Los Angeles undersheriff sentenced to 5 years in prison

June 27, 2016

The former second in command of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department was sentenced today to 60 months in federal prison for obstruction of justice charges. The charges stem from Paul Tanaka leading the departments efforts to derail a federal investigation into corruption and civil rights violations by sheriff’s deputies at two downtown jail complexes.

Tanaka, 57, left the sheriff’s department in 2013 when he was the undersheriff. In addition to the five-year prison term, Tanaka was ordered to pay a $7,500 fine.

In sentencing Tanaka, U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson recounted Tanaka’s career at the sheriff’s department, his role in the scheme to obstruct justice, and “the incalculable harm you have caused this community.”

While he was the assistant sheriff in charge of the jails, Tanaka “perpetrated an environment of excessive deputy conduct,” according to Judge Anderson, who said Tanaka’s actions led directly to an increased number of use-of-force incidents against inmates at the jails. The obstruction of justice scheme was designed “to derail the federal grand jury investigation” and constituted “a gross abuse of the public trust.”

After a 10-day trial, a federal jury deliberated for only a few hours before convicting Tanaka of being the head of a broad conspiracy to obstruct the federal investigation, a scheme that started when the LASD learned that an inmate at the Men’s Central Jail (MCJ) was an FBI informant. Tanaka directed a conspiracy that has resulted in the conviction of other former LASD officials who received sentences of up to 41 months in prison.

As Tanaka rose through ranks during a 31-year career with the sheriff’s department, he became well aware of problems with deputies at the jails, allegations of rampant abuse of inmates and insufficient internal investigations into deputy misconduct.

“During his time as an executive, defendant threatened to discipline supervisors who frequently referred deputies to Internal Affairs, transferred captains who tried to reduce deputy abuse and break up cliques, instructed deputies to work in the ‘gray area’ of law enforcement, and expressed his desire to gut Internal Affairs,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed with the court. Tanaka’s “actions caused deputies to believe that they could act with impunity, which, unfortunately, they did much too frequently.”

The scheme to disrupt the federal investigation started in Aug. 2011 when deputies recovered a mobile phone from an inmate, linked the phone to the FBI, and determined that the inmate was an informant in the FBI’s corruption and civil rights investigation. The phone was given to the inmate as part of an undercover investigation by a corrupt deputy, who subsequently pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge and was recently sentenced to federal prison.

In response to the federal investigation, members of the Tanaka-led conspiracy took steps to hide the cooperator from the FBI and the United States Marshals Service, which was attempting to bring the inmate to testify before a federal grand jury. The evidence presented during Tanaka’s trial showed that the deputies altered records to make it appear that the cooperator had been released from jail, when in fact he had been re-booked into custody under a fake name and moved to an LASD patrol station. Members of the conspiracy prohibited FBI access to the informant, and then told the cooperator that he had been abandoned by the FBI.

Over the course of several weeks, members of the conspiracy sought an order from a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to compel the FBI to turn over information about its investigation to the sheriff’s department. After the judge refused to issue the order because he had no jurisdiction over the federal law enforcement agency – and even though it was clear that the FBI was acting legally – two sergeants confronted the lead FBI agent at her residence in an attempt to intimidate her. The sergeants threatened the agent with arrest and later reiterated this threat to her supervisor, stating that the agent’s arrest was imminent.

Tanaka oversaw co-conspirators who told fellow deputies not to cooperate in the federal investigation. Members of the conspiracy engaged in witness tampering by ordering fellow deputies not to speak to the federal government and telling them that the FBI would lie, threaten, manipulate and blackmail them to obtain information about the sheriff’s department.

Tanaka was indicted last year along with William Thomas Carey, a former LASD Captain who headed the Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau. Carey pleaded guilty last year and is pending sentencing. A total of 10 members of the department – including former Sheriff Leroy Baca – have been convicted in relation to the scheme to obstruct justice. Baca, who pleaded guilty in February pursuant to a plea agreement, is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Anderson on July 11.

As a result of the FBI investigation into the department, 21 current or former members of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department have been convicted of federal charges. These include the following former members:

Former Sergeant Eric Gonzalez, who was sentenced to eight years in prison for his conviction on civil rights charges related to the beating of a visitor to the Men’s Central Jail;
Fernando Luviano, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for beating a jail visitor;
Sussie Ayala, who was sentenced to six years in prison for the beating of a jail visitor;
former Lieutenant Gregory Thompson, who was ordered to serve 37 months in prison for obstructing justice; former Lieutenant Stephen Leavins, who received a 41-month prison sentence for obstructing justice; Gerard Smith, who was ordered to serve 21 months in prison for obstructing justice; Mickey Manzo, who received a two-year prison sentence for obstructing justice; former Sergeant Scott Craig, who was sentenced to 33 months for obstructing justice; former Sergeant Maricela Long, who was sentenced to two years in federal prison for obstructing justice; James Sexton, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison for obstructing justice; Joey Aguiar, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison for falsifying reports related to a use-of-force incident; Mariano Ramirez, who was sentenced to 13 months in prison, who was convicted with Aguiar; Gilbert Michel who was sentenced to six months in prison in the bribery case; and Richard Piquette, who was sentenced on a firearms charge.

Six other defendants, including former Sheriff Leroy Baca, are scheduled for sentencing later this year.

The cases against Tanaka and Baca are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Brandon D. Fox, Chief of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section; Assistant United States Attorney Lizabeth A. Rhodes, Chief of the General Crimes Section; and Assistant United States Attorney Eddie A. Jauregui of the General Crimes Section.