LAs finest

[Moneypitt]

If this was discussed while I was out of town, let me know and I will delete it, MP
3 More Arrested in Rogue Cop Robberies
By Scott Glover and Matt Lait
LA Times
March 3, 2006
Nineteen people, including five former police officers, have been
criminally charged in connection with a string of daring and sometimes
violent robberies in Southern California, which were staged to look like
law enforcement raids as the suspects used police badges and equipment to
fool victims, federal authorities said Thursday.
Though the scope of the nearly five-year investigation was first made
public in 2004, new details emerged with the arrests this week of a
California prison guard - taken into custody Thursday - and of former Los
Angeles and Long Beach police officers. Three other suspects remain at
large, authorities said.
The group committed more than 20 robberies and burglaries in Los Angeles
and neighboring communities over a span of 2 1/2 years until its
ringleader, a Los Angeles police officer, was arrested in 2001 on drug charges.
"What makes this case so disturbing is that the defendants include five
sworn law enforcement officers who abused their badges, their uniforms and
their oaths of office to engage in criminal conduct under the pretense of
conducting real police operations," said Thomas O'Brien, head of the
criminal division for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles. "While
this story sounds like a script from 'The Shield' or 'Training Day,' it
actually happened."
Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton focused his comments on the
three former LAPD officers who allegedly were part of the crew. The
officers, he said, "are traitors to the badge that the men and women of
this department so proudly wear, traitors to their fellow officers and,
most importantly, traitors to the public."
Most of the participants secretly pleaded guilty to their roles in the
crime spree, which lasted from January 1999 to June 2001. Their pleas, in
which they agreed to cooperate with authorities, had been kept confidential
to protect the ongoing investigation.
The mastermind of the criminal enterprise, officials said, was former LAPD
Officer Ruben Palomares, 36, a former Golden Gloves boxer who sparred with
top-notch fighters such as Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley. His cohorts
were friends, co-workers and relatives, authorities said.
One member was a former female boxer who trained with Palomares, they said.
In addition to the five sworn police officers implicated in the ring, at
least four other crew members had ties to law enforcement. Two were
graduates of a police officer training program at Rio Hondo Community College.
Another worked as a civilian custodial officer at the Garden Grove Police
Department and yet another was an LAPD Explorer Scout who sought a job with
the department but was turned down.
Authorities said Palomares' crew was highly sophisticated and organized.
They wore police uniforms and badges during many of the robberies. They
used LAPD squad cars and unmarked police vehicles during some of the
heists, court records show.
During the crime spree, they stole more than 700 pounds of marijuana and 50
kilos of cocaine from drug dealers, which they then sold, court papers
state. In addition, they stole cars, money, firearms and jewelry. In one
particularly bold robbery, crew members identified themselves as police
officers as they commandeered television sets from the back of a truck on a
street in Montebello, the documents show.
Some incidents turned violent, with victims being kicked and beaten. At
least one victim was shot with a stun gun.
According to court papers, the thieves used law enforcement tactics during
the robberies. Some crew members were assigned surveillance duties,
watching for police and potential witnesses. Other members - dubbed the
"entry team" - would burst into locations. Victims often were handcuffed.
"Once inside the target locations, various co-conspirators would assault
and beat the occupants to obtain information, search for narcotics, money
and other valuable property," the 54-count indictment unsealed Thursday stated.
Authorities arrested three of the remaining suspects this week: Ex-LAPD
Officer William Ferguson, 33, and his brother, ex-Long Beach Police Officer
Joseph Ferguson, 31, who were both arrested Wednesday, and Rodrigo Duran,
35, a former Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy and now a state prison guard.
The federal investigation of the criminal enterprise began on June 8, 2001,
when Palomares and four other men were arrested in San Diego after having
paid $130,000 to undercover DEA agents for 10 kilos of cocaine.
At the time, authorities searched Palomares' Diamond Bar home and seized 13
firearms - including six unregistered semiautomatic assault rifles, 150
boxes of ammunition and a money-counting machine.
One of the men arrested that day, Alvin Moon, immediately began cooperating
with authorities. In addition to the robberies, Moon told authorities that
he had witnessed Palomares and another crew member assault a young man
after an argument at a restaurant.
Moon alleged that Palomares punched the 23-year-old man several times
before Oscar Loaiza fatally stabbed him. Sources close to the investigation
said Thursday that they have largely corroborated Moon's account and that
the case remains under investigation.
Soon after the San Diego arrest, sources close to the investigation have
said, LAPD internal affairs investigators began tailing William Ferguson.
Within days, he loaded up his boat and towed it to San Diego, ostensibly to
go fishing, the sources said.
Suspicious about the timing, investigators wondered whether Ferguson was
planning to dump evidence into the ocean. They tailed him to the dock, but
were unable to make arrangements to watch him at sea. State Department of
Fish and Game agents searched the boat at the behest of police when it
returned to shore, but found nothing.
Feeling the pressure from the joint FBI, LAPD and Long Beach Police
Department investigation, other members of Palomares' crew began to
cooperate, hoping to minimize their prison time. Two years ago, Palomares -
who by then had been sentenced to 15 years in prison on the San Diego drug
charges - agreed to plead guilty and cooperate with authorities. Though he
faces a potential life sentence, he hopes that his cooperation will result
in a reduction.
Two months after Palomares began cooperating, Jesse Moya, 29, another
former LAPD officer involved in the crime ring, pleaded guilty and agreed
to cooperate as well.
The Ferguson brothers have made no such deals. Even before joining the
LAPD, records show that William Ferguson had five felony arrests on
suspicion of theft and burglary.
While at the LAPD, he was the subject of numerous misconduct complaints,
including one stemming from a 1999 on-duty shooting for which he was
eventually fired. The city later paid $1.7 million to settle a civil rights
lawsuit alleging that the shooting was unjustified and subsequently covered up.
In addition to Palomares, Moya, Duran, Moon, Loaiza and the Ferguson
brothers, others charged with crimes were: Armando Contreras-Lopez, 35, of
Paramount; Gabriel Loaiza, 30, of Montebello; Michelle Barajas, 38, of
Paramount; David Barajas, 32, of Paramount; Jessica Treat, 31, of Whittier;
Jesus Estrada Dominguez, 40; Pablo Estrada, 29, of La Puente; Manuel
Hernandez, 25, of Pico Rivera; Manuel Godinez Martinez, 25; Juan Mendoza,
29, of Muscoy in San Bernardino County; Steve Quintero, 30, of Montebello;
and Geronimo Sevilla, 32, of Whittier.
Oscar Loaiza, Michelle Barajas and Contreras-Lopez are fugitives,
authorities said. Attorneys representing those charged either did not
return calls or could not be immediately reached for comment.
For years, Palomares enjoyed an excellent reputation in the LAPD, receiving
glowing reviews from his supervisors.
"A leader with a reputation for excellence," one captain wrote in the
mid-1990s. "Another year of stellar service," wrote another captain.
The first hint that Palomares may have been a problem officer came from
Rafael Perez, the disgraced ex-officer whose allegations of widespread
corruption and brutality launched the Rampart scandal in 1999.
During his then-secret debriefings with investigators, Perez said
Palomares, who also worked in Rampart, had intimated that he had been
involved in a bad shooting in 1998 as well as other misconduct.
"I would look at everything Palomares has done," Perez told investigators,
"every arrest that he's made."

[Biglue]

Man what a few bad apples can do for an image.