Sergeant Accused of Brutality in 3 Incidents : Lawsuits: Records show that a federal court jury found that Robert K. Sparks contributed to the death of a Ventura County Jail inmate by not quickly summoning medical help.

A recent brutality lawsuit by a Westlake woman against a Ventura County sheriff’s sergeant represents the third time since late 1986 that the officer has been accused of battering a citizen during a dispute, county documents show.

Sgt. Robert K. Sparks, now a detective in the Thousand Oaks sheriff’s station, also was found by a federal court jury to have contributed to the death of a Ventura County Jail inmate in 1980 by not quickly summoning medical help after finding the man hanging in his cell.

In the most recent of the four cases, Patricia Wilmeth claims in a lawsuit filed May 4 that Sparks roughed her up after a verbal exchange in front of her Westlake residence. He allegedly choked her from behind, cut her head and arm and injured her back while arresting her.

The incident last September occurred after the woman joined in an argument between the officer and her husband, Dr. Jo Wilmeth, over who was in charge of the medical treatment of a girl who had been struck by a car near the Wilmeths’ residence.

Sparks has refused comment on the case. But county attorney Alan Wisotsky has said the officer apparently acted according to department procedure. The lawyer has criticized Wilmeth for interfering with Sparks while he was trying to manage an accident scene.

Sparks, 36, an 11-year veteran of the department, also was formally accused of using unnecessary force in two separate incidents in late 1986.

In November, 1986, Judith Hockenberry of Camarillo claimed that Sparks choked her from behind and stepped on her hand after he was called to quell a domestic dispute. The woman, who was treated at a hospital for a throat injury, was not arrested, witnesses said.

The next month, Gene Hale of Oak View accused the deputy of tackling him from behind without warning and breaking his nose in a midnight scuffle at a Thousand Oaks bar. The man, whose 1987 lawsuit is pending, was charged with assaulting Sparks but was acquitted by a jury.

After an investigation, the Sheriff’s Department found Hockenberry’s complaint to be unfounded. It also declared that Hale’s charges of excessive force and false testimony could not be proved or disproved, according to a Sheriff’s Department letter to Hale.

Sparks refused comment Wednesday on the three cases of alleged brutality, except to say, “Those issues were investigated, and the results you’d have to get through the county counsel.”

The sergeant, however, discussed briefly the 1980 hanging case that resulted in a costly civil lawsuit. He said he acted promptly to cut down suicidal inmate Lawrence Condon, a Simi Valley truck mechanic, after he discovered the man hanging in his cell.

“Everyone has their own version of what took place,” Sparks said. “But I can tell you that I was exonerated in the case from all liability.”

In fact, a U.S. District Court jury in Los Angeles found in 1987 that Sparks had failed to take reasonable action to summon medical help, and that failure caused Condon’s death.

The day after the jury’s verdict, Ventura County agreed to settle the case for an amount county attorneys now say was substantially less than the $500,000 awarded in 1983 after a first trial in the case. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the first award, prompting a new filing under state law and another trial in 1987.

Wisotsky, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department, said the department has decided not to answer questions about Sparks aside from its response Tuesday to questions about the Wilmeth incident.

“There are two sides to every story, but we feel the best approach is to allow the testimony from all the individuals involved to come forward under oath . . ., “ the attorney said.

The Hale and Hockenberry accusations may have a bearing on the Wilmeth case, so the county will not comment on them, Wisotsky said. But he said Sparks was not disciplined by the department for his actions in those cases.

Sparks’ promotion this month from senior deputy to sergeant shows what his superiors think of the officer, Wisotsky said. “If there was anything to suggest he was not a suitable candidate, that would not have taken place,” he said.

Paul Capritto, a lawyer who successfully defended Hale against assault charges and represents him in the civil lawsuit against Sparks, said “the strangest thing about all of this is that Sparks got promoted. The grand jury ought to look at the process that the department follows in promoting these people.”

Capritto said Sparks beat up Hale on Dec. 19, 1986, after managers of Sergios Cantina complained that a friend of Hale’s was bothering women patrons.

Hale stepped outside to find officers questioning his friend and decided to go back into the bar, Capritto said.

“Sparks tackled him from behind. He hit him with his fists, just pummeling him,” the lawyer said. “He puts on the cuffs. Then as he pulls him up, he knees Gene in the face. One of the witnesses testified that he could still see the imprint of the cloth from Sparks’ pants on Gene’s face.”

The report Sparks filed after the incident tells a different story. It says Hale was so drunk he staggered out of the bar, refused offers to help him get home, ignored orders not to re-enter the bar and finally attacked Sparks when he was told he was under arrest for public intoxication.

The officer acknowledged hitting Hale twice in the face during the fight, breaking his nose.

A juror at Hale’s 1987 criminal trial told The Times that he vividly recalled the case. The prosecution’s evidence “was hard to believe,” said the juror, who requested anonymity. “The facts they presented and the witnesses they used were not as believable as you would have expected.”

A month before Hale’s arrest, Sparks responded to Judith Hockenberry’s request that officers be sent to help resolve a family argument.

Robert Corbett, a friend of Hockenberry, said in an interview that the family continued to argue even after Sparks and another officer arrived. The deputies were trying to help Hockenberry’s son pack a suitcase so he could leave, but his mother pushed him away from the bag because it was hers, Corbett said.

“The officer grabbed her from behind and put a chokehold on her,” Corbett said. “When he went for the throat it was like big-time wrestling. His arm tightened and he held it there for 10 or 15 seconds. Judy started turning crimson, and she was trying to pull his arm off her neck.”

The disturbance ended quickly as she stopped struggling, and Hockenberry was taken by her family to a hospital for an examination of her swollen throat, Corbett said.

A department letter sent to Hockenberry in 1987 said: “An appropriate level of physical force was used by the officer in restraining you.”