The Region - News from April 19, 1985

A former Glendale police officer who pleaded guilty to illegally searching three teen-age girls while on patrol at the Glendale Galleria has been sentenced to three years’ probation. Anthony Pacho, 27, was arrested and fired from the police force last November, after an internal investigation accused him of fondling the breasts of shoplifting suspects during searches in a back room at the police substation in the shopping mall. Defense attorney Barry Levin had argued that Pacho’s actions were not “sexually inspired” but rather were the result of his police training, in which the side of the hand is used to search female suspects between and under the breasts for possible weapons or drugs. The former officer has filed a $1-million wrongful termination claim against the city. In addition to the probation, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald S. W. Lew ordered Pacho to do 150 hours of community service.