosecuting homicide cases.

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In late 1999, Ruben was hired as a Special Agent with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) - Office of Internal Affairs (OIA), where he investigated allegations regarding criminal and administrative misconduct.  The investigations involved departmental personnel and included, amongst other things, the use of deadly force involving death or great bodily injury, workers' compensation fraud investigations, and discrimination/equal employment opportunity allegations.  In 2007, Ruben was promoted to Senior Special Agent, and in 2009 he was promoted to Special Agent In-Charge as he continued his supervisory and managerial role in criminal and administrative investigations.  In 2016, Ruben was appointed as the acting OIA - Headquarters Chief and then as the acting OIA - Field Operations Chief before being promoted as the permanent Field Operations Chief, where he maintained executive management over three Regional Field Offices located throughout the State of California.

In 2006, Ruben was awarded criminal and homicide investigative specialty certifications from the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) - Robert S. Presley Institute of Criminal Investigations (ICI) based on his education, training, and experience.  From 2004 to 2018, he served as a statewide training instructor for the CDCR Special Agent Academy, where he taught the investigative rules pertaining to the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act (POBR), Weingarten Rights, and CDCR’s various bargaining units’ Memoranda of Understanding (MOU), including Section 9.09 of CCPOA's Bargaining Unit 6 (BU6) MOU.  Ruben has testified as a subject matter expert/person most knowledgeable in State Personnel Board (SPB) hearings and Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) hearings regarding matters pertaining to POBR, Weingarten Rights, and Section 9.09 of the BU6 MOU.  Ruben holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Workforce Education and Training, a Master's in Public Policy and Administration, and a Doctorate degree in Business Administration with a dissertation emphasis in a criminal justice topic. 

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In 2018, Ruben retired from CDCR - OIA as Chief of Field Operations.  From 2019 to 2021, Ruben worked as a Special Agent (Retired Annuitant) with CDCR - OIA.  In 2022, Ruben obtained his California Private Investigator’s license and founded the California Investigative and Consulting Services (CICS).