Six L.A. County sheriff workers get prison for obstructing jail probe
Source: LA Times
A federal judge on Tuesday lambasted what he called a "corrupt culture" within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department as he sentenced six current and former members of the department to prison for obstructing a federal investigation into abuse and corruption at the county jails.
U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson said evidence showed there were "significant problems" within the department, including an "us-versus-them mentality," routine cover-up of inmate abuse, and an "unwritten code" taught to new jail deputies that any inmate who fought a guard should end up in the hospital.
While the six defendants were not accused of excessive force, they were complicit in such misconduct by trying to thwart a federal investigation into abuses at the jails, Anderson said. Jurors convicted the sheriff's officials this year of conspiring to impede a grand jury investigation by keeping an inmate informant hidden from his FBI handlers, dissuading witnesses from cooperating and trying to intimidate a federal agent.
"They all took actions to shield these dirty deputies from facing the consequence of their crimes," Anderson said.
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/local/countygovernment/la-me-deputy-corruption-20140924-story.html
Anderson is a George W. Bush nominee to the court and has had some controversies as a fed judge.
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