LOS ANGELES
Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca plead guilty to lying to the FBI and federal attorneys about his deputies contacting FBI agent who they threatened with arrest, officials said today.
Baca plead guilty to a felony charge of making a false statement to federal authorities who were conducting a wide-ranging corruption and civil rights investigation into the Sheriff’s Department.
“One of the measures of an organizational culture is how it handles its allegations of misconduct,” said David Bowdich, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “Mr. Baca set the wrong command climate and allowed that culture to fester, instead of fostering an environment of accountability.
Adding, “In short, he did not lead when he had the opportunity to do so.”
The Los Angeles Times reported that Baca’s attorney, Michael Zweibeck, said Baca feels bad.
“He feels bad about a lot of things,” Zweibeck told the Times.
Adding, “He is ready for whatever outcome is deemed appropriate by the court.”
The Times reported that Zweibeck said negotiations with prosecutors began five days ago.
“It’s time to put this behind him,” Zweibeck said. Baca didn’t want the “men and women of the Sheriff’s Department to be under this cloud.”
Federal officials said Baca met with senior deputes to discuss approaching the FBI agent during a September 2011 meetings.
“Today’s charge and plea agreement demonstrate that illegal behavior within the Sheriff’s Department went to the very top of the organization,” said U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker. “More importantly, this case illustrates that leaders who foster and then try to hide a corrupt culture will be held accountable.”
In a plea agreement filed this morning in federal court, Baca admitted that he lied to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office when he falsely stated that he did not know that his deputies were going to approach the FBI’s lead agent on the investigation in 2011.
In fact, Baca was aware that his deputies were going to contact the agent, and he directed that they “should do everything but put handcuffs” on her, according to his plea agreement.
During an April 12, 2013 meeting with FBI agents and federal prosecutors, Baca falsely stated that he was not made aware of his deputies contacting the FBI case agent until he received a phone call from the FBI’s then-Assistant Director in Charge of the Los Angeles Field Office, who told Baca that deputies had threatened to arrest the agent.
In the plea agreement, Baca admitted that he knew his statement was untrue and that it was illegal to lie to federal investigators.
The threat to arrest the FBI case agent was part of an extensive scheme to obstruct justice which previously has resulted in eight LASD deputies with ranks as high as captain being convicted of federal charges, officials said.
The Case Against Paul Tanaka
The ninth person to be charged in relation to conspiracy to obstruct justice – former Undersheriff Paul Tanaka – is currently scheduled to go on trial on March 22.
During the course of the investigation that was being conducted by the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and a federal grand jury, a sheriff’s deputy assigned to the Men’s Central Jail accepted a bribe to smuggle a cell phone into the facility.
The phone was delivered to an inmate who was working as an FBI informant. Jail officials later discovered the phone, linked it to the FBI and determined that the inmate was an informant.
Prosecutors allege that Tanaka oversaw a secret plan in 2011 to hide inmate-turned FBI informant Anthony Brown from FBI handlers. Brown was shuffled around from one jail cell to another and was told that the FBI abandoned him, officials said.
This led to a month-long scheme to obstruct the investigation, which included members of the conspiracy concealing the informant from the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and the grand jury.
Members of the conspiracy also engaged in witness tampering and harassing the FBI agent.
Baca Meeting About FBI Agent
Baca participated in a September 25, 2011 meeting in which senior members of the department discussed approaching the FBI case agent. The next day, two Los Angeles deputy sergeants approached the agent and threatened her with arrest.
During the 2013 meeting with the FBI and federal prosecutors, Baca denied knowing about the plan to approach the case agent, and he also denied participating in conversations about “keeping the FBI and Inmate AB away from each other,” according to the statement of facts in the plea agreement.
The FBI investigated the case against Baca. It is one in a series of cases resulting from an investigation into corruption and civil rights abuses at county jail facilities in downtown Los Angeles.
As a result of the investigation, 17 current or former members of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department have now been convicted of federal charges.
If a federal judge accepts the plea agreement this afternoon, Baca would become the 18th person to be convicted.
(Feb 10 TV News Video)
(ABC Los Angeles TV report — May 2015)