Drug Conspiracy Case : Reserve Deputy Says He’s Victim of Rivalry

A reserve deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department pleaded innocent Friday to charges that he conspired to plant heroin on a woman to whom he owed money and passed confidential police information to a debt collector.

An attorney for Donald James Ernstmeyer, 36, of Saugus, said after the arraignment in San Fernando Municipal Court that his client was the victim of bad blood between Los Angeles police, who arrested him April 15, and the Sheriff’s Department, where he has been a reserve deputy with the Santa Clarita Valley station for eight years.

“It looks like a rivalry thing between the LAPD and the sheriff’s office,” said the attorney, Harland W. Braun. “They have gone hog-wild on this. It will fall apart because it is totally untrue.”

Braun and Ernstmeyer declined to say more about the case in which the reserve deputy faces charges of conspiring to commit an act injurious to the public and fraudulent use of a computer printout. Ernstmeyer, who said he was working two days a week as a reserve deputy--often on drug stakeouts--until his arrest, is free on $50,000 bail.

Relieved of Duty

The Sheriff’s Department has declined to comment on the case and refused to say whether or not Ernstmeyer is the subject of an internal investigation. He was relieved of duty after his arrest pending the outcome of his case.

Also charged with Ernstmeyer is Edward P. Kazarian, 43, who lives in a cabin near Big Bear Lake in San Bernardino County. Kazarian faces the same conspiracy charge as Ernstmeyer and one count each of carrying a concealed weapon and carrying a loaded weapon in a car.

According to authorities and court records, the case began April 15 when a patron in a Sylmar restaurant overheard two men who he thought were talking about setting up a police officer to be killed.

The patron slipped away and called police, who arrived at the restaurant and found one of the men still there. Police arrested the man and identified him as Kazarian.

Police said he was carrying a .357 Magnum in an ankle holster and officers found another gun in his car along with a computer printout from the California Law Enforcement Telecom System.

Printout With 11 Names

The printout contained the names of 11 people and information about each that is generally found on drivers licenses, authorities said.

Kazarian told police the conversation had not been about setting up a police officer, but rather a plan to plant heroin in a car belonging to a woman who a reserve deputy wanted arrested by Los Angeles police, authorities said. Kazarian identified Ernstmeyer as the reserve deputy who paid him to plant the drug, authorities said. The woman once worked for Ernstmeyer at an equipment-rental business, and he owed her about $3,700.

Kazarian also said that Ernstmeyer had given him the printout from the police computer system, authorities said.

Following Kazarian’s arrest, police said, Ernstmeyer was arrested at the rental business in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Police said an investigation is continuing to determine what Kazarian intended to do with the information on the law enforcement printout. Kazarian is free on $50,000 bail.

On Friday, Ernstmeyer said outside court that Kazarian, who is missing one hand and uses a steel hook as a prosthesis, worked for a private detective whom Ernstmeyer had hired to collect debts.

Times staff writer Tracey Kaplan contributed to this story.