Private Eye to Probe Cops in S. Pasadena

Reacting to a steady string of allegations of misconduct by its police officers, South Pasadena officials took the extraordinary step Wednesday of hiring a private investigation firm to examine the department, as Police Chief Thomas Mahoney took an indefinite, voluntary paid leave.

The city has hired Lewis & Partners of Pasadena to probe allegations of a sex scandal and charges of a cover-up involving a politically well-connected officer and an off-duty, hit-and-run accident.

City Councilman Dick Richards, a former FBI agent, said, “We need an outside investigator because there have been so many allegations concerning the alleged discrepancies of police reports.”

Mayor Dorothy Cohen said, “We are acting promptly and decisively. The people in the city should be reassured the City Council and city manager are trying to clear this matter up as quickly and professionally as possible.”

The investigation shows the unprecedented lengths to which officials will go to repair damage to this suburb, which has seen its reputation tarnished by allegations of steamy police officer trysts in church parking lots and allegations of a cover-up in the traffic accident. On Wednesday, the city was sued by the owner of the car that was damaged in the hit-and-run crash. She alleges a departmentwide conspiracy to defraud her.

City officials have reacted with mounting dismay to allegations regarding the sex scandal and the traffic crash, which occurred Sept. 8, 1995, when a Camaro registered to former Mayor Ted Shaw skidded out of control and hit a parked Honda, then drove off, according to police reports. According to the lawsuit, five police cruisers went to the accident.

But the original report on the crash omitted the name of the driver, Officer Scott Ziegler--Shaw’s son-in-law. Mahoney was on vacation when the crash occurred and Capt. Michael J. Ward fired Ziegler four days after the crash, city officials say. Ziegler was rehired two weeks later by Mahoney.

Mahoney also told city officials that the woman whose car was damaged had been paid and that the district attorney had decided that no crime had been committed, those officials recall.

But prosecutors say they have no record of the case being formally presented.

Marisa Colatriano, the owner of the damaged car, has said that she was never paid, and that the department told her several times over a two-month period that it had not identified the driver. After The Times inquired about the case, Ziegler called Colatriano and offered to pay her, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles.

“How many times do you find conspiracies to obstruct justice like this?” asked Paul Hoffman, Colatriano’s lawyer. “It seems to me that when something like this can go on, you’ve got serious, serious problems in your Police Department.”

The lawsuit, which also names Ziegler and the sergeant who signed the initial police report, is scheduled to be heard before U.S. District Judge John G. Davies, who presided over the second Rodney G. King beating trial. Hoffman said he is seeking $550 to repair the damage to the car, and, more significant, punitive damages of an unspecified amount to teach the department a lesson.

Interim City Manager Linda Holmes said the private investigators--a former Pasadena police captain and a former Signal Hill police chief--will look into the cover-up allegations, as well as charges that lax management allowed up to seven officers to have sex with a local woman who later fired a gun in the police station.

After the woman, Theresa Goldston, filed a claim against the city last month, copies of internal investigations obtained by The Times showed that she may have had access to the department’s gym and firing range. They also show that she approached Mahoney five months before the gun incident to complain about her love life, but would not identify the officers who she believed wronged her. One officer who allegedly had on-duty sex with Goldston was fired and another resigned.

Cohen said, “We wanted someone to come in and investigate, and these guys came highly recommended.”

Ward, a 25-year veteran, is acting as chief. Mahoney, who earns $95,000 annually, went on indefinite, voluntary leave as of Wednesday. It was the fifth business day since Mahoney was called into a special closed City Council session that he was not at the office. He had been on vacation until Wednesday.

Senior city officials said Mahoney, 48, who joined the department in February 1991, is on sick leave. Mahoney’s wife answered the door at their home Wednesday and said he was not giving interviews.

Council members were supportive of the outside inquiry, saying it would help them get to the bottom of the allegations.

“I think the entire matter has to be clarified for the city of South Pasadena’s citizens and the city employees--particularly those in the Police Department,” Richards said.

The news release announcing the investigation took the unusual step of publicly stating the council’s support for Holmes, who since her arrival two months ago also launched an investigation of an assistant city manager who was later arrested on suspicion of embezzling.