Ex-Deputy Who Falsified Reports Sentenced

A former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy who falsified arrest reports after stopping suspects without probable cause was sentenced Wednesday to one year in jail and two years’ probation.

Jeffrey L. Jones, a deputy who trained new officers at the Century sheriff’s station near Watts, had pleaded no contest in August to felony charges of falsifying four arrest reports. The plea was part of a deal to avoid a possible state prison term. Because of overcrowding in county jails, he will most likely serve three months behind bars.

Jones, who is white, denied he was racially motivated when he pulled over black and Latino gang members. In one case, he pulled over a car occupied by four black males who had sealed quarts of beer. Jones opened a beer and poured some of it out, using the bottle as the cause for stopping and searching the car, where he found a bag of narcotics.

He will begin his sentence Sept. 19.