Frank Stolze is the resident “go to” writer for all things bad about the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department which this author has been aware of since the downfall of former Sheriff Lee Baca and members of his command staff. The most recent article centered around jail abuse that resulted in a large payout from the LA County Board of Supervisors that was framed to appear it happened under the current Sheriff and it didn’t.
The title was salacious “Brutal Beating, Death Inside Jail Cost LA County $11.5M” which prompted this author to click the link. Stolze added a hyperlink to the lawsuit to corroborate the 2018 allegations as if they occurred under Sheriff Alex Villanueva and it was done under Jim McDonnell. Even the report released on jail deaths shows the majority of the deaths were under previous sheriff’s after we did a records request of the Coroner’s office asking for a breakdown.
The lawsuit was signed in 2017 under then Sheriff Jim McDonnell. It was brought to Stolze’s attention and he called it a “fair point” that he didn’t factually articulate when this occurred and more importantly under which Sheriff.
It’s a blaring example of the bias in reporting in an effort to paint Villanueva in a bad light. If the allegations being made against him are true, there is NO need for respectable journalists to embellish in an attempt to deceive the reader and public. It also calls into question the Oversight Commission who use the same tactics, which are then parroted in KPCC and other media outlets who derive their income from donors and/or government departments.
Why do we have to ask journalists to report accurately? That is NOT journalism, its an agenda.
