Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva is campaigning to regain the post that he lost to now-Sheriff Robert Luna.
I met with Villanueva over Zoom recently, during which the ex-sheriff took me on an incredible journey.
During Villanueva’s first term, he was known for leveraging his authority to intimidate those he perceived as political enemies and retaliating against critics – so much so that the state’s attorney general investigated his habit of abuse of power.
I asked him why he had threatened county officials by claiming that he had information that they had committed felonies and why he had threatened Inspector General Max Huntsman with “consequences” if he released his report on Villanueva’s rehiring of deputy Caren Mandoyan who had been fired for stalking and abusing his girlfriend. I also asked why he had opened an investigation against Huntsman for acquiring deputy misconduct records – essentially for performing his oversight duties.
According to Villanueva, “What Mr. Huntsman did, which you have not grasped yet, is that six months before I took office as sheriff … he started downloading my personnel files. It has nothing to do with misconduct. He was mining personnel files for data basically to use for political purposes, which is prohibited by law.”
I asked the now retired Huntsman about this – he clarified that the records were given to him by the previous sheriff in an attempt to preserve them after he had been informed that Villanueva’s staff had asked the head of Professional Responsibility to alter Mandoyan’s records. A trial court and an appeals court both found that Villanueva’s rehiring of Mandoyan was illegal.
Villanueva did not deny threatening county officials and the inspector general, instead claiming that, “Their goal was to weaponize oversight, and this is part of the bigger lawfare campaign” against him.
We moved on to the problem of deputy gangs within the sheriff’s department. Deputy gangs have existed for decades within the department – they’re known for engaging in illegal and unethical activities such as planting evidence at crime scenes, glorifying and encouraging police violence and killings, withholding backup from rival deputies, and coercing female deputies into performing sexual favors.
For years now, Villanueva has been denying their existence, claiming that they were a myth created by enemies of the department, but according to his past comments, he wasn’t always so sure. During his last campaign against Sheriff Luna, he accused Luna of being in a law enforcement gang and during his tenure, following a RAND report detailing what are also called “subgroups” or “cliques,” he stated that he was cracking down on these groups.
I asked Villanueva if they exist.
“Deputy gangs do not exist. They never have existed.”
“Why did you accuse Luna of being in one then?” I asked.
“Because he was in a subgroup. It was called the North Town Rangers. Does he have a tattoo or not? I don’t know. Would he describe himself as a gang member? I’m going to guess he wouldn’t,” said Villanueva. “The missing element in all these criticisms was what crime did they commit? And all of a sudden you come up empty handed. They have no evidence of any criminal activity attached to anyone.”
Consider the evidence.
The sheriff’s department has settled numerous cases alleging deputy gang misconduct and abuse amounting to millions of dollars, including many deputies who witnessed the abuses and were also victimized. According to deputies within the department, part of the initiation into some of these gangs includes getting into shootings and that they personally witnessed these gang-affiliated deputies planting guns on their victims.
The department also settled out of court with eight deputies who alleged that members of the East LA deputy gang known as the “Bandidos” “terrorized” them, extorted them for “taxes”, refused to provide back-up during dangerous missions, and attacked them during a party.
These are only a few examples of the countless cases where victims have accused deputy gangs of abuse. I asked Villanueva: “When you said that you were cracking down on these subgroups, what were you cracking down on if they don’t exist, and why would you crack down on them if they’re not doing anything wrong?”
According to him, there have been a few issues with some deputies becoming too influential within a station, sometimes undermining station captains, but there are no gangs and they do not victimize the public.
Villanueva’s claim that deputy gangs don’t exist and have never existed is an insult to the public and to the deputies who have spoken out about their direct experience dealing with these gangs of criminal officers.
But such deflections come too easily for Villanueva. After the interview, he emailed me to continue his long list of unsubstantiated grievances: “The board [of supervisors] spent millions to block the hiring of someone who was never arrested, tried, or convicted of anything. Political theater 101,” referring to the disgraced deputy Mandoyan.
Since Mandoyan was caught on video breaking into his then-girlfriend’s house, I asked Villanueva if he believed only criminal convictions may justify firing a deputy, to which he replied that the video was edited for dramatic effect and that there was an exculpatory witness that was concealed by the previous administration.
He provided no evidence for this, but just thinking about it on our own, what sort of witness testimony would clear Mandoyan of wrongdoing given that the videos clearly show him breaking into the woman’s house despite her protests?
In the end, Villanueva makes it too easy to conclude that he must not be elected sheriff of LA County. He has a proven track-record of indulging in the worst possible behaviors of an elected law-enforcement official including abusing his power to intimidate critics and civilian oversight officials. If Villanueva is elected, criminal deputy gangs will feel evermore empowered to continue to terrorize communities and abuse deputies with integrity.
His track-record suggests that he has no respect for the law and believes he can do whatever he pleases – no thanks.
Rafael Perez is a columnist for the Southern California News Group. He is a doctoral candidate in philosophy at the University of Rochester. You can reach him at rafaelperezocregister@gmail.com.