LAWNDALE : Planning Official Ousted in Uproar Over Dog

Planning Commissioner Edie Warwick has been removed from her position by the City Council for overstepping her authority as a city official and because charges have been filed against her in the case of a missing dog.

Before the unanimous vote Monday, Councilwoman Virginia Rhodes said complaints from other city officials and a captain in the Lennox sheriff’s station about Warwick’s behavior prompted her to call for Warwick’s removal.

Warwick has been accused in incidents unrelated to the dog controversy of ordering the unauthorized operation of the city’s wading pool and using her position when complaining to sheriff’s officials about an abandoned car.

But her behavior stirred the most controversy when she was charged with misappropriating lost or stolen property, delaying an investigation and filing a false police report in the case of the missing dog.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives say Warwick found the dog and refused to give it to Joseph and Vicky French, the dog’s owners.

Councilman Larry L. Rudolph, who appointed Warwick to the planning commission in May, said Warwick’s disregard for law enforcement in that case led him to vote for her removal.

Although Warwick had the dog for a time, it has since disappeared and Warwick says she does not know where the dog is.

But detectives say Warwick, using a false name, hid the dog at a Torrance kennel for three days. Employees at the kennel identified Warwick.

Warwick is to be arraigned Oct. 20. She declined to comment on the charges against her or her removal from the commission.