Ex-sheriff says he told deputies to threaten FBI

Retired Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca will plead guilty Wednesday in a downtown federal courtroom to making a false statement, marking a dramatic turn in the ongoing federal investigation into corruption in the Sheriff’s Department.

In a plea agreement filed in federal court, Baca admitted to lying twice about his involvement in hiding an inmate from FBI agents who were investigating brutality and corruption by sheriff’s deputies in the county jails.

The Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs said Baca deserves punishment. Baca also told investigators that he did not know that department officials had harassed the FBI special agent until after they had approached her. Decker said the federal investigation demonstrates that corruption by officials at the top of the sheriff’s department will not be tolerated.

Baca, a media-savvy lawman who used his platform as head of the nation’s largest sheriff’s department to travel the world touting progressive policing policies, had largely been out of sight since leaving office a year early in January 2014. Wearing a brown suit with a sheriff’s star on the lapel, Baca said little at the hearing other than to answer “yes” to questions from the judge. He faces sentencing May 16. Litigation against the Sheriff’s Department, much of it stemming from jail problems and deputy shootings, rose 50 percent to $61 million in the 2014 fiscal year.

That changed Wednesday with the surprise announcement by federal authorities that the corruption went all the way to the top of the department and that Baca had finally agreed to take the fall. “It is indeed a sad day when the leader of a law enforcement agency fails to honor his oath and instead of upholding justice, decides to obstruct it”.

Baca’s attorney, Michael Zweiback, said the former sheriff entered the plea, in part, because he has “immense respect” for the sheriff’s department and did not want to continue to “distract from their mission”.

Prosecutors say deputies tried to hide an Federal Bureau of Investigation jail informant from his handlers for two weeks in 2011 by shifting him from cell to cell at various jails under different names and altering jail computer records.

In a brief typed statement signed “Lee Baca retired sheriff”, he said he had made a mistake and accepted being held accountable. The conviction, however, confirms that he played a role in trying to thwart the FBI’s civil rights probe.

Baca acknowledged Wednesday in Los Angeles federal court that he lied during the FBI investigation. The latest in that case was in October when Byron Dredd was named in a three-count indictment charging him with conspiracy to violate Gabriel Carrillo’s civil rights and two counts of making false reports.

Tanaka’s attorneys, Jerome Haig and H. Dean Steward, issued a statement saying Baca’s plea deal makes the case “all the more interesting”, but they are still prepared to call Baca as a witness during Tanaka’s trial. He could withdraw his guilty plea if the judge gives him a longer sentence.

“The plea agreement sends a strong message that no one is above the law”.

“He had the opportunity to lead”, Bowdich said.

His trial is scheduled for next month.