Former L.A. County sheriff’s deputy pleads no contest to ticket-fixing

A former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy pleaded no contest Wednesday to accepting bribes in exchange for fixing traffic tickets before they were filed in court.

Edwin Allan Tamayo, 43, made the plea to a charge of conspiring to obstruct justice after accepting a deal struck with the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

The deal requires Tamayo to perform 400 hours of community service and resign from the Sheriff’s Department, something he has already done, his attorney Jacob Glucksman said.

Tamayo will also be placed on three years’ probation.

If the former deputy successfully completes the terms of the deal, the charge could be reduced to a misdemeanor and expunged from his record.

“This case spotlights just some of the major problems of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the way in which it’s been run,” his attorney said.

Glucksman said he hoped the department would use his client’s case to improve its operations.

Tamayo, who worked at the Lost Hills station, was accused of accepting $1,000 in 2012 for fixing two speeding tickets and another citation for failing to stop at a stop sign, said Greg Risling, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office.

He was also accused of fixing a ticket for a person who donated $500 to sponsor a Sheriff’s Department group at a golf tournament he participated in, according to a copy of the charges.

Prosecutors said he fixed the tickets before they went to court and then removed court notices from an office mailbox.

Tamayo once helped the FBI by wearing a wire and secretly recording a department supervisor as part of an investigation into allegations of improper campaign fundraising.

After resigning from the department, Tamayo moved out of Los Angeles County, is going back to school and has been looking for employment, his attorney said.

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