From: Jim Rosenfield <[j n r] at [igc.apc.org]>
Newsgroups: alt.drugs.culture
Subject: LAT: Drug War Corrupts More L.A. Dep
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 1995 07:35:28 -0800 (PST)

From: Jim Rosenfield <[j n r] at [igc.apc.org]>
Subject: LAT: Drug War Corrupts More L.A. Dep

/* Written  6:54 AM  Dec 27, 1995 by jnr in igc:talk.pol.drugs */
/* ---------- "LAT: Drug War Corrupts More L.A. De" ---------- */
Dear LEOs:

Found this in this morning's L.A. Times.  Not unlike many, many other such 
stories this past year.  Could this corruption of our noble public servants 
have anything to do with the dreadful failure of the War on Drugs?  Apparently this
is not a *rare* phenomenon, but consistent with and endemic to drug prohibition.

***************************************************************************

Couple accuses Sheriff's Department of planting evidence. 

Ex-deputy says she was harassed into resigning because of her
protests. Her deputy husband contends minorities were targeted.

By KENNETH REICH, Times Staff Writer, 12/27/95

   The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, beset in recent
years by charges of racial discrimination and harassment, was
accused Tuesday of falsely arresting and routinely planting
evidence on minority group members in heavily black and Latino
communities.
   "It's happening every day," eight-year deputy Michael G.
Osborne asserted at a news conference to announce a legal claim
against the department. Osborne, who is on paid leave for stress
disability, said he has seen it happen in the Firestone,
Lynwood, Compton and Willowbrook communities, all patrolled by
deputies.
   Osborne's wife, Aurora Alonso Mellado, a five-year deputy who
resigned last Friday, filed the damage claim against the county
and the Sheriff's Department, charging that she was harassed and
forced out after she alleged that her training officer, Deputy
Jeffrey Jones, had planted narcotics on suspects. At the news
conference, she said that the incident involved two black
suspects and that she was asked to write false reports against
them.
   In her claim, Mellado says that in seven weeks of being
trained by Jones as a patrol deputy last summer, she found that
he was "engagingyin illegal activities, including planting
evidence, using throwaway  guns, transferring drugs, assaulting
and battery of civilians, and violating of suspects' civil
rights." Such claims, if rejected by the county, are usually
followed by lawsuits.
   Since she first made the allegations to department officials,
Mellado and Osborne said at the news conference, both have
repeatedly received death and other threats directed at them and
their two small children from people they believe to be
department employees who have access to their unlisted home
telephone number and address.
   The race-related allegations are reminiscent of testimony by a
lead prosecution witness in a string of federal cases in recent
years involving drug money skimming. Robert R. Sobel testified
that as a former sheriff's sergeant in Lynwood and nearby
communities, he frequently arrested African Americans who were
simply walking the streets and had committed no crime. Sobel
later acknowledged in court lying more than 100 times in his
testimony in such cases.
   The Sheriff's Department, which videotaped Tuesday's news
conference, made only a brief statement about the allegations.
   Capt. Jeff Springs, Sheriff Sherman Block's chief spokesman,
said:  "When the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department became
aware of the allegations, an internal investigation was
initiated. Because that investigation is still active and our
department has not formally received the complainant's claim, it
would be inappropriate at this time to discuss the specifics of
the case."
   Jones is on leave and efforts to reach him Tuesday through the
department for comment were unsuccessful.
   Mellado, Osborne and their attorney, James H. Davis of Los
Angeles, said they have been informed that on Nov. 14, Sheriff's
Department investigators asked the district attorney to file
three criminal charges against Jones in
   connection with Mellado's complaints against him. They said
the district attorney has made no decision on whether to act.
   A spokeswoman for Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti said the office
could neither confirm nor deny whether charges were pending
against Jones.
   She added, however, that it was not uncommon for weeks to pass
before a decision is made on whether to file charges. "Sometimes,
further investigation is required, so it can take a long time,"
she said.
   Mellado and Osborne said it has been made clear to them by
investigators that if charges are filed against Jones, she will
be a principal witness against the deputy.
   What has angered them, they said, is that when the death
threats began, including threats to her well-being at the
sheriff's pistol range where she was temporarily assigned, they
could not persuade sheriff's investigators to take action to
protect them.
   Osborne said both now believe that as perceived "snitches"
they have no future in the department.
   "If we require deputies to report misconduct of other
deputies, then we must protect those who make the complaints,"
said their attorney, Davis.
   Osborne said that in his three years at the Century Station,
fake drug arrests were very common, most always against
minorities, and that one reason is that deputies get overtime pay
when they are required to testify in such cases.
   Osborne said both now believe that as perceived 'snitches'
they have no future in the department. 


Jim Rosenfield                      [j n r] at [cinenet.net]    
tel:  310-836-0926                  fax:  310-836-0592
Website -> http://metro.turnpike.net/~jnr/