LAPD Drug Officer Being Investigated

A narcotics detective with the Los Angeles Police Department is the subject of an internal investigation, with authorities already preparing to dismiss one case in which they fear he may have lied on court documents and reviewing others in order to determine whether he violated department policy, law enforcement sources said Thursday.

The detective, Andres C. Alegria, normally works in the LAPD’s Narcotics Group but has been removed from field work while the investigation into his actions continues, sources said. He has not been charged with either administrative or criminal wrongdoing, but he has been under investigation for about a month, and the probe has expanded beyond the Police Department, with prosecutors and public defenders also reviewing cases in which Alegria played a role.

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For police officials still reeling from disclosures regarding former Det. Mark Fuhrman and other blights on the department’s record, the circumstances surrounding Alegria raise new and troubling questions about the LAPD’s image. Criminal cases could be at stake, as could the LAPD’s once-solid but increasingly fragile reputation for integrity.

In addition to the Fuhrman case, which remains the subject of internal LAPD review and outside inquiry by the federal government, another senior Police Department detective recently came under scrutiny for allegedly forging signatures on identification reports and then lying about it in court. That case involved Det. Andrew A. Teague, and after reviewing his case, prosecutors concluded that he had in fact forged signatures and lied.

Although Teague was not prosecuted for perjury, the disclosures further bruised the LAPD’s reputation and attracted national attention, in part because they were made public in the closing weeks of the O.J. Simpson murder trial, when the nation’s interest was focused on the department and charges of misconduct by its officers.

On Thursday, department officials declined to comment on details regarding Alegria but confirmed that a narcotics officer is under investigation and that the officer has been taken out of the field. Other sources said that preliminary indications do not suggest that Alegria’s case is as potentially damaging as those of either Fuhrman or Teague, and that only three to six criminal cases appear to be at stake.

“The investigation isn’t completed yet,” said Cmdr. Tim McBride, a spokesman for the department. “The damage, if any, is not clear yet.” McBride said he expects the inquiry to be completed within a few weeks and added that the officer, whose name he would not confirm, would remain assigned to a desk job at least until the investigation is done.

The spokesman also stressed that the allegations were uncovered by the LAPD itself, not by an outside agency.

“We have aggressively pursued this investigation,” McBride said, “out of the highest concern for the department’s integrity.”

A lawyer who consulted with Alegria early in the investigation said he could not discuss the case because it would violate the attorney-client privilege of the detective, who has worked for the LAPD for nearly 15 years. Likewise, Eddie Camarillo, a respected LAPD defense representative who is representing Alegria internally, declined to comment in detail, saying he did not want to preempt the department’s investigative process.

“My concern is that the investigation be completed without interference,” said Camarillo, who advised his client not to speak with a reporter. “Because of that, all I can say is: No comment.”

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According to sources, Alegria came under scrutiny when a supervisor in the Narcotics Group decided to double-check allegations attributed to a confidential informant in an affidavit that the detective completed. Alegria produced the informant, sources said, and the informant contradicted the account attributed to him in the affidavit.

Capt. Constance Dial, the commanding officer of the Field Enforcement Section of the Narcotics Group, referred the matter to Internal Affairs investigators, who began reviewing not only that affidavit but others that the detective had sworn to, either in his own cases or in those of colleagues. Investigators have found parallels in some of the affidavits, sources said, and as many as six cases now are under consideration for dismissal based on Alegria’s involvement in them.

Moreover, the inquiry is not yet complete, so some officials worry that more troublesome cases may arise. Some stressed, however, that the discrepancy may be the result of shifting stories by the informant, not by Alegria.

Prosecutors have indicated their desire to dismiss several of the cases, sources added, but have hesitated mainly because Police Department officials want more time to review the facts to determine whether Alegria falsified affidavits or merely made innocent mistakes in preparing them.

McBride said that it was too soon to tell how those questions will be resolved and that he could not comment on any cases that might be in jeopardy.

“I don’t know of any cases being dismissed,” McBride said. “I can’t comment on that.”