Officer Denies On-Duty Sex Allegations

The Los Angeles Police Department’s most prolific traffic ticket writer, motor Officer Kelly (Clickety) Klatt, took the witness stand in his own defense Thursday and denied department allegations of having sexual relations with a 23-year-old woman while on duty.

Klatt’s testimony came after his defense team called 10 more witnesses who continued to hammer away at the credibility of the department’s star witness, Laura Ann Bisho.

As the Board of Rights hearing entered its fourth day, a Los Angeles Police Department polygraph expert testified that Bisho had failed a lie detector test six times.

“In my opinion, Miss Bisho was deceptive” when asked a long list of questions relating to the allegations she has leveled at Klatt and his partner, John Nichols, said polygraph examiner Robert E. Lee.

The board also heard from eight law enforcement officers from various Southland cities who denied Bisho’s allegations that they too had sexual relations with her.

One officer, Los Angeles Police Sgt. Dennis Sebenick, said Bisho harassed him so much by phone that his private telephone answering service bill tripled. He also testified that Bisho’s calls to his home were a contributing factor in his recent separation from his wife.

“She seemed to know where I was at all times,” Sebenick said.

Other officers said they were completely unaware of Bisho and her allegations until they were casually named during the Board of Rights hearing as Bisho told a bizarre tale of sexual encounters in parks, hot tubs and hotels with a series of police officers and one forest ranger.

Bonnie Harris, a Fullerton police detective, testified that when Bisho was arrested in Orange County for posing as a social worker and harassing Nichols’ son, she immediately made allegations of having sexual encounters with members of that Police Department’s staff.

Harris said she warned fellow officers, “She (Bisho) loves men in blue suits. . . . So be careful of any contact with her.”

At one point, hearing officer Capt. Jack Smith asked the defense to halt its procession of witnesses countering Bisho’s earlier testimony.

“I think we’ve gotten the idea on (her) credibility,” Smith said.

Still, the Los Angeles Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division is taking Bisho’s statements seriously and has scheduled another Board of Rights hearing for a third Los Angeles officer.

Like Klatt and Nichols, motor Officer Mike Marselek now stands accused of having sexual relations with Bisho after first meeting her through on-the-job contacts. The department’s rules forbid converting on-duty contacts into off-duty relationships.

Marselek was not available for comment Thursday.

“If this were a court, the judge would entertain a motion for dismissal at this point,” said Police Sgt. Harry Ryon, the defense representative for Nichols. “I’m quite confident that they (Klatt and Nichols) will be acquitted.”

After the hearing, Sgt. Steve Warren, the department’s advocate, or prosecutor, said: “I’m down, but I’m getting back up. . . . It’s not over ‘til the bell is rung.”

In an interview, Warren said: “Bisho is not the most credible witness. But we still maintain that her relationship with Klatt and Nichols occurred.”

Klatt denied having any social relationship with the woman after giving her a warning for a traffic infraction in July, 1986.

Bisho admits having sent Klatt an unsolicited letter and suggestive photograph of herself, to which Klatt responded by phone.

“I said this is a joke, right?,” Klatt testified of the phone conversation. “She said, ‘No.’ And I said, ‘I’m happily married.’ ”

Klatt said Bisho became infatuated with his partner, Nichols, and when her overtures were turned down, “she said she would get back at him, and those close to him, any way she can.”