LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles County has dropped a petition demanding that former Sheriff Alex Villanueva cooperate with the Office of the Inspector General’s ongoing investigation into alleged internal LASD gangs.
This is an interesting twist considering the media heavily focused on the County’s attempt to force him to cooperate, and his alleged refusal to do so, which ultimately saw Villanueva defeated for a second term in office. The issue has now become a moot point under the new Sheriff Robert Luna.
What's next for former @LACoSheriff_33 Alex Villanueva? He told @alexcoheninla, he hopes to use his experience to help make California what it used to be, and thanks the people for their overwhelming support. See more interviews like this on @SpecNews1SoCal at 8/11pm. pic.twitter.com/J8Izo4n99Y
— Inside the Issues (@IssuesOn1) January 14, 2023
The request for dismissal filed Thursday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant asks that the petition filed July 7 be dropped “without prejudice, meaning the county is not barred from reviving the case later. The court papers do not explain the reason behind the county’s new decision.
Related: LA County loses bid for contempt hearing for former Sheriff, Undersheriff
In November, Chalfant granted a motion by the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, the union representing sheriff’s deputies, to intervene and participate in the case. The union’s lawyers alleged the county failed to meet and confer with the association before adopting the OIG Ordinance, which they also say is the subject of administrative action before the county Employee Relations Commission.
The union wanted to intervene in this case to protect its administrative action before the Employee Relations Commission and to ensure that all the rights of ALADS’ members were protected in the event the court granted the county’s petition, ALADS’ lawyers stated in their court papers.
The Board of Supervisors created the OIG in 2014 to assist in fulfilling its supervisory responsibility and provide comprehensive oversight and monitoring of the LASD, the petition states. Instead of providing the information sought when requested to do so, Villanueva had cut off access to critical information, documents, and materials, according to the petition, which also asks that the sheriff and other LASD members make themselves available for interviews with the OIG.
2UrbanGirls contributed to this report.
