DIRTY COP TIPPED OFF TO PROBE BY BOSSES.Byline: Beth Barrett and Greg Gittrich Staff Writers Corrupt LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. cop Rafael Perez was warned repeatedly by fellow officers and supervisors before his arrest that he was under investigation by federal and police authorities, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. transcripts of his testimony in the Rampart Division scandal. The effort to protect Perez, involving at least three Rampart sergeants, was overt and continuous, starting shortly after he stole cocaine on March 2, 1998, until his arrest nearly six months later, according to transcripts of Perez's interviews with Los Angeles Police Department "LAPD" and "L.A.P.D." redirect here. For other uses, see LAPD (disambiguation).  This article or section is written like an . and District Attorney's Office investigators.
In the final weeks before his tumble from an elite CRASH officer to an unmasked dirty cop who shot and framed suspects, the warnings intensified and officers in the disgraced division curtailed a great deal of their illegal tactics and thuggery, Perez testified. ``After March 2, I never - I never did anything after that,'' Perez told investigators last month. ``In fact, if you look at the CRASH book and the recaps of everything that was going on, everything went downhill. There was hardly any arrests being made.'' According to nearly 2,000 pages of transcripts obtained by the Daily News, Perez said being tipped off to internal investigations was standard - indeed, expected - behavior in a tight-knit anti-gang unit in which criminal behavior and cover-ups were a part of ``being in the loop.'' ``You got to remember now, we're working Rampart CRASH. And that may not mean a whole lot to some people. But to us, it meant a whole lot . . . The relationship we had, within CRASH, is a little bit tighter than just working patrol,'' said Perez, who has been convicted of stealing cocaine from the department. He agreed to provide information as part of a plea deal, and will be sentenced Feb. 25. Statements confirmed A top source close to the police corruption Police corruption is a specific form of police misconduct sometimes involving political corruption, and generally designed to gain a financial or political benefit for a police officer or officers in exchange for not pursuing, or selectively pursuing, an investigation or arrest. investigation confirmed Perez's statements. ``A group of sergeants had an idea, or should have had an idea, what was going on at Rampart CRASH,'' the source said. LAPD spokesman David Kalish said he could not comment on any specific allegations against the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums, usually known as CRASH, was a special unit of the Los Angeles Police Department established in the early 1970s to combat the rising problem of gangs in Los Angeles, California. unit. ``As part of the investigation that is being conducted, if any of those allegations are proven true, obviously the department will take immediate, corrective action A corrective action is a change implemented to address a weakness identified in a management system. Normally corrective actions are instigated in response to a customer complaint, abnormal levels if internal nonconformity, nonconformities identified during an internal audit or ,'' Kalish said. ``If they are true, we will be extremely disappointed.'' On Friday, Capt. Richard Meraz became the highest ranking Rampart officer to go before a LAPD administrative disciplinary committee on the count of failing ``to take appropriate action after becoming aware of misconduct,'' in March 1998. In detailed testimony to investigators, Perez described how Rampart sergeants helped concoct con·coct tr.v. con·coct·ed, con·coct·ing, con·cocts 1. To prepare by mixing ingredients, as in cooking. 2. bogus stories after bad shootings, condoned the planting of drugs and guns and looked the other way when officers brutally beat up, or ``thumped,'' suspects. ``If you're in a CRASH unit, and you're a supervisor in a CRASH unit, you have to know things are going on,'' Perez said under oath during a Sept. 22 interview. Sergeants identified Perez identified nine Rampart sergeants he claims either had participated in illegal activities or allowed them to be covered up. Sources told the Daily News that Perez failed a polygraph An instrument used to measure physiological responses in humans when they are questioned in order to determine if their answers are truthful. Also known as a "lie detector," the polygraph has a controversial history in U.S. law. - a lie-detector test that's inadmissible That which, according to established legal principles, cannot be received into evidence at a trial for consideration by the jury or judge in reaching a determination of the action. in court. Nevertheless, LAPD Chief Bernard C. Parks Bernard Parks (born December 7, 1943 in Beaumont, Texas) is a member of the Los Angeles City Council, representing the 8th District in South Los Angeles and former Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. Parks attended Los Angeles City College, received his B.S. has said dozens of investigators in an independent probe have corroborated cor·rob·o·rate tr.v. cor·rob·o·rat·ed, cor·rob·o·rat·ing, cor·rob·o·rates To strengthen or support with other evidence; make more certain. See Synonyms at confirm. enough of his testimony to urge District Attorney Gil Garcetti Gilbert "Gil" Garcetti (b. August 5, 1941) served as Los Angeles County's 39th District Attorney for two terms, from 1992 until November 7, 2000. Background Gil Garcetti received a bachelor's degree in Management from the University of Southern California and a Juris to overturn 57 cases. Two officers have been fired and 17 relieved of duty. Perez's attorney, Winston Kevin McKesson, said ``the test was absolutely invalid.'' He declined to comment on specific statements made by Perez to investigators. `Hey, be careful' One of the first warnings Perez received came shortly after he had stolen the cocaine from the LAPD Property Division, when an officer told Perez that his name came up at the start of an Internal Affairs Internal affairs may refer to:
As the investigation progressed, the warnings slowly intensified until just before he was detained, Perez said. In April 1998, a friend of his, also an LAPD officer, and another cop approached him in Las Vegas Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. and told him he was being followed. ``I was told, `Hey, be careful.' '' About one month later, a sergeant who supervised Perez notified him that investigators had confidentially requested copies of his logs for handwriting comparisons. Sgt. George Hoopes offered similar warnings, Perez said. By July 1998, the tips were coming from many sources, and Perez said he had seen the FBI and Internal Affairs Division following him. It became common knowledge around Rampart CRASH that he was being investigated and the matter came up routinely in roll call and was freely discussed, he said. ``It was actually discussed several different times. We had discussed it as, `Listen, there's been rumors that Perez is being followed. And apparently that's a good rumor. He's being followed.'' Another time, Perez said, Hoopes sent an officer to roll call with explicit orders to give a heads up to Perez and other officers. The officer came to roll call and said: ``Listen, it's not a rumor. It is definitely confirmed. Perez is being followed. So let's be careful out there.'' Hoopes could not be reached. `Upset' over inquiry Despite the warnings, Perez said, the officers didn't know exactly why he was being monitored and many assumed it was related to a bank robbery The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. Bank robbery is the crime of robbing a bank. by LAPD Officer David Mack. Perez admitted to ``getting a little upset'' about the investigation into him and said he started talking about it during roll call on an unspecified day. ``Sgt. Dickerson interrupted me,'' Perez recalled. ``He goes, `Look. Perez is pretty smart. If Perez is doing something wrong, Perez is - I'm assuming Perez is not doing whatever he was doing wrong before, he isn't doing it now. So, just go there and, you know, do your jobs. Be careful. You know, keep an eye open for anybody that you may see following you or any vans and stuff like that.' '' According to Perez, Hoopes and the other officers never told him where they were getting the sensitive information about the investigation or who had requested his files. Days before he was nabbed, Perez said a sergeant tipped him off that investigators were asking when he was going to go on vacation. The sergeant also told Perez that they were asking for his logs, to get handwriting samples. ``He relayed to me that if I do go on vacation, be careful where I go, watch out what I'm doing, because I'm being followed, and things like that.'' Perez said he had received similar warnings before, but this time it would be different. ``When I was arrested a few days later, I was supposed to be going on vacation. And I guess they wanted to arrest me before I went on vacation.'' While he believed his days as a cop were numbered, Perez said he never thought to flee. ``Where am I gonna go?,'' he told investigators. ``I mean - what - take my family and just run? That's never - a lot of other things have come into my mind. But never run. Be a fugitive? ``No. It's - what - you know, what am I gonna do? Hide in a hole for the rest of my life? It's impossible.'' In the loop For almost three years, Perez said, he and others had participated in illegal shootings and beatings, falsified evidence Falsified evidence, forged evidence or tainted evidence is used to either convict an innocent person, or to guarantee conviction of a guilty person. Some evidence is forged because the person doing the forensic work finds it easier to fabricate evidence than to and perjured per·jure tr.v. per·jured, per·jur·ing, per·jures Law To make (oneself) guilty of perjury by deliberately testifying falsely under oath. themselves to send innocent people to jail. Perez said he and other cops learned to rely on sergeants to smooth out crime scenes where guns or drugs had been planted, or suspects beaten. Hoopes even rewarded such activity, Perez said, giving him a plaque with a red heart and two bullets on it after he and partner, Nino Durden Gino Floyd Durden (born May 5 1963), known as Nino Durden, was an officer in the elite Los Angeles Police Department Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums unit implicated in the Rampart Scandal. , handcuffed, shot and framed Javier Ovando Javier Ovando became a central figure in the LAPD Rampart Scandal when he was shot and framed by corrupt Rampart officers Rafael Pérez and Nino Durden. Ovando was an illegal immigrant and a member of the powerful 18th Street Gang, and has the number 18 tattooed on his neck. in October 1996. ``We give plaques out when you get involved in shootings. If the guy dies, the card is black number two. If he stays alive, it's a red number two.'' When asked by investigators which color was most prestigious, Perez responded, ``I mean, you know, the black one signified that a guy died.'' After the July 1996 fatal shooting of an unarmed Juan Manuel Several Spanish and Portuguese princes wore this name:
n. 1. The act or process of debriefing or of being debriefed. 2. The information imparted during the process of being debriefed. Noun 1. ``huddle'' among officers, including those Perez said he saw plant a handgun next to the dying man. A record of the shooting, in which Perez testified he saw Officer Doyle Stepp place a handgun near Saldana, is missing from the CRASH log book. Stepp could not be reached for comment, but the City Attorney's Office has denied him legal representation in connection with the case. None of the officers implicated im·pli·cate tr.v. im·pli·cat·ed, im·pli·cat·ing, im·pli·cates 1. To involve or connect intimately or incriminatingly: evidence that implicates others in the plot. 2. by Perez could be reached. Perez said Ortiz proved his loyalty to his subordinates after an officer had ``thumped'' a suspect, and Ortiz asked, ``Does anybody got anything on him?'' The suspect was subsequently booked. ``And that's how we knew,'' Perez said, ``Sgt. Ortiz was in the loop.'' CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: (color) Perez Box: Cop confidential In the testimony below, Rafael Perez, the former cop turned police-corruption snitch snitch Slang v. snitched, snitch·ing, snitch·es v.tr. To steal (something, usually something of little value); pilfer. See Synonyms at steal. v.intr. , tells investigators he never considered fleeing. At right, Perez describes the bond between the officers at Rampart CRASH. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion