Monterey Park : Judge Reverses Conviction

Activist Frank Arcuri, convicted in 1986 of seven misdemeanors, has won a reversal of one of those counts--filing a false police report after a row with police at a park.

In a written decision issued last week, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert L. Roberson reversed Arcuri’s conviction for filing a false police report that accused former Monterey Park Police Capt. Joe Santoro of assaulting him at a Cinco de Mayo celebration in Barnes Park. In the court order, the judge did not state a reason for the reversal.

“It’s a moral victory,” said Arcuri, an activist in the failed campaign to make English the city’s official language. He argued in his petition that prosecuting residents for filing complaints against police officers would discourage people from reporting incidents.

Santoro, who is now Monrovia police chief, said: “I think what’s important on that whole thing is that Mr. Arcuri had six other counts that were sustained.”

Three of the six counts stem from a 1986 City Council fracas: disturbing a public meeting, battery of a police officer and resisting or delaying an officer in the performance of his duties. The other three were for filing false police reports against former Mayor G. Monty Manibog, current Councilwoman Betty Couch and resident Frank Cuda.