Lawsuit Accuses Escondido Officers of Theft

An Escondido couple sued the Escondido Police Department Wednesday, charging officers with stealing $2,500 and a $700 watch during a fruitless 6 1/2-hour search of their home for narcotics.

Edgar Maloney, 64, and his wife, Johanna, 61, said Officers Barry Sweeney, Ralph Grapoli and Glen Kirkpatrick raided their home on April 21, 1989, armed with a search warrant and looking for drugs. No drugs were found and no charges were filed against the Maloneys, but the officers seized about $13,000 in cash and a watch belonging to Mrs. Maloney.

According to the lawsuit filed in Vista Superior Court, $2,500 that Sweeney allegedly took from the couple’s son, Bryan, and the watch taken from Mrs. Maloney are still missing.

The officers did not give the family an inventory of the items taken from the house, said the lawsuit. The suit also alleged that, when the Maloneys were allowed to retrieve some items taken from their home, Escondido officers refused to sign a receipt for the items.

The lawsuit called the search illegal and malicious and also names Chief Vincent Jimno and the city as defendants. Jimno and other Escondido police officials did not return phone calls. In an interview with The Times last year, Edgar Maloney said he and his wife were entertaining two couples on the day of the raid. He said he was suddenly confronted in a hallway of his home by two strangers pointing guns at him. The men did not identify themselves as narcotics officers right away, Maloney said.

The lawsuit comes in the wake of three active investigations of Sweeney by different law enforcement agencies. The San Diego County district attorney and FBI are investigating allegations of wrongdoing by Sweeney and other Escondido police officers that have been made by several people. The allegations range from stealing to lying and planting evidence.

In addition, Escondido police officials said last week that the district attorney’s office recommended that Escondido conduct an internal investigation of Sweeney. In a telephone interview last week, Sweeney declined to comment on the investigations on the advice of his attorney.

Maloney said he has an auto dealer’s license. He said the cash seized at his home came from the sale of a car and a truck, and a deposit placed on another car days before the search warrant was served on his home. Last month, the Escondido City Council rejected a claim submitted by the Maloneys, a precursor to Wednesday’s lawsuit.