3 Deputies Ousted for Hazing Rookie Seek Reinstatement

Three male Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, fired for allegedly urging inmates at a county jail in Castaic to commit obscene acts in front of a rookie female deputy and pelt her with food, are seeking reinstatement on the grounds that the hazing of new officers is a common practice condoned by the department.

“I don’t think it’s fair to say the department puts out a bulletin saying it’s OK to haze rookies,” the deputies’ attorney, Richard A. Shinee, said Tuesday following a conference on their appeal. “But the department knows what happens and turns a blind eye to it.

“That’s the theory of our case,” Shinee said. “That hazing is part of what happens out there, that the idea of hazing an individual deputy is nothing new, and that while this one went beyond the bounds of propriety, it wasn’t the fault of my clients.”

But the harassment of Deputy Alyson A. Fox, 26, at Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho in July, 1990, “cannot be characterized as harmless pranks or friendly practical jokes between peers,” the department stated in a Feb. 8 letter firing five male deputies after a five-month internal investigation into the incident.

“You entered into league with inmates against a fellow deputy. . . . This unconscionable, seditious behavior seriously compromised the security of the Honor Rancho South Facility, and could easily have ended in a major jail disturbance,” the letter stated.

Three of the deputies--Gregory Held, Wayne Horning and Ronald N. Owen--have appealed their ouster to the Civil Service Commission, and their case is being heard by a hearing officer this month. The other two--John Brisslinger and David Ponsant--were on departmental probation at the time of the incident and are thus ineligible for reinstatement.

The deputies refused to comment Tuesday while their attorneys met to discuss the case at the commission office. A public hearing by the commission is scheduled to resume Tuesday.

The department contends in the Feb. 8 letter that the deputies were responsible for the harassment of Fox that took place about 3 a.m. July 19, 1990.

First, two inmates were induced by promises of extra food to expose their buttocks and yell obscenities at Fox, who was stationed in a guard tower overlooking one of 22 dorm-style barracks at the jail.

When Fox ignored the inmates, the letter states, Held, Brisslinger and Ponsant collected tomatoes and eggs from the jail kitchen and rounded up a group of 10 to 15 inmates.

The inmates were then escorted into the yard, in violation of jail rules prohibiting inmates from leaving the barracks after 10 p.m., where they exposed themselves to Fox, masturbated and threw food at her. She was not struck by any of the food because another deputy warned her to duck, according to the letter.

“This was not hazing--this was assault,” said Deputy Susan Weekly, who is representing the department before hearing officer Richard C. Wulliger. The commission will decide this fall whether to reinstate the deputies after reviewing Wulliger’s recommendation.

Owen and Horning have told investigators that they were not present during the second attack, but “at a minimum, your initial participation gave impetus to the second act of harassment,” the letter states. “You solicited and rewarded these inmates for misconduct tantamount to criminal acts, which endangered Deputy Fox’s future safety on the compound.”

Fox has been on paid leave for stress since October. She has filed a $1-million claim against the five deputies, the Sheriff’s Department and the county, said her attorney, Jenny Scovas.