Panel Upholds Firing of Sheriff’s Deputy
The county Civil Service Commission on Wednesday upheld the firing of a sheriff’s deputy who failed to tell superiors he was asked to smuggle cocaine to an inmate at County Jail near downtown Los Angeles or that he was dating the inmate’s sister.
The panel voted 3-0 to sustain the Nov. 23, 1988, dismissal of John R. Anderson, an eight-year Sheriff’s Department veteran. Anderson denied that he supplied drugs to inmate Mike Fields in 1987 and insisted that he thought he was being asked to bring Coca-Cola to the jail.
Although a sheriff’s investigation cleared Anderson of cocaine smuggling, hearing officer Richard C. Wulliger concluded that the deputy “could be as pure as the driven snow with regard to drug smuggling and still be guilty of not reporting a solicitation to bring drugs in.” Wulliger also concluded that Anderson failed to inform his superiors he was dating Fields’ sister, whom he married in July, 1987.
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