Informant in Police Theft Scandal Put on Probation

Former Los Angeles Police Officer Ronald Venegas, who admitted committing more than 100 burglaries while on duty, was placed on probation Friday, in an anticlimactic end to a scandal that rocked the Police Department’s Hollywood Division but saw no one go to jail.

Venegas was a key figure in the burglary scandal, which broke publicly in 1982. In a plea bargain with prosecutors, he agreed to testify against other officers.

All told, 12 officers were charged either criminally or administratively and are no longer with the department. All of those implicated either resigned or were fired.

But, despite Venegas’ testimony, no convictions were recorded--except against him and Bradford A. Fisher, another officer-turned-informant.

Allowed to Pick Judge

Under terms of a plea bargain, Venegas, 36, of Simi Valley agreed to plead guilty to one break-in and was allowed to choose the judge who would sentence him. He chose Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Clarence A. Stromwall, a former Police Department detective.

Stromwall could have sentenced Venegas to as much as three years in prison but cited Venegas’ early cooperation with authorities and lack of a previous criminal history as factors warranting probation.

The county Probation Department had recommended that Venegas be sent to prison to “strengthen the public confidence that this unusual degree and type of criminality will be properly addressed . . . (and to) act as a deterrent to others.”

Stromwall also banned Venegas from law enforcement or private security work.

Last year, Fisher, the other officer-turned-informant, also was placed on probation. He pleaded no contest to two counts of receiving stolen property but admitted during testimony to about 25 burglaries.

Partner’s Death

Assistant Dist. Atty. Curt Livesay said that prosecution of a Hollywood Division burglary ring was made difficult by the death of Venegas’ former partner, Jack L. Myers, who might have provided additional corroboration.

Myers was killed in a May, 1982, highway crash shortly after he decided to cooperate with investigators.

Venegas had told authorities that he and Myers, who were assigned to respond to nighttime burglar alarms in Hollywood, created many of their own assignments by using marbles in slingshots to break store windows. Then, while ostensibly responding to the alarms, they made off with merchandise, hiding it in their patrol car. Other officers charged in the scandal were accused of similar burglaries or of participation in sex parties.

Under Venegas’ plea bargain, prosecutors did not ask for prison, and Livesay said probation was “well within the discretion of the court.”

If Venegas had been prosecuted to the full extent of the law, Livesay said, authorities might never have received “a fairly full picture of the situation in that station house.”

Livesay acknowledged that prosecutors at first had questions about Venegas’ credibility. At one early stage in the court proceedings, a prosecutor even called Venegas a liar and persuaded a judge to vacate a guarantee of no state prison for him. That same prosecutor eventually came to believe that his star witness’s testimony was credible, and a plea bargain was restored. But Livesay said that the prosecutor’s flip-flop gave defense attorneys for other officers ammunition to cast doubt on Venegas’ credibility.

Expresses Relief

Venegas, a mustachioed Vietnam veteran who has worked as a truck driver and salesman since leaving the Police Department, expressed relief at the sentencing.

“I’m very happy I can get on with my life now,” he said outside the courtroom Friday. “I’m just glad the whole thing is over.”

The 10-year officer noted he did not regret having served as a witness. But he added that he is also happy that none of the other officers went to jail.

“I’m glad it turned out the way that it did for everybody,” Venegas said. “We all left the Police Department and I’m sure everybody (already) lost a great deal.”

“Policemen are human, that’s all I can say.”

Amounts Exaggerated

Venegas’ lawyer, Michael S. Kotzker, said that despite his client’s participation in more than 100 burglaries, the amounts of merchandise taken were often exaggerated, possibly for the sake of insurance claims. Venegas never fenced any merchandise, which was taken mainly from stereo and video shops, Kotzker added.

When arrested in December, 1981, as a result of an LAPD Internal Affairs Division sting operation, Venegas was found to have six stolen tapes in his possession taken from a Hollywood stereo shop.

LAPD spokesman Lt. Dan Cooke said Friday that department officials “are satisfied this closes the matter.”

Cooke conceded that “our first attitude of course . . . was that hanging them at the airport was too good--it was a major source of embarrassment.”

“It’s still a tremendous source of embarrassment to the department when you pride yourself on being the finest,” Cooke added. “We’ll recover from it, but it’s something we’ll never forget.”