Officials Launch Probe of Baca’s Use of ID Cards

Los Angeles County officials began an inquiry Tuesday to determine whether Sheriff Lee Baca illegally issued photo identification cards to members of a volunteer group who had contributed to his political campaign.

The Board of Supervisors voted to ask the county’s chief administrative officer and county counsel to review whether Baca violated county law by issuing the cards to members of his “Homeland Security Support Unit.”

Supervisors voted in 1980 to make it a misdemeanor to issue badges or identification cards without their approval to anyone who was not a law-enforcement officer. The ordinance was passed after “Hillside Strangler” Kenneth Bianchi used a county emblem to pose as a law-enforcement officer while prowling for victims.

Baca has said that there was nothing wrong with issuing the cards and that he did not believe they could be misused.

Also Tuesday, a Riverside County supervisor called for a criminal investigation into Sheriff Bob Doyle’s distribution of badges to political donors, even as Doyle said he had done nothing wrong and would consider issuing them again. He has ordered the badges returned.

Supervisor Jeff Stone said he believed that the state attorney general should investigate whether Doyle violated state law by issuing badges to members of his “Sheriff’s Executive Council.” The badges had the familiar sheriff’s six-sided star and county emblem but said “executive council” instead of “deputy.”

State law prohibits anyone from issuing badges to the public that could be mistaken for genuine badges. It’s also a crime in California for a group to use a law-enforcement name when its members are not sworn peace officers.

Doyle started issuing badges to members of his executive council in 2003. Before he shut the program down last year, he had presented badges to 17 members who had donated a total of more than $54,000 to his campaign.

At least two executive council members used the badges during exchanges with law enforcement or security officials. One member told The Times he used his to get through security at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank so he could meet his parents at the gate. Another member said he showed his badge to state agents serving a search warrant at his Glendale office during a criminal investigation.

“I think the attorney general should examine this,” Stone said. “The sheriff giving away badges with a six-sided star that includes the words ‘sheriff’ and ‘Riverside County’ allowed those members to mislead the public.”

Baca, Doyle and San Bernardino County Dist. Atty. Michael A. Ramos each created volunteer groups, staffed primarily with their political donors, and issued members credentials, The Times reported this week. Ramos’ group was called the “Bureau of Justice.”

All three groups were directed by Gary Nalbandian, a Glendora tire store owner who helped raise money for the three officials.

Nathan Barankin, a spokesman for state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, said controversy about the badges is starting to create a buzz in the law-enforcement community.

But he said that there has been no formal request for an investigation and that none is underway.

Riverside County Undersheriff Neil Lingle said Doyle would redistribute the badges to the members if the group could assist Riverside County “in a situation where terrorism was an issue.”

The group previously translated Arabic documents for Doyle’s department on two occasions, the sheriff has said.

“We’d reissue them again,” Lingle said. “We don’t believe we were wrong.”

Stone said he opposed that idea. He has asked his colleagues to approve a county law similar to the one in Los Angeles County.

“Since when does the sheriff have to give someone a badge to translate Arabic?” Stone asked.

Ramos has said he does not believe he violated state law by issuing badges or allowing his donors to use the “Bureau of Justice” name.

“I have no current plans to self-report to the attorney general,” Ramos said in an e-mail. “I frankly think they have better things to do than to give advisory opinions on misdemeanor violations in matters where the legal time for a filing has long since passed.”

Times staff writers Lynn Doan, Ashley Powers and Susannah Rosenblatt contributed to this report.