WOODLAND HILLS : 2 Officers Cleared in Bingo Payment Case

Two Los Angeles police officers who worked as off-duty security guards in a popular San Fernando Valley bingo parlor have been cleared of administrative charges that they failed to report illegal payments made to parlor volunteers.

Detective Robert Brosnon and Sgt. Woodrow Baca were found not guilty Friday by the Board of Rights, a three-member Police Department administrative panel, officials said.

Brosnon, of the Hollywood Division, and Baca, of the West Valley Division, worked at the bingo parlor operated by Woodland Hills-based Identity Inc., which provided services to handicapped youths.

The city revoked Identity’s bingo license earlier this year, saying it paid its workers in violation of laws aimed at keeping the game an amateur pastime.

Sgt. Dennis Pelch, a union representative who defended the officers, said the department failed to come up with evidence showing that Brosnon and Baca knew about illegal payments, or that illegal payments were being made during the monthlong period in 1990 that the allegations covered.

Witnesses who testified on the officers’ behalf during a 2 1/2-day hearing included Brosnon’s wife and daughter, who worked as Identity volunteers. They denied being paid for their time, Pelch said.

The officers originally faced 10-day suspensions after a departmental investigation, but appealed the punishment to the Board of Rights.