LASD Paul Tanaka Sheriff Lee Baca U.S. Attorney

Paul Tanaka’s Attorneys Ask Feds to Give Former Sheriff Lee Baca Immunity to Testify….& Execs Charged with Skimming $$ From Group Home for LA Foster Kids


As the ongoing drama of the obstruction of Justice indictments against former members of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department continues,
the newest moment-of-interest is provided by the attorneys for former undersheriff Paul Tanaka, whose trial will commence this coming November.

Where we last left off was last week, when Tanaka’s co-indictee, former LASD Captain William “Tom” Carey took a plea deal—meaning, among other things, Mr. Carey will be a witness for the prosecution at Tanaka’s trial.

Clearly the former undersheriff could use a new witness of his own.

Voila! On Friday, Tanaka’s attorney, Dean Seward, filed a motion asking the judge to step in because the federal prosecutors have declined to grant former Sheriff Lee Baca immunity so that he may testify at Tanaka’s trial without taking the fifth, which Baca’s attorneys have consistently said to anyone who asks is exactly what their client will do, absent immunity.

This is the same answer Baca and company has given to other attorneys of other federal defendants who wanted the former sheriff to testify at their trials.

When prosecutors Brandon Fox and Lizabeth Rhodes have been asked if they will make the immunity deal, they’ve evidently answered with the rough legal equivalent of “Are you freaking kidding us?! No! Of course, not!”

So Seward has turned to a higher power—namely Judge Percy Anderson—in the hope he will intervene. Anderson, who seemed to be irritated with Tanaka’s antics on the stand as a witness in the previous obstruction trials, is not likely to catch this pre-trial Hail Mary pass now that Tanaka is a defendent.

Nevertheless the argument in the text of the motion, which will be heard at the end of this month, is fascinating. Here’s a clip:

…Moreover, the prior prosecution of LASD deputy sheriffs by these same prosecutors in this same courtroom would never had occurred but for the actions of then Sheriff Leroy Baca.

But the Court and jury will never hear from Mr. Baca unless this Court intervenes. That is not because his testimony is not relevant. That is not because his testimony is not exculpatory. That is only because the government refuses to bestow the same inoculation against criminal prosecution that it has used with such vengeance to enable it to charge Mr. Tanaka.

As a result of the government’s inaction and refusal to immunize an exculpatory witness, Mr. Tanaka will be prevented from presenting a valid and relevant defense unless this Court intervenes. In order to enable the defendant to present the complete events and not rely on the incomplete version from the prosecution, this Court should grant this motion and order the government to give Leroy Baca use immunity for any testimony he may provide at trial.

The government cannot, at this late hour, argue that it has not had the opportunity to investigate the matter and determine who should be prosecuted. Logically, there’s only one person for whom prosecution is still possible: Leroy Baca. The events in this case occurred nearly 4 years ago. Multiple grand juries have been convened. The government and F.B.I. have interviewed hundreds of witnesses. Hundreds of thousands of pages of documents, exhibits, and recordings have been generated. To say the government does not have enough before it to choose whether to prosecute Mr. Baca makes no sense. The motion herein is not meant to force the government’s hand. But it is meant to force them to let Mr. Baca have his day in Court: either as a witness in Mr. Tanaka’s trial or as a co- defendant in this prosecution.

The government, by refusing to charge Mr. Baca or grant him immunity to testify in Mr. Tanaka’s trial, is exercising its immunity power not for legitimate prosecutorial purposes but to deny Mr. Tanaka a level playing field of evidence.

In other words: either indict Lee Baca or give him to us as a witness!

There is, of course, lots more after that.

The motion will be heard on September 28. So stay tuned.


AND IN OTHER NEWS….EXECUTIVES AT YET ANOTHER LA COUNTY FOSTER CARE GROUP HOME ARE CHARGED WITH EMBEZZLEMENT

Just about a year ago, LA District attorney Jackie Lacey announced that a husband and wife team was being charged with embezzling more than $460,000 in taxpayer money from a nonprofit agency hired by Los Angeles County’s Department of Children and Family services to help some of the harder to place abused and neglected foster children.

The LA Times Garrett Therolf reported extensively on the story last year and has been on top of the issue since.

Now Therolf reports that a whole different set of executives for a different group home that cares for abused and neglected LA Youth have been charged by the DA with skimming and generally misusing money from the taxpayer funded enterprise the are supposed to be overseeing.

Lovely.

Here’s a clip:

As in the district attorney’s recent case against leaders of the Little People’s World group home, the alleged wrongdoing at Moore’s Cottage may have festered for years as county officials ignored signs of financial mismanagement, records show.

“It’s my fault that we didn’t know more about it,” said Philip Browning, director of the Department of Children and Family Services.

The activities alleged in the lawsuit occurred before 2013, and Browning said they might have been prevented by an improved monitoring system the department put in place about a year ago.

Prosecutors filed the criminal charges against Batchelor and Smith in April with no public announcement. The district attorney’s office declined to comment.

The two men, who pleaded not guilty and are free on bail, declined to respond to requests for comment.

They are accused of embezzling more than $100,000 from the charity and damaging or destroying property in excess of $65,000. The lawsuit also accuses them of filing false personal tax returns in 2011, 2012 and 2013 — the same period in which they failed to file tax forms for Moore’s Cottage. In total, Moore’s Cottage owed $460,000 in delinquent federal payroll taxes as of September 2013.

A court petition for a search warrant filed this year by the district attorney’s office says that “Batchelor had no intention of paying payroll taxes with the money he withdrew. His sole purpose was to split the withdrawn money with Smith for personal gain.”

33 Comments

  • Pro Baca or No Baca…….I’m glad it took something other than the few bloggers who already told you,

    BACA WILL NOT BE INDICTED. PERIOD!

    All this comes from neutral sources, so get over it and focus on the New Generation of Deputies.

  • Lee, Mr. Core Values, “I’m going to take the fifth”, Baca. What happened to leadership and right all wrongs Lee! I know those core values only counted for those not connected to Lee and Paul. Except for the fallen seven, most of the check writers, sexual harassers, and civil service exam manipulators are still around.

  • So the former Sheriff of Los Angeles County will not testify unless he has immunity ??

    Should not a Sheriff want the opportunity to explain his actions and ” Set The Record Straight ”

    Anybody taking bets as to who else flips ?

  • @Old News Flash: You are correct that Banaka is done and over with as far as the department is concerned. The new brass must focus on the new generation. I read an article stating that LASD and law agencies in general are experiencing a recruiting problem. LASD wants to hire 800 new deputies, but are having trouble recruiting qualified applicants. Then I hear a rumor that the attitude of the current POG brass is to NOT recruit from the military because veterans “all have PTSD” .

    If this is true, the future of LASD is doomed. LASD is a “Quasi-military” organization that better start acting like one. LASD management especially is in desperate need of military core values, such as: honor, duty, sacrifice, discipline, esprit de corps, etc, etc.. Discouraging or not encouraging vets to apply is the equivalent of a junior varsity team turning down NFL players for Christ’s sake.

    Can anyone close to management confirm or deny this rumor? Can anyone explain why LASD is not actively recruiting vets coming out of the military? They are the future and only hope for this failied organization.

  • FUTURE COP YOU ARE RIGHT ON ON POINT! I HAVE A NEIGHBOR WHO RECEIVED NUMEROUS MEDALS FROM HIS TOUR IN AFGHANISTAN INCLUDING A PURPLE HEART. So HE GOES TO MONTEREY PARK TO TAKE THE TEST FOR DST, HE DOESN’T EVEN MAKE IT PAST THE DEPUTY AT THE LOBBY!

    SHE TELLS HIM HIS MILITARY TATTOOS ARE TO MUCH. SO BEING A HUMBLE GUY HE DOESNT ARGUE WITH HER AND TELLS ME WHAT HAPPENED. I SLAP MY HAND TO MY FOREHEAD. SO HE LOOKS INTO LAPD AND THEY SET UP A TEST FOR VETERANS ONLY AT FULLERTON COLLEGE AND WELCOMED WITH OPEN ARMS AND TAKES THE TEST. AND YOU KNOW THE REST LAPD 1 LASD 0 LASD WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?????

  • #8: Baca was a Marine Reservist back in the days before Reservists (this include National Guardsmen, who’re considered Army/USAF Reservists) had to undergo six months of active duty training (including boot camp), so all Baca had to do as a Reservist was to attend monthly training sessions & go to a two-week training camp. As far as I know he never was on active duty for an extended period of time.

    As a Marine Reservist, though, he was subject to immediate call-up in the event of a national emergency, like WWIII.

  • Anybody know who burglarized LASD Internal Affairs ? ooops, was I suppose not to say anything ?

  • At Number 6, I find that hard to believe. Please tell me where his tattoos are located? On his face, neck, hands? If they are visible, LASD has a policy that he has to either have them removed or covered up. If they are not showing, the deputy should not have even asked about the tattoos at that point.

    At Number 5, they may not be actively recruiting Military at bases, etc.. but there are still a lot of active and non active military members coming through. Unfortunately, a lot of them don’t make it past the psych. Can’t blame LASD for that.

  • some on his neck and part of his hands but all military Tatts hee said would cover them up ! And even have some removed…

  • Who would have thought this time last year, that both P.T. and former ALADS “Puppet Master” Floyd Hayhurst would not be able to have weapons, based upon their CRIMINAL charges, a year later.

    Both have upcoming court dates. Just a thought.

  • Public San Bernardino public record indicate Hayhurst to be arraigned on August 31, 2015 in Rancho Cucamonga. I’m sure that he’ll see faces there, that he never thought that he would see again.
    I understand that ALADS is paying his legal fees for his civil case (Macias et al) in Los Angeles County. Don’t gasp or fall out when you hear how much has been $pent. I “double dog dare” any member of ALADS to ask for the figure$.

    The ill gotten goods from ALADS will do a jig and say goodbye. Rumor has it that the Maserati was collateral for bail. 2015 is the year of (the) KARMA.

  • Surprised LAPD took him with those tattoos. Other agencies are more strict with their tattoo policies than LASD. I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets dq’d after meeting with his BI for LAPD if they see the tattoos on his neck and hands.

  • Why is ALADS sitting on their ass with the annual excuse during negotiations. I guarantee that come next year,LASPA will double it’s membership .

    Who is leading that shipwreck in Monterey Park? Pathetic.

  • Mr-Gooey, Are you on the department? Sure, there are a lot of things still wrong with the Department, but I can guarantee you that felons are not still getting hired on.

  • The Tanaka motion makes a frivolous argument because the US Attorney has discretion about who to prosecute. Leroy seems like a likely target in case some motivated truth-telling witnesses suddenly appear. The Tanaka defense team is hoping that Leroy gets immunity so he can take the weight of the case off Tanaka and get both of them off–Tanaka with a not guilty and Leroy with immunity.

  • Emp##. Your arrogance is sickening and people like you need to retire aNd wait in line for. Your Metamucil! how in the hell can you say this veteran is going to be disqualified by LAPD do you have a crystal ball the fact is the dept is sinking fast and the criminals know it end of story! Sorry bro but your bs has been exposed to all to see…..this kid risked his life for us Americans ! I think he deserves to be given a chance. Oh wait maybe your.tbe supervision that’s calls criminals patients!!!

  • It wouldn’t surprise me if PPOA drops the ball in negotiations for BU 621. Just like ALADS have their cronies PPOA is right beside them. PPOA can’t even negotiate for a roll of toilet paper! If PPOA only gets 10% raises for BU 621 standby PPOA. YOU will NOT be representing BU 621 in 2 years. I guarantee you that will happen PPOA. ALL EYES are on you PPOA.How embarrassing would it be that the new minimum wage will be $15 an hour and SO’s & SA’s will only be about $3 to $4 ahead. Better working at McDonald’s and not worried about getting days off for doing yiur job right.

  • @5 Most of these last are corrupt. Just because last has a new Sheriff, doesn’t mean things will get bettet. A lot of the old ones who are just as corrupt are still in this Dept.

  • Mr-Gooey, you’re a clown. Maybe some of us have worked in backgrounds, maybe some of us still work in backgrounds. Maybe some of us have reviewed files and saw what other agencies are disqualifying candidates for… and that includes Veterans and their tattoos. I never disparaged any veterans and I thank them for their service. I’ve seen a lot of them go through the process and they end up failing at the psych portion because of their PTSD. That is all I am saying. So again I ask, do you work for the department? It sure doesn’t sound like it…

  • HAHAHAHAHA EMP 000000123 TIME TO RETIRE OLD FART! I HEARD THE PANCAKE HOUSE IN WHITTIER IS LOOKING FOR A DOOR GREETER!

  • Mr. Gooey, so by not answering my question, I’m going to assume you’re not on the department so you do not know anything about our hiring standards and minimum qualifications.

    It’s funny how I can type in a random number as my screen name and you automatically assume that I’m an old guy.

    Go read my posts again, then read your replies, and tell me who is the one that lacks reading comprehension skills and who sounds like an idiot.

  • Mr. Gooey, Emp 275323 is spot on. You are either high, drunk, or need psych help. Using all caps on this blog doesn’t help your pathic point. Do everyone a favor and log off and quit embarassing youself.

  • I’m sure Celeste and her literary staff can confirm this, but writing in Caps Lock is indicative of window licking and riding Business Class in the short bus!

  • At a morning press conference, United States Attorney Andr Birotte Jr. pointedly said the incidents did not take place in a vacuum in fact, they demonstrated behavior that had become institutionalized. Still, Baca remained steadfast when he faced the press later in the afternoon, saying there is no institutional problem in his department.

  • LASD drops the ball on a lot of backgrounds. I recruited an individual from the Army and they gave him crap during the oral interview. He decided to pull out of the process, completed college and has a high paying job. Go figure…..would have been a great cop. B/I need to step it up, the department is losing a lot of people to other agencies and yes I am familiar with the process

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