Ex-Deputy Police Chief Enters Plea : Courts: Daniel R. Sullivan denies illegally possessing confidential LAPD records.

Retired Los Angeles Deputy Police Chief Daniel R. Sullivan pleaded not guilty Friday in Los Angeles Municipal Court to charges that he illegally possessed confidential law enforcement information in the files of his private investigation company, a prosecutor said.

Sullivan and Thomas Whiteaker, of Whiteaker Investigative Services in Mission Hills, are accused of receiving confidential information from Walter Ray Bentley Jr., a police officer who resigned from the force after being arrested on child pornography charges last year.

Sullivan is the highest-ranking former LAPD official to face criminal corruption charges since scandals in the early 1900s led to an overhaul of the department.

He has denied any wrongdoing.

Police and prosecutors, increasingly concerned about officers selling or bartering confidential information to private detectives, launched a campaign to prevent the illegal use of police computers to gain access to confidential information, such as criminal records and driver’s license files.

A subsequent investigation led to the arrest of Sullivan, Whiteaker and Bentley.

Prosecutors allege that Bentley obtained information from LAPD computers on various people, including witnesses in criminal cases, and passed it on to Sullivan and Whiteaker.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Yochelson, who is prosecuting the three, alleged that Whiteaker was given information about a witness in a murder case who had been relocated for his protection, and information on actor Todd Bridges, who has had several run-ins with the law.

Sullivan and Whiteaker face 10 counts of receiving criminal records that are confidential materials and one count of conspiracy to receive criminal history materials. A preliminary hearing for Sullivan was set for July 22.

Bentley, who faces 11 counts of illegal computer access and fraud, is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday and Whiteaker on July 13.