LAPD Probes Alleged Sale of Private Files

The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating allegations that a veteran Juvenile Division officer illegally accessed confidential records of nearly 500 people and sold them to private investigation companies, including one run by a retired deputy LAPD chief.

In court documents and interviews, authorities have identified Walter Ray Bentley Jr., a 22-year department veteran, as the person suspected of retrieving confidential law enforcement information from the department’s computer system.

Bentley, 46, was put under video surveillance for several months this year, and investigators say he sold or gave much of the computer information to two private investigation firms.

“The video surveillance . . . showed that Officer Bentley has either received calls to his personal telephone pager, or he calls his home telephone number,” a search warrant affidavit filed in Los Angeles Municipal Court states. “Shortly thereafter he calls telephone numbers that are assigned to either Warner Center Investigative Services or Whiteaker Investigative Services. . . . He then goes to the computer terminal and uses a serial number and password other than his own to gain unauthorized access to the restricted computer files.”

One of those investigation firms, Warner Center Investigative Services, is co-owned and run by Daniel Sullivan, a former deputy chief who was once considered one of the LAPD’s brightest stars and was known for exhorting officers to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. Authorities are trying to conclude whether Sullivan, 55, took part in any illegal transactions. They took files from the offices of his Woodland Hills firm, known as Investigative Services Inc.

Sullivan, commanding officer of the LAPD’s San Fernando Valley operations before retiring seven years ago, confirmed that he has been interviewed, but said detectives told him they were investigating Bentley. Thomas Whiteaker of the Granada Hills-based Whiteaker Investigative Services could not be reached for comment.

No one has been charged in connection with the alleged illegal dissemination of computer records.

“I have never asked Ray Bentley or any other policeman to do anything illegal and I have not paid anybody to do anything illegal or knowingly received anything that was illegal,” Sullivan said. “To the best of my knowledge none of my employees have done that either. I have cooperated fully with the Police Department in their inquiry and will continue to do so.”

Bentley did not respond to a request for comment. His lawyer, Darryl Mounger, also was unavailable, but he said in court papers that Bentley “has apparently been under investigation for unlawful access to the Police Department computer files.”

In addition to probing any role that Sullivan or Whiteaker might have played in the alleged crimes, police investigators are trying to determine why the private investigation firms were seeking confidential information on 498 people and companies, some of whom are well-known in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Asked for comment, several people on the list said they could not fathom why a private investigator would take an interest in their affairs.

“That’s part of the investigation,” said Los Angeles Police Detective Richard T. Richardson. “We’re going to the people on the search warrant and asking them why someone would want to run their names.”

Asked about Sullivan, Richardson confirmed that the former deputy chief had been interviewed at his office, and added: “He’s now a private investigator that used to be a deputy police chief. As far as we’re concerned, he’s just a P.I., like every other P.I.”

Richardson, a computer fraud specialist with LAPD’s Bunco-Forgery Division, said a thorough investigation has been under way for some time using surveillance cameras and other covert techniques, and that employees from many private investigation firms have been interviewed. Investigators installed a hidden video camera at the Police Academy where Bentley was working Feb. 2, according to the search warrant affidavit.

Bentley’s home was searched twice in July, and police allegedly discovered a safe with $113,000 in $100 bills, a fake photo identification card and a collection of child pornography, for which Bentley was arrested. Some of the pornography was said to have been stolen from locked police case files.

Investigators, who also searched Bentley’s desk and locker at work, seized files and computer and bookkeeping records, according to the search warrant.

Authorities said the Internal Revenue Service has also entered the case and has slapped Bentley with a $79,000 bill, alleging that the cash was illegally hidden from tax collectors.

Joseph T. Rouzan Jr., executive director of the Los Angeles Police Commission, said he was aware of the investigation. Rouzan added that police officials are expected to give the commission a closed-door briefing on the probe within the next few weeks.

“I would think (the investigation) is pretty serious,” Rouzan said. He said only one officer, Bentley, is suspected of improperly using computers but that “we were told there is a private investigator who is a former police official who is also under investigation.”

Police officers and civilian LAPD computer operators can legally access the department’s computer system to retrieve drivers’ information from the Department of Motor Vehicles, as well as information from the U.S. Department of Justice and other sources regarding a person’s criminal history.

Unlike publicly accessible court files, the computer records include information about arrests that never resulted in a charge or a conviction.

Most of that information only can be accessed on a “need to know” basis. Officers and civilians are repeatedly warned about the potential for abuse. They are required to sign a form pledging not to misuse their computer privileges.

Although it is a misdemeanor to illegally access such information, prosecutors say they can charge violators with a felony if they conspire to provide the information to someone outside the department. Recipients also can be charged as part of a conspiracy.

Allegations of police illegally accessing information from LAPD computers have dogged the department for years. Police Chief Willie L. Williams and top department officials last year pledged to crack down on widespread abuse.

According to police officials, officers and civilian employees have used computers for an array of background checks on people ranging from baby-sitters to personal friends, enemies and celebrities.

From 1988 to 1992, at least 66 sworn officers and civilian personnel were disciplined for misuse of department computers. They were given penalties that ranged from warnings and personnel letters to suspension, according to a confidential report forwarded by internal affairs investigators to the Police Commission in December.

In April, recently retired Detective Karol Chouinards pleaded no contest to charges that she sold DMV records to a private investigator while on the job. She was fined $2,000, ordered to donate $1,000 to a computer science school and sentenced to two years probation.

A Police Commission staffer, Robert Bauman, was suspended for 10 days last year for using LAPD computers without authorization to get confidential data on political figures and celebrities, including white supremacist leader Tom Metzger and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Police Commission members then directed Williams to prepare a report on the extent of the problem and to recommend ways to improve security. Although the new commission, which took office this month, has yet to address computer security publicly, the panel’s president said he considered it an important issue.

“We need to look into the security of the system,” said Gary Greenebaum, the newly appointed president of the Police Commission. “It’s inevitable that when you have information like this, you’re going to have security issues.”

An internal investigation is under way at the department to determine whether any LAPD officers compiled confidential information about citizens and turned it over to the Anti-Defamation League. Those allegations surfaced during an investigation of the relationship between the league and the San Francisco Police Department by that city’s district attorney, Arlo Smith.

Earlier this year, Smith said that a portion of the confidential information seized from Roy Bullock, the West Coast investigator for the ADL, appeared to have come from the LAPD. Williams said in June that the LAPD was investigating that charge.

“The allegations were taken very seriously,” Williams told members of the Police Commission. “An investigation was begun immediately. The results of the investigation, when it is completed, will be made public.”