Charges Against Two Narcotics Officers Dismissed : Drug case: Judge also reduces the remaining counts against four others accused of skimming cash and beating suspects.

In a surprise move, a federal judge on Monday dismissed criminal charges against two Los Angeles County sheriff’s narcotics officers and reduced the remaining counts against four other officers accused of skimming drug cash, beating suspects and planting narcotics.

Overriding protests by prosecutors, U.S. District Judge Robert M. Takasugi rejected attempts to retry Deputies Roger R. Garcia and Edward D. Jamison and threw out more than a dozen theft and civil rights counts that prosecutors had hoped to refile against the other defendants.

Two weeks ago, a federal jury acquitted the officers of 14 counts and deadlocked on 13 other counts after a long trial. Though government prosecutors said they intended to refile all charges, Takasugi said he was dismissing the unresolved counts where the jury had split evenly or was leaning toward acquittal.

Takasugi’s decision resulted in the dismissal of four counts each against Deputies Robert S. Tolmaire, John L. Edner and J. C. Miller and LAPD Detective Stephen W. Polak. Those defendants could still stand trial next summer on other counts, including other theft and civil rights charges, Takasugi said.

But the judge dismissed another unresolved count against Jamison--for allegedly conspiring to violate civil rights--and dropped the deputy from the corruption case. Garcia, who faced three remaining counts of conspiracy and two counts on specific civil rights allegations, also saw them dismissed by Takasugi.

A grateful Jamison said: “I still feel that Rod Serling is going to walk in at any moment with Elvis.”

Theft and conspiracy charges and two civil rights counts against Tolmaire were dismissed, as were a theft charge and three civil rights counts against Miller. A charge of theft, one of perjury and two civil rights counts against Edner were dropped, and four civil rights counts against Polak were dismissed.

As it now stands, the prosecution’s case against the officers is limited to a civil rights count against Tolmaire for alleged perjury; a conspiracy count against Miller; counts of conspiracy and theft against Edner; and a conspiracy count and two civil rights counts against Polak for allegedly using excessive force against two drug dealers.

Although both Jamison and Garcia were dismissed from the case, they remain under investigation as part of the overall money-skimming probe--jointly run by federal, sheriff’s and LAPD investigators.

The acquittal verdicts had marked the first time that deputies were found not guilty in a money-skimming case stemming from the 3 1/2-year investigation known as Operation Big Spender. Until those verdicts, prosecutors had obtained 11 convictions, including four guilty pleas from sheriff’s deputies, and prosecutors had urged Takasugi not to dismiss the unresolved counts.

Afterward, Assistant U.S. Atty. Michael Emmick, chief of the Public Corruption and Government Fraud Section, said his office will review the judge’s ruling before deciding how to proceed.

The officers on trial were members of a sheriff’s anti-drug team in Lennox that evolved into a joint LAPD-Sheriff’s Department effort against drug traffickers in southwest Los Angeles.

Operating in the 1980s, the officers were accused of beating drug dealers, skimming hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug cash, planting narcotics on suspects and falsifying police reports.