Three Current, 2 Ex-Deputies Accused of Theft

Three Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies and two former narcotics officers were indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars during drug raids, it was disclosed Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors said the defendants, who had worked together on an elite anti-drug team, used the stolen money to remodel their homes and purchase cars, real estate and jewelry. The wife of one of the ex-deputies was indicted for allegedly helping her husband launder skimmed drug cash.

The two former sheriff’s narcotics officers already are serving prison terms after their convictions last December in a related money-skimming case.

The indictment, handed down Aug. 28, contained the latest criminal charges in a two-year corruption scandal involving narcotics officers. A total of 18 Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, one Los Angeles Police Department detective and three of their family members have been indicted in a local and federal investigation known as “Operation Big Spender.”

“I have to tell you that today is not a very happy day for law enforcement,” said Lourdes G. Baird, U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, in unsealing the indictment. “But . . . this does show . . . that police officers who are sworn to uphold the law are also bound by the law.”

Undersheriff Robert Edmonds, who joined Baird and officials from the FBI and Internal Revenue Service at a Los Angeles news conference, said the department is doing “everything to ensure that those who violated their trust . . . are dealt with by the justice system to the fullest extent possible.” He noted that the department also has suspended 30 deputies from duty, including two last week.

The veteran deputies named in Wednesday’s 17-count indictment are Virgil Bartlett, 49, of Chino, a 21-year department veteran; Robert Juarez, 46, of Los Angeles, a 15-year veteran, and Tyrone Powe, 38, of San Dimas, a 10-year veteran. They worked together on an elite team that investigated major narcotics cases for the Sheriff’s Department in the late 1980s and allegedly skimmed money during those raids.

The three, who were suspended more than 17 months ago, are accused of conspiracy, theft of government funds, money laundering and tax offenses.

Also indicted were former deputies Eufrasio G. Cortez, 39, and Daniel M. Garner, 45, who are serving prison terms after their convictions last December for stealing cash seized from drug traffickers and money launderers in a related money-skimming case. Five other deputies also were convicted in that trial.

The latest indictment charges Cortez and Garner with theft, money laundering and income tax evasion. Garner’s 42-year-old wife, Yhvona, is charged with money-laundering and tax offenses.

According to the indictment, Garner and Cortez joined Bartlett, Juarez and Powe in skimming money during drug raids in 1986 and 1987, then filing false police reports to hide the thefts.

Working together as members of a group called Major Violators Crew II or “Majors Two,” the deputies stole $30,000 in one case, the indictment said. In a 1986 case, Cortez also planted a kilogram of cocaine in a Glendale apartment in order to justify a search that led to a $20,000 theft. And the deputies rented a Norwalk motel room in December, 1986, to split more than $200,000 in cash stolen during drug raids, according to the indictment.

Some of the stolen money was used by deputies to buy cars, a motor home, handguns, jewelry and as down payments for houses, the indictment added.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Steven M. Bauer, who will prosecute the case, said investigators are uncertain how much money was stolen but estimated that it amounted to “hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not a million.”

“We have found a lot of money, but there’s no way that I can tell you that we have found every dime that was stolen by this group during the time that they were together,” he said.

Bartlett could not be reached for comment.

Contacted by The Times, Juarez said: “While I am employed by the Sheriff’s Department, I cannot talk to the news media. That is the code of silence imposed by the department itself.”

Powe referred questions to his attorney, Joel Levine, who said that he had not yet reviewed the indictment.

“My only response at this moment is that we expect to meet them at the pass,” Levine said. “Every side has two stories, and we hope to tell ours (at trial).”

Cortez is in custody at the federal prison camp in Eglin, Fla., serving a five-year sentence for conspiracy, theft, tax evasion and money-laundering. Garner is in custody at the McKean Federal Correctional Institution in Bradford, Pa. serving a 4 1/2-year sentence for conspiracy, theft and tax evasion.

Both men are expected to return to Los Angeles for arraignment on the new charges.

“It’s ridiculous,” said Cortez’s attorney, James Riddet. “These people are in prison, serving time. It’s a total waste of effort in my opinion. . . . Why else would they bring another indictment unless (the government) was unhappy with his sentence or they want him to cooperate, and it’s a way of pressuring him?”

Garner’s attorney, Harland Braun, echoed the contention that the government was prosecuting the Garners merely as a pressure tactic. “The only reason the government is going after the wife is to get Dan to cooperate with the government,” Braun said. “They are holding her hostage to get Dan to cooperate.”

According to the indictment, Garner gave his wife stolen drug money that she converted to cashier’s checks and deposited in bank accounts or used to help pay for a BMW automobile and as down payment on a San Clemente condominium.

Yhvona Garner, however, said Wednesday that the money used to purchase the car and condo came from legitimate sources--as her husband had testified during his first trial.

“If they want to redo this, that’s fine,” she said. “I’m ready. If they’re trying to make Danny talk, it’s a waste of time. We’ve done nothing wrong.”

Prosecutors said the indictment was returned last week but sealed until Wednesday to allow time for a jury to be impaneled in another corruption trial set to begin next week. Five sheriff’s deputies and an LAPD detective face similar money-skimming charges in that case.