Judge rejects ex-sheriff’s plea deal as too lenient

A federal judge on Monday rejected a plea agreement by former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca in a corruption case, saying the sentencing guideline was too lenient for the “gross abuse of the public’s trust”.

Baca, who had previously run the largest USA jail system, faced a maximum six-month prison sentence under the agreement in a case that clouded his 15-year tenure as sheriff.

At a May sentencing hearing in a related case before U.S. District Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell – whose courtroom is opposite Anderson’s – the judge mentioned the Baca plea deal in the context of the tough sentence prosecutors were seeking for two deputies found guilty of a similar charge. The terms of the plea deal, which were agreed upon in February, stated that Baca would serve no more than six months in federal prison.

Baca, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, argued for a probationary sentence, claiming his medical condition and past career make him susceptible to abuse while in custody.

A county eager to turn the page and move on under the steady leadership of Sheriff Jim McDonnell should be willing to wait until the justice system does its job and the guilty parties pay the price.

Prosecutors also accused Baca of lying about his involvement in hiding a jail inmate from FBI investigators.

Ironically, he was named Sheriff of the Year by the National Sheriff’s Association the same year he committed the offense. Baca told the judge that he was standing in court with “remorse” but also suggested that his involvement in the obstruction scheme was hands-off.

Baca’s deal had been criticized for its leniency as the former sheriff’s top subordinate, Paul Tanaka, received five years in prison from Anderson.

Baca led the nation’s largest sheriff’s department for 15 years. I took that task seriously.

The six-month sentence would have been far less time than the other dishonest sheriff’s officials who were nabbed with Baca were receiving. The following month, Baca instructed officials to “do everything but put handcuffs” on Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Leah Marx, who was investigating the case. Baca, they alleged, ordered the inmate to be isolated, putting Tanaka in charge of executing the plan.

That Baca would order deputies to threaten the arrest of an FBI agent investigating his jails was an example of the former sheriff’s hubris. Twenty-one members of the Sheriff’s Department have been convicted of federal crimes stemming from a grand jury investigation that began in 2010 amid allegations of abuse and corruption at the downtown Men’s Central Jail.

Baca’s hearing is part of one of the most extensive criminal probes into a local law enforcement agency the federal government has pursued in recent years.

O’Connell described the agreement with Baca as “troubling”.