http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/09/21835238-nearly-20-la-sheriffs-deputies-charged-in-corruption-inmate-abuse-probe?lite
Nearly 20 LA sheriff's deputies charged in corruption, inmate abuse probe
By Andrew Blankstein
Nearly 20 current and former Los Angeles County
sheriff’s deputies were expected to be arrested
Monday in connection with a two-year federal probe
into corruption and inmate abuse in the county jail
system.
Sixteen deputies, most still active in the
department, were either arrested without incident or
surrendered Monday to agents with the Federal Bureau
of Investigation, according to law enforcement
sources familiar with the investigation. Two others
had not yet been arrested by Monday afternoon. None
of those arrested ranked higher than lieutenant.
Four grand jury indictments and one criminal
complaint allege the unjustified beating of inmates,
unjustified detention and a conspiracy to obstruct a
federal investigation.
“The five cases allege a wide scope of illegal
conduct,” said André Birotte Jr., U.S. Attorney for
the Central District of California. “This
investigation started by focusing on misconduct in
county jails, and we uncovered examples of civil
rights violations that included excessive force and
unlawful arrests.”
“Our investigation also found that these
incidents did not take place in a vacuum – in fact,
they demonstrated behavior that had become
institutionalized. The pattern of activity alleged
in the obstruction of justice case shows how some
members of the Sheriff’s Department considered
themselves to be above the law.”
The arrests seem to culminate an investigation
that included allegations that deputies tried to
hide an informant who was providing information to
the FBI while locked up after the deputies
discovered the informant had a cell phone.
Seven current and former members of the LASD were
accused in an indictment that alleges a conspiracy
to obstruct justice, after the deputies learned that
an FBI informant was being held in the Men’s Central
Jail. The deputies learned that the informant had
received a cell phone from a deputy who allegedly
received a bribe, and that the informant was
assisting the FBI in investigating alleged
corruption and civil rights violations.
The defendants then allegedly attempted to hide
the informant from the FBI and the U.S. Marshals
Service. Prosecutors say they altered records to
make it look like the informant had been released
from custody, and then rebooked him under a
different name and told him he had been abandoned by
federal law enforcement. Two sergeants named in the
case allegedly confronted an FBI agent at her home
in order to intimidate her into divulging details of
the investigation.
Lieutenant Gregory Thompson, charged in the
indictment, no longer works for the Sheriff’s
Department. The other deputies named are Gerard
Smith, Mickey Manzo, James Sexton, Scott Craig and
Maricella Long.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, the
informant said he had been using his phone to take
photos and document excessive force inside Men's
Central Jail. Anthony Brown told the paper that FBI
agents regularly visited him in court and at the
jail, where he supplied them with the names of
allegedly corrupt and abusive deputies.
In another indictment, a sergeant and four
deputies are charged with arresting or detaining
five individuals, including the Austrian consul
general, who was handcuffed, when they visited
inmates at the Men’s Central Jail in 2010 and 2011.
Lead defendant Eric Gonzalez no longer works for the
department. The four deputies, Sussie Ayala,
Fernando Luviano, Pantamitr Sunggeemoge and Noel
Womack, are charged with participating in at least
one of four incidents in which victims allegedly
suffered civil rights violations. One incident left
a victim permanently disabled after he suffered a
broken arm and dislocated shoulder.
Two deputies are charged in a six-count
indictment with making false statements and civil
right violations. Bryan Brunsting is charged in
relation to an incident in which an inmate was
allegedly assaulted and injured. Broth Brunsting and
Jason Branum are charged in another assault. The
indictment alleges that Brunsting then used deputies
he was training to file reports covering up the
abuse.
Deputy Richard Piquette is charged in the fourth
indictment with illegal building and possessing an
assault rifle. The investigation is being handled by
the ATF.
Another of the cases involves three LASD deputies
who are brothers who allegedly used a “buy-and-bail”
mortgage fraud scheme to help buy a home in Corona,
Calif. Billy, Benny and Johnny Khounthavong
allegedly made false statements to buy the home and
then made more false statements to walk away from
the property when the value of the home fell below
what they owed on it. The brothers allegedly avoided
more than $340,000 in mortgage debt via the scheme.
Sheriff Lee Baca called the arrests "a sad day
for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department."
"We do not tolerate misconduct by any deputies,"
said Baca. "This department is grounded in its core
values, namely to honorably perform our duties with
respect for the dignity of all people, and integrity
to do right and fight wrongs. We have cooperated
fully with the federal investigation and will
continue to do so."
The arrests and jail abuse allegations represent
the latest series of controversies to roil the
administration of Sheriff Baca, who is seeking a
fifth four-year term in next November’s elections.
One of his chief rivals is Paul Tanaka, a former
undersheriff and Baca confidant who retired from the
department earlier this year amid a bitter falling
out.
In June, the U.S. Justice
Department found that deputies patrolling the
Antelope Valley in northern Los Angeles County
repeatedly harassed and intimidated Blacks and
Latinos including using racial profiling and
excessive force.
In 2012, a Sheriff’s captain at the Carson
station was placed on administrative leave after the
department alleged she was giving information to a
suspected narcotics dealer.
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