D.A. to Investigate RTD Police Chief Amid Allegations

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said Thursday it will investigate allegations that RTD Police Chief James Burgess violated the state’s anti-ticket-fixing law.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Steven A. Sowders, who heads the special investigation unit, said the probe will focus on whether Burgess violated the law last year when he voided a batch of parking tickets issued by one of his officers.

Sowders said the ticket-fixing allegation is among several against Burgess made by a former employee of the Southern California Rapid Transit District. Some of the other allegations also are being reviewed, Sowders said.

Burgess was placed on paid leave of absence six weeks ago by RTD General Manager Alan Pegg, pending the outcome of an internal investigation of several accusations made by a former RTD police officer, Nicholas Granados.

List of Allegations

Granados, in a June letter to board members, alleged that Burgess had canceled parking citations to cover up fixing tickets for a friend, discriminated against minorities, practiced nepotism by hiring his daughter and nephew and was a guest at an RTD contractor’s condominium.

Burgess has denied any wrongdoing, saying the “absurd” allegations were being made by a disgruntled employee who failed to win promotions.

News of the district attorney’s investigation came as an attorney for Burgess said the RTD police chief has been notified by the district that he is being reinstated. Burgess has been reprimanded for staying at the Palm Springs condominium of an RTD contractor and longtime personal friend, said the chief’s attorney, Marvin J. Mayer. But no disciplinary action has been taken on three other charges--including the ticket-fixing allegation, Mayer said.

RTD officials late Thursday declined to confirm or deny that the chief was being reinstated. But one district spokesman said earlier in the day that the internal investigation by RTD Inspector General Ernesto Fuentes was nearing completion.

Burgess has admitted ordering dozens of parking tickets canceled at the district’s large El Monte commuter bus depot after receiving a complaint from a transit district secretary, who car-pooled with an assistant police chief.

But the chief said he acted not to help a friend but to correct an error by an officer. He had ordered officers to issue tickets only for flagrant violations during a period of disruptive construction at the depot, he said.

However, a strict new state law, prompted by a ticket-fixing scandal in San Diego, makes it a crime for police chiefs to nullify their officers’ parking tickets once they have been issued.

Sowders said the investigation, which should take about three weeks, is warranted because the law “seems to be narrowly drawn to prevent police from (canceling) tickets for any reason.” Mayer said that Burgess did not violate the law because he merely “misunderstood the rules” and was not aware of the proper procedure for voiding tickets.

Burgess Files Suit

Meanwhile, Burgess filed a lawsuit against the RTD on Wednesday, charging that the district had conspired to violate his rights to due process during the internal investigation.

And at a separate press conference Thursday, an attorney representing two RTD police officers who have lodged a series of allegations of mismanagement, discrimination and brutality against the department claimed his clients had been given an unconstitutional “gag” order by their superior.

The officers, Donald G. Sanchies and Michael G. Mendoza, were given a written order Aug. 4 by the acting police chief to stop soliciting or distributing critical information about the department or face disciplinary action, said their attorney, George V. Denny III.

“This is a violation of state law,” Denny said.

RTD spokesman John Hyde said he could not comment specifically on Denny’s charge.