LAPD DRUG SCANDAL; ELEVEN OFFICERS SUSPENDED IN PROBE.

Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Staff Writer

Eleven Los Angeles police officers have been relieved of duty in a corruption investigation based partly on allegations by an officer who pleaded guilty to stealing cocaine from an evidence room at the LAPD's headquarters, Police Chief Bernard C. Parks announced Wednesday.

Parks said the officers, including one from the San Fernando Valley, were relieved from duty Wednesday as part of a continuing investigation based on allegations that might involve drugs.

``We're looking at 12 to 13 officers who may be involved in criminal or administrative charges,'' Parks said.

He said one of the 13 officers already has been forced into retirement, and another, Rafael Antonio Perez, pleaded guilty earlier this month to possession with intent to sell cocaine in an agreement with prosecutors.

Perez, 32, agreed to cooperate with the Los Angeles Police Department's corruption probe in exchange for a lighter sentence, Parks said.

``There is a significant amount of corruption that we're concerned with, but I would not like to label the LAPD as corruption-prone,'' the chief said. ``The fear is that all 12 of them could be involved in criminal activities. . . . It's not a good day.''

Parks added that he hoped some of the suspended officers ``may not even be involved.''

He said Mayor Richard Riordan, members of the Los Angeles City Council and the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office have been notified of the situation.

Deputy Chief Michael Bostic, commanding officer of the Valley Bureau, said one of the officers under investigation is stationed in the Valley.

But all of the officers who were suspended worked at one time or another at the Los Angeles Police Department's Rampart Division, an area with a heavy immigrant population west of downtown.

Officials said the alleged criminal activities occurred both within the LAPD and the community.

All of the officers will be assigned to their homes with pay, pending the outcome of the investigation.

``They will not be allowed to participate in law enforcement activities,'' Parks said.

Parks also said the probe turned up information that could lead to the reversal of a conviction of a man who was accused of assaulting Perez and his partner, Officer Nino Durden, who has been relieved from duty.

The man who was convicted, Javier Ovando, was shot several times by Rampart Division officers after he allegedly pointed a gun at them. Ovando was 19 at the time.

He was hospitalized with serious injuries and later convicted of assault on police officers and sent to state prison, Parks said.

As part of Perez's plea agreement, he said Ovando was not armed and officers gave false information about the shooting, Parks said.

``(Perez) has given us sufficient information to cause us to believe that much of the information that was initially offered was false,'' Parks said.

``We're saddened anytime a Los Angeles officer or an officer in general tarnishes his badge and brings a dark mark on law enforcement . . . We have to bring the officers involved in this conduct and criminal activity to justice.''

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office is now seeking to have Ovando released from state prison, possibly today, police said.

``The case is so hopelessly compromised by the actions of the arresting officers and the officers who testified at the trial that the case must be dismissed in the interest of justice,'' said Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office.

In August 1998, Parks announced the arrest of Perez, who was charged with possession of cocaine for sale, grand theft and forgery in an alleged March 2, 1988, theft of six pounds of cocaine from an evidence storage area at the LAPD's Parker Center headquarters. Police said the cocaine had a street value of about $800,000.

A mistrial was declared in the case in June when jurors announced a majority of them favored conviction but were deadlocked. Instead of facing another trial, Perez pleaded guilty to four counts of grand theft and possession of cocaine for sale.

Perez spent more than a year in jail, where he remains on $700,000 bail. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 22.

In the early 1990s, Perez had been partners with recently convicted bank robber David Anthony Mack.

Both men were nine-year LAPD veterans.

Mack was credited with saving Perez's life by killing a drug dealer in 1993.

Mack was convicted in March on federal charges of robbing a Bank of America branch of $722,000 on Nov. 6, 1997.

A teller with whom Mack was having an affair helped him get past bulletproof doors at the bank near the University of Southern California.

Mack, 38, was sentenced Monday to 14 years and three months in the bank robbery.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.