LAPD Declined to Probe Charges Against Diplomat

The Los Angeles Police Department twice declined requests by prosecutors last month to conduct a follow-up investigation into the alleged sexual assault of a hotel maid by a foreign dignitary, the city attorney’s office said Friday.

Prosecutors had asked police to gather photographs and other evidence in the case against Guinean Ambassador Moussa Sangare, but detectives and a police captain declined because Sangare is protected by diplomatic immunity, spokesman Mike Qualls said.

Qualls said it was “not unprecedented, but somewhat unusual” for a police administrator not to pursue a criminal investigation at the request of prosecutors.

Police officials defended their work on the case. They said that department policy prevented them from continuing to pursue the matter because they had not yet received approval from the State Department to do so. As a result, Sangare was permitted to stay in his hotel room at the Biltmore for five nights after the alleged attack without being interviewed or photographed by investigators.

Prosecutors, however, said that they had been instructed by State Department officials to handle the case like any other and pressed ahead with a probe of their own.

As an ambassador, Sangare enjoys full diplomatic immunity, although Guinea can waive the protection and allow prosecutors to bring their case to trial. If the country does not waive immunity, the State Department can insist that he leave the United States.

Sangare, 50, the highest-ranking Guinean diplomat in the United States, was charged on Thursday with misdemeanor sexual battery and false imprisonment for allegedly attacking a maid on Sept. 4 while she turned down his bed for the night.

Sangare denied the accusation, saying the woman “imagined the whole thing.” He faces a maximum of 18 months in jail and a $3,000 fine if convicted on the two charges. Sangare is scheduled to be arraigned on Jan. 3.

According to one law enforcement official assigned to the case, police investigators were told by William Elkins, a top aide to Mayor Tom Bradley, not to interview Sangare after the incident because of his diplomatic immunity.

Although other police officials said Elkins had discussions with officers involved in the case, they denied he attempted to influence the investigation.

Said Police Cmdr. William Booth: “Elkins issued no directions or instructions--and cannot--to this department.”

Sangare and a visiting delegation of other West African ambassadors had breakfast at the Biltmore with Bradley on the day of the alleged attack. Elkins, who escorted the delegation in Los Angeles, declined to be interviewed on Friday.

“The police contacted the mayor’s office during their investigation to ask a few questions about the delegation,” said Bradley spokesman Bill Chandler. “Those questions were answered. There was no further involvement by this office.”

He declined to discuss Elkins’ role in the matter.

The mayor’s office came under criticism last spring when a concessionaire and airport police decided to drop a felony theft complaint against a Japanese dignitary after conferring with another top aide to Bradley. After the incident was made public, the city attorney’s office pressed charges against the Japanese official, but the case was dismissed by a judge.

The evidence that led to the filing of charges against Sangare was gathered by the city attorney’s office. The hotel maid told police on the night of the attack that Sangare approached her from behind and “with each hand he grabbed my breasts.” She said she ran out of the room after Sangare attacked her a second time.

The next day, police filed a report saying that the maid was no longer interested in prosecuting the case. It was not until she was revisited by investigators from the city attorney’s office that she agreed to testify against Sangare, said Deputy City Atty. Dennis Jensen, who is prosecuting the case.

Attorney Gloria Allred demanded on Friday that Police Chief Daryl F. Gates launch an investigation into the reasons why his detectives failed to pursue their investigation.

“Often, the victims of sexual battery do not go to police at all,” Allred said when contacted by The Times. “It is demoralizing to other victims to hear that when someone finally has the courage to report, she is not encouraged by the system.”

Times staff writer Richard A. Serrano contributed to this report.