Ex-Officer Pleads Innocent in Computer Case

A former Los Angeles police officer pleaded not guilty Thursday to 11 felony counts of illegally accessing department computers to obtain confidential information.

Walter Ray Bentley Jr., 47, of Granada Hills was arraigned on charges in Los Angeles Municipal Court that carry a maximum penalty of six years in prison if he is convicted, a prosecutor said.

Bentley, a Los Angeles police officer for 23 years, resigned from the force last year after he was arrested on charges of possessing child pornography and receiving stolen property. Most recently, he had worked in the department’s Juvenile Division.

In the latest round of legal troubles for Bentley, prosecutors accuse him of obtaining information from Police Department computers about various people--including witnesses in criminal cases--and passing it on to private investigation firms run by retired LAPD Deputy Chief Daniel R. Sullivan and Thomas Whiteaker, who owns a Mission Hills private investigation firm.

Last week, Sullivan pleaded not guilty to charges that he illegally possessed confidential law enforcement information in the files of his Woodland Hills-based detective agency.

Whiteaker will be arraigned later this month.

Though Sullivan has admitted that Bentley worked for his detective agency, he said Bentley retrieved only court records and other publicly available information.

Although police officers can legally access the department’s computer system to retrieve a variety of information, they are required to sign a pledge not to misuse their computer privileges.

Unlike publicly accessible court files, police computer records include information about arrests that never resulted in a charge or a conviction, and therefore are not public information.

It is a misdemeanor to illegally access such information, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Yokelson, who is prosecuting the three men, but prosecutors can increase those charges to a felony if the violators conspire to provide the information to someone outside the department.

A preliminary hearing for Bentley is scheduled for Aug. 19.