Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva is campaigning to regain the post that he lost to now-Sheriff Robert Luna. <\/p>\n
I met with Villanueva over Zoom recently, during which the ex-sheriff took me on an incredible journey.<\/p>\n
During Villanueva\u2019s first term, he was known for leveraging his authority to intimidate those he perceived as political enemies and retaliating against critics \u2013 so much so that the state\u2019s attorney general<\/a> investigated his habit of abuse of power.\u00a0<\/p>\n I asked him why he had threatened county officials<\/a> by claiming that he had information that they had committed felonies and why he had threatened Inspector General Max Huntsman with \u201cconsequences\u201d if he released his report on Villanueva\u2019s 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 \u2013 essentially for performing his oversight duties.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to Villanueva, \u201cWhat Mr. Huntsman did, which you have not grasped yet, is that six months before I took office as sheriff \u2026 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.\u201d<\/p>\n I asked the now retired Huntsman about this \u2013 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\u2019s staff had asked the head of Professional Responsibility to alter Mandoyan\u2019s records. A trial court<\/a> and an appeals court<\/a> both found that Villanueva\u2019s rehiring of Mandoyan was illegal.\u00a0<\/p>\n Villanueva did not deny threatening county officials and the inspector general, instead claiming that, \u201cTheir goal was to weaponize oversight, and this is part of the bigger lawfare campaign\u201d against him.<\/p>\n We moved on to the problem of deputy gangs<\/a> within the sheriff\u2019s department. Deputy gangs have existed for decades within the department \u2013 they\u2019re 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<\/a> into performing sexual favors.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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\u2019t 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<\/a> detailing what are also called \u201csubgroups\u201d or \u201ccliques,\u201d he stated that he was cracking down on these groups. <\/p>\n I asked Villanueva if they exist.<\/p>\n \u201cDeputy gangs do not exist. They never have existed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy did you accuse Luna of being in one then?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause he was in a subgroup. It was called the North Town Rangers. Does he have a tattoo or not? I don\u2019t know. Would he describe himself as a gang member? I\u2019m going to guess he wouldn\u2019t,\u201d said Villanueva. \u201cThe 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.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Consider the evidence.<\/p>\n The sheriff\u2019s 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\u00a0deputies<\/a> 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n The department also settled out of court<\/a> with eight deputies who alleged that members of the East LA deputy gang known as the \u201cBandidos\u201d \u201cterrorized\u201d them, extorted them for \u201ctaxes\u201d, refused to provide back-up during dangerous missions, and attacked them during a party.\u00a0<\/p>\n