{"id":22179,"date":"2016-04-06T15:20:35","date_gmt":"2016-04-06T22:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=22179"},"modified":"2016-04-06T17:47:51","modified_gmt":"2016-04-07T00:47:51","slug":"sheriffs-second-command-guilty-covering-federal-investigation-jail-corruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=22179","title":{"rendered":"Sheriff’s Second-in-Command Guilty of Covering Up Federal Investigation into Jail Corruption"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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(Updated: \u00a05:30 p.m.\/April 6, 2016) <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/span><\/p>\n

The former second-in-command of the Los Angeles Sheriff\u2019s Department Paul Tanaka was found guilty today of two counts \u2013 conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 57-year-old \u00a0faces up to 15 years in federal prison when he is sentenced on June 20 according to officials.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Tanaka created a culture of corruption seen only in the movies, and certainly nothing that anyone would expect from the nation\u2019s largest Sheriff\u2019s department,\u201d said David Bowdich, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI\u2019s Los Angeles Field Office. \u201cMy hope is that this conviction is the last chapter in this case so that the dedicated, law-abiding deputies at the L.A. Sheriff’s Department, as well as the citizens they’re sworn to serve and protect, can move on without distraction.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After only a few hours of deliberations, a federal jury convicted Tanaka of being the leader of a broad conspiracy to obstruct the federal investigation, a scheme that started when the Sheriff\u2019s Department learned that an inmate at the Men\u2019s Central Jail was an FBI informant.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tanaka directed a conspiracy that has previously resulted in the conviction of eight other former LASD deputies.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to the conspiracy count, Tanaka was found guilty of one substantive count of obstructing justice.<\/span>
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\n\u00a0\u201cAnother jury has spoken and sent a clear message that the former leaders of the Sheriff\u2019s Department who abused their positions by encouraging, and then concealing, a corrupt culture, must be held accountable,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker. \u201cMr. Tanaka joins eight of his former subordinates who have been found guilty of actively working to undermine a federal investigation into illegal conduct at the jails.\u00a0 Law enforcement agencies that house inmates, even dangerous ones, must remain steadfast in upholding the law and protecting the civil rights of all of the individuals in their custody.\u00a0 This is required by both the higher standard to which law enforcement is held and their sworn oath to uphold the law.\u201d<\/span>
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\nTanaka was the undersheriff \u2013 the number 2 in the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department \u2013 until 2013, and he ran an unsuccessful campaign for sheriff in 2014.<\/span><\/p>\n

As he rose through ranks during a 31-year career with the LASD, Tanaka became well aware of \u201cproblem deputies\u201d at the jails, allegations of rampant abuse of inmates and insufficient internal investigations into deputy misconduct.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Tanaka encouraged jail deputies to work in a \u201cgray area,\u201d and he transferred a jail supervisor who sought to implement reforms at the jails, according to the testimony presented during a 10-day trial.<\/span><\/p>\n

The scheme to disrupt the federal investigation started in August 2011 when unknown deputies recovered a mobile phone from an inmate in the Central Jail and\u00a0linked the phone to the FBI.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They determined that the inmate was an informant in the FBI\u2019s corruption and civil rights investigation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Officials said the phone was given to the inmate as part of an undercover investigation by a corrupt deputy, who subsequently pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge.<\/span>
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\nIn response to the federal investigation, members of the Tanaka-led conspiracy took steps to hide the cooperator from the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service, which was attempting to bring the inmate to testify before a federal grand jury.<\/span><\/p>\n

The evidence presented during the trial showed that the deputies altered records to make it appear that the cooperator had been released from jail, when in fact he had been re-booked into custody under a fake name and moved to secure locations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Members of the conspiracy prohibited FBI access to the informant, and then told the cooperator that he had been abandoned by the FBI.<\/span>
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\nOver the course of several weeks, members of the conspiracy sought an order from a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to compel the FBI to turn over information about its investigation to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After the judge refused to issue the order because he had no jurisdiction over the federal law enforcement agency \u2013 and even though it was clear that the FBI was acting legally \u2013 two Sheriff’s Department sergeants confronted the lead FBI agent at her residence in an attempt to intimidate her.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The sergeants threatened the agent with arrest and later reiterated this threat to her supervisor, stating that the agent\u2019s arrest was imminent, according to the evidence.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tanaka oversaw co-conspirators who told fellow deputies not to cooperate in the federal investigation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Members of the conspiracy engaged in witness tampering by telling fellow deputies that the FBI would lie, threaten, manipulate and blackmail them to obtain information about the Sheriff\u2019s Department.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tanaka was indicted last year along with William Thomas Carey, a former Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Captain who headed the Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau. Carey pleaded guilty last year and is pending sentencing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now that Tanaka has been convicted, 10 members of the department \u2013 including former Sheriff Leroy Baca \u2013 have been convicted in relation to the scheme to obstruct justice<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>
\nAs a result of the federal investigation into the Sheriff’s Department, another nine deputies who held various ranks have been convicted on charges related to the illegal use of force, illegal firearms and bribery.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Two additional deputies are scheduled to go on trial May 3 in a case alleging an illegal use of force at the Twin Towers jail.<\/span>
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