U.S. Won’t Prosecute Gates on Secret Tape

The U.S. attorney’s office has declined to prosecute Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates in connection with a secret tape recording of a Rancho Santiago College instructor who once ran for Gates’ job.

The audiotape recording of a classroom lecture about Mace by police science instructor George Wright was discovered earlier this year in the files of an investigator who worked for the Sheriff’s Department intelligence unit, which answers only to Gates. Wright had run unsuccessfully against Gates in 1978 and was considering running again when the recording was made without his knowledge in 1981.

“There was no prosecutable offense. The case is closed,” said Deborah Burstion-Wade, spokeswoman for the U.S. Justice Department’s Division of Civil Rights in Washington.

Burstion-Wade said the only reason given by the Justice Department in deciding not to prosecute was that a five-year statute of limitations on civil rights violations had expired. The statute “is something that overrides whether or not there are merits” to a case, she said.

The tape came to light in a civil rights lawsuit filed in federal court by Wright and two other plaintiffs who had also run for sheriff, former Municipal Judge Bobby D. Youngblood and private investigator George Patrick Bland. The three alleged that Gates had used his office to harass and illegally spy on his critics. The tape was among material turned over to their attorney on March 26 after a U.S. District judge ordered Gates to produce all investigative files on the three. On the same day, Gates’ attorney offered to settle the case out of court. On April 2, county officials approved a $375,000 settlement, of which Wright is to receive an $88,000 share even though a judge had dismissed him as a plaintiff in the suit before the tape was revealed.

The Academic Senate of Rancho Santiago College asked later in April that the U.S. attorney investigate the tape recording, which the senate condemned as an “invasion of the college classroom by the police.” The senate represents the Santa Ana-based college’s 1,100 full- and part-time instructors.

Wright said Wednesday that he believes that Justice Department officials “were looking for a reason to avoid doing anything.”

“I think it was a whitewash,” he said.

Gates was out of town Wednesday, but Sheriff’s Department spokesman Lt. Richard J. Olson said the chief “was happy to hear” the news. “However, he has not received a letter from the (U.S.) attorney general’s office, which we understand is forthcoming. We’ve received no official notification of any type.”

Further Action Possible

Wright said Wednesday that he still may ask the U.S. attorney’s office to investigate possible obstruction of justice and perjury in connection with the tape recording.

In a Feb. 6, 1985, declaration, Gates said under oath, “Neither I nor my department has conducted any surveillance of or have monitored the activities of . . . George Wright.”

Wright had been dismissed as a plaintiff because of the lack of records on him found in the sheriff’s investigative files and because of Gates’ sworn declaration.

But Wright also indicated Wednesday that he has grown weary of the long-running feud with Gates.

“There has to be some point where I consider giving this up and teach school,” Wright said. “I have a lot of things going, I don’t know if I want to continue doing this.”