Los Angeles County Inspector General Max Huntsman is ordering dozens of Sheriff deputies to submit themselves to questioning and name other deputies with tattoos they believe are “deputy-gang related”.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Huntsman sent a notice to the deputies last Friday which demanded they cooperate with his investigation.
“Your cooperation is being sought because we believe you may have information regarding one of two groups that may be law enforcement gangs, commonly referred to as Banditos and Executioners”.
The letter allows the deputies to invoke their rights under the 5th Amendment.
“As of writing this letter the Sheriff’s department has been unable to provide the Office of Inspector General with a membership of either group.”
CONFLICTING STORIES
During the contentious 2022 election between former Sheriff Alex Villanueva and current Sheriff Robert Luna, Huntsman revealed he had a list of 41 names of those he suspected of being involved in a deputy gang.
Once Luna took office, he held a press conference in February to announce the hiring of Eileen Decker as the head of his Constitutional Policing unit and he was asked about whether he had names of alleged deputies involved in a deputy gang.
“Two months in as of now do you have any specific leads? Numbers? Names? You know names of people that you’re looking for,” asked a reporter.
When Luna went to answer what he thought was a question about staff for the newly created office the reporter said she was referring to the names of deputy gang members.
Related: Inspector general identifies 41 sheriff’s deputies who allegedly belong to gang-like groups
“We’re working with our partners and the inspector general and there are some investigations going on but this is where this is not only a message to the community but really a message to our employees to make sure when they see or hear of any type of activity like this that they come forward because I’m telling you what 99% of the employees I’m running into they don’t like this department being talked about in that gang fashion. They’re embarrassed by it,” said Luna.
“So as of now, you don’t have any specific names?” she asked.
“I do not have any names as I stand here before you,” said Luna.
While the letter didn’t name any gang members, it did say that the office had identified 11 suspected Banditos and 30 suspected Executioners.
Huntsman’s letter requests the deputies that the letter was sent, to provide photos of any tattoos “that have symbols or images” depicting tattoos associated with either the Banditos and/or Executioners and have 14 days from receiving the letter to do so.
According to the Times, a mass text was sent to members this week, one union representing deputies, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Professional Assn., advised members to call the union immediately if they received a letter. In a Facebook post, another union, the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, advised members not to respond to the letters and to instead “call ALADS right NOW.”
The letter does not outline the consequences deputies will face if they ignore Huntsman’s request.
Emilie St. John is a contributing writer for 2UrbanGirls.com and the Los Angeles Wave newspaper
