3 Deputies Accused of Hazing Allowed to Resign

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on Tuesday reversed an earlier decision and allowed three deputies accused of sexual harassment to resign instead of being fired, leaving lingering questions about the department’s role in condoning the hazing of rookies.

The department fired five deputies earlier this year after a five-month investigation concluded that they had urged inmates at a jail in Castaic to commit obscene acts in front of Deputy Alyson A. Fox, 26, and pelt her with tomatoes and eggs.

Three of the deputies--Gregory Held, Ronald N. Owen and Wayne Horning--appealed their ouster to the Civil Service Commission, claiming that hazing of rookies at the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho was a common practice tacitly approved of by the department.

Before the deputies could testify before a hearing officer for the commission, the department agreed Tuesday to let them resign, primarily to avoid the costs of lengthy court proceedings and to spare Fox the embarrassment of testifying, sheriff’s officials said in a prepared statement.

Fox’s attorney complained Tuesday that the female deputy was denied her day in court, saying Fox was nervous but eager to “look the deputies in the eye and say, ‘You did this to me.’

“I don’t think the department wanted to take responsibility for this and have anything come out about the hazing,” said Jenny Scovis, Fox’s attorney.

Fox, who has been on disability leave for stress since the incident in July, 1990, has filed a $1-million claim against the department, the deputies and the county.

Sheriff’s Department officials denied that they approved the resignations to avoid revelations about hazing. The case could have dragged on for years and cost taxpayers thousands of dollars had the Civil Service Commission rejected the former deputies’ appeal and they had taken their case to the courts, they said.

“We did not let these deputies resign to save ourselves any embarrassment--we wanted them out of our hair quickly,” said Assistant Sheriff Richard Foreman, who is in charge of jail personnel.

But a female sheriff’s deputy who asked not to be identified said Tuesday that before the Fox case came to light, rookies of both sexes assigned to guard inmates at the Castaic jail were routinely hazed by veteran deputies, including being subjected to the “silent treatment to see if they could take it.”

Female deputies were also sent on “bogus calls,” she said. For instance, a woman would be sent to quell an alleged fight between inmates in a shower stall only to be greeted by a group of nude prisoners bathing peacefully.

The rookies did not complain because the hazing was considered a test of fortitude, she said.

When Fox violated the unspoken code of silence and reported the incidents, a dead rat was placed in her locker, Fox alleges in her lawsuit.

Foreman acknowledged that “light” hazing does occur, but said what happened to Fox was “unacceptable.”

For the past 3 1/2 years, rookies--all of whom are first assigned to county jails for a minimum of one year before serving elsewhere--have been warned against sexually harassing fellow officers, he said. The department permits officers to file complaints anonymously, but had not received any about hazing prior to the incident involving Fox, he said.

“Every profession in the world has at least some minor form of hazing--somebody gets sent out for wall stretchers or left-handed monkey wrenches,” Foreman said. “But anything that focuses on race or gender, and you’ve passed the limit.

“We don’t like it, we preach against it, we hold our unit commanders responsible, but we’re not there 24 hours a day.”

Attorney Richard A. Shinee, who represents the three former deputies, said the department’s decision benefits his clients because it leaves them with cleaner work histories, particularly if they were to apply for jobs at other law enforcement agencies. The former deputies declined to comment.

“How their alleged conduct will be viewed by other law enforcement agencies remains to be seen,” Shinee said. He said the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department may be stricter than other departments on sexual harassment, with “a unique concern . . . that may not be shared by other police agencies.”

Norman Boehm, executive director of the state Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, said most agencies are required by state law to conduct extensive background checks on applicants, regardless of whether the applicant has resigned or been fired.

“Any police agency would probably react the same way the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department did,” Boehm said. “Officers have to be of good moral character.”

But a spokeswoman for the Women Peace Officers Assn. of California, which represents about 500 of the 4,000 women in law enforcement statewide, expressed concern that the resignations will leave the door open for the former deputies to find jobs in law enforcement.

“I think we’re all feeling that a little more punishment would have been better,” said Dolores Kan, a past president of the association and a captain in the Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Department.