Officer Pleads Not Guilty in Cocaine Theft

A Los Angeles police officer accused of stealing six pounds of cocaine from a Police Department property room pleaded not guilty Thursday, while prosecutors alleged that the nine-year veteran has a history of other criminal behavior.

During the arraignment of Officer Rafael Antonio Perez, prosecutors alleged that the 31-year-old officer tried to sell a kilogram of cocaine through “a confidential informant” last December--before the drugs ever were stolen from the property room. Prosecutors also said a pound of cocaine was discovered missing Feb. 5 from the Rampart police station where he was assigned.

Moreover, prosecutors alleged that Perez “obtained leniency” in the sentencing of two convicted drug dealers who, authorities now believe, helped him distribute cocaine. One of those drug dealers allegedly was “romantically involved” with Perez, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard A. Rosenthal.

Perez’s attorney, meanwhile, said his client is innocent and characterized the prosecution’s evidence in the case as flimsy.

Attorney Winston McKesson said there are no eyewitnesses linking Perez to the theft, nor are his fingerprints on a property-room checkout sheet, which prosecutors contend he signed while impersonating another officer to steal the cocaine. He also said there are “credibility” problems with the prosecution’s witnesses.

Rosenthal declined after the hearing to address McKesson’s comments.

During the hearing, McKesson unsuccessfully asked Los Angeles Municipal Judge Jacob Adajian to lower Perez’s $550,000 bail, saying his client is unlikely to flee because he has a wife, a young daughter and other personal and financial ties to the community.

“The background does not impress me,” said Adajian. “I cannot touch this bail.”

Adajian set a Sept. 3 court date for Perez to schedule a preliminary hearing. Perez, who was assigned to the LAPD’s anti-gang unit, faces a maximum of eight years and four months in prison if convicted of grand theft, possession with intent to sell cocaine and forgery.

McKesson told reporters in the court hallways that Perez is a former Marine and an upstanding citizen who grew up wanting to be a policeman and “embodies the American dream.”

“His family is crushed,” he said.

According to investigators, Perez posed as another officer to check out three individually wrapped kilograms of cocaine from a property room at Parker Center, the LAPD’s headquarters. The officer whose identity Perez allegedly assumed has the same last name, sources said. Earlier this month, investigators obtained a writing sample from Perez, which investigators believe matches the handwriting of the person who checked out the cocaine. Investigators also searched Perez’s home, car and LAPD locker. No drugs were discovered as a result of the searches, LAPD officials said.

Police said the cocaine originally was booked into the LAPD as evidence after it was confiscated during an undercover narcotics operation. At that time, the drug was selling for nearly $20,000 a kilogram. Police officials say the three kilograms, equivalent to 6.6 pounds, could be sold in smaller quantities on the streets for more than $800,000.

Although no other police officers have been implicated in the theft, the investigation is ongoing, authorities said. One police source said detectives are trying to determine how Perez allegedly knew the drugs had been confiscated and held in the property room.

The accused officer’s two alleged associates were arrested on separate drug charges that were an outgrowth of the investigation into Perez. Sources identified those suspects as Veronica Quesada and her brother Carlos Antonio Romero. Police sources said Quesada is Perez’s girlfriend.

Rosenthal declined to say whether Quesada or Romero will face charges in connection with the stolen cocaine.

Perez’s arrest earlier this week followed a six-month investigation that started when officials with the LAPD property room discovered that the cocaine, which had been checked out March 2, had not been returned two weeks later.