LOS ANGELES
Three Los Angeles police officers were charged with falsifying field interview cards and misidentifying people as gang members, the District Attorney’s Office stated.
With Conspiracy, Falsifying Information Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced today that three Los Angeles Police Department officers have been charged in a 59-count complaint for allegedly falsifying records that claimed people they had stopped were gang members or associates, according to officials.
Braxton Shaw, 37, Michael Coblentz, 42, and Nicolas Martinez, 42, for one count each of conspiracy to obstruct justice and multiple counts of filing a false police report and preparing false documentary evidence, officials stated.
The three defendants, who were assigned at the time to LAPD’s Metro Division, are accused of falsifying field interview cards used by officers to conduct interviews while they are on duty.
The cards contained false information and misidentified dozens of people as gang members.
Some of the false information contained in the cards was used to wrongfully enter individuals into a state gang database, prosecutors said.
In some instances, the defendants are accused of writing on the card that a person admitted to being a gang member even though body-worn camera video showed that the defendants never asked the individual about their gang membership, prosecutors said.
In other cases, the defendants allegedly wrote on the card that a person admitted to being a gang member despite the fact that the person interviewed denied a gang affiliation, officials stated.
Shaw is accused of falsifying 43 field interview cards. Coblentz is accused of falsifying seven field interview cards and Martinez is accused of falsifying two cards.
If convicted of the charges, Shaw faces up to 31 years and eight months in county jail. Coblentz faces up to seven years and eight months in jail and Martinez faces up to four years and four months in jail.