Latest Rampart Case Focuses on Third Officer

Authorities increasingly suspect that frame-ups in the Los Angeles Police Department’s troubled Rampart Division went beyond then-partners Rafael Perez and Nino Durden, and now are investigating allegations that another officer planted drugs on a man and then committed perjury to send him to prison.

The framing of Walter Rivas, a reputed gang member, allegedly was carried out by Officer Michael Buchanan. “Who do you think they are going to believe, are they going to believe you or me?” Rivas quoted Buchanan as saying shortly after Rivas’ 1998 arrest.

The scrutiny of Buchanan throws into question the validity of hundreds of other arrests at the troubled Rampart station, sources close to the investigation said. As other officers are added to the group under suspicion of misconduct, the number of suspect criminal convictions rises exponentially.

Buchanan, 29, was relieved of duty in October in connection with an allegedly trumped-up weapons arrest he made with Perez, whose testimony concerning misconduct at the Rampart station has put him at the center of the expanding LAPD scandal.

Neither Perez, the ex-officer turned informant, nor Durden, his onetime partner, played a role in the Rivas case.

Perez told investigators last month that he had information that Buchanan planted drugs on Rivas and then falsely testified in court against him, sending the gang member to prison for seven years.

Despite Perez’s information and corroborating statements from the alleged victim, prosecutors have not yet moved to overturn his conviction. Sources familiar with the Rivas conviction complained that officials in the district attorney’s office were “dragging their feet” because the case does not directly involve Perez and has the potential to force the reexamination of so many more convictions.

Officials from the district attorney’s office reject that notion, saying they are committed to overturning all tainted convictions that come to light.

So far, 11 convictions have been overturned and four men released from jail or state prison as a result of the corruption investigation. Charges in a pending case have been dismissed. All of those cases involved Perez and usually Durden.

Perez, who says he is cooperating with authorities to clear his conscience, is expected to receive a lighter sentence on cocaine theft convictions on the basis of his information. Durden has been relieved of duty and, sources say, eventually may face criminal charges. To date, more than a dozen officers have been relieved of duty because of the investigation, which has uncovered evidence of alleged beatings, unwarranted shootings, drug dealing, witness intimidation, planting evidence, perjury and other crimes and police misconduct.

In Rivas’ case, investigators suspect that he was the victim of planted evidence and perjured testimony.

Kimberly Wong, Rivas’ attorney, said she recently was informed by the D.A.’s office that Buchanan was under investigation, but had no idea that ex-Officer Perez had alleged that her client was framed.

Nonetheless, Wong said, she already was convinced that Buchanan had perjured himself on the stand and on Wednesday afternoon filed a petition asking a judge to order Rivas’ release from prison.

“My client is serving a seven-year prison sentence that he shouldn’t be serving at all,” said Wong, a deputy public defender for Los Angeles County. “He has always maintained his innocence.”

James E. Trott, Buchanan’s attorney, declined comment on the LAPD investigation into his client, saying he has no information about the department’s probe.

According to court files, Buchanan testified that he and two officers watched Rivas and another man sell drugs in the 500 block of South Rampart Street about midnight on March 21, 1998.

Buchanan said he watched in secret as one man, then another, approached Rivas and his friend Carlos Guevara. In the case of the first man, after a brief conversation Guevara reached for a bottle on the ground, removed a small object and handed it to Rivas, Buchanan testified, adding that Rivas then handed the object to the man, who in turn handed him money.

About five minutes later, another man walked up and a similar scenario unfolded, the officer said. As soon as the money exchanged hands a second time, Buchanan testified, he was sure that he had witnessed a drug transaction and radioed for backup.

As two officers arrived and detained Rivas and Guevara, Buchanan said, he searched the area where the two men were standing and found a small bottle that contained what was later determined to be about 40 pieces of crack cocaine.

Buchanan testified that he and one of his partners that night logged the drugs into evidence together. The identity of that officer was unclear from the testimony.

In a Nov. 5 interview at a state prison, Rivas told detectives assigned to the Rampart corruption task force that he was framed, according to police documents obtained by The Times. Fresh out of prison at the time of his arrest, Rivas said, he had spent the day drinking Corona beer and was walking home from visiting an old girlfriend when he and Guevara were stopped by police.

Within moments, Rivas said, he and his friend were against a wall, searched, handcuffed and put in the back of a patrol car. Rivas said he asked why he was being arrested, but was told only “you’re going in,” the documents state.

Rivas said Buchanan initially questioned him about another man who apparently had dropped some drugs on the ground near where Rivas and Guevara were arrested. Rivas said he told Buchanan that he didn’t know what he was talking about. About two hours later, Rivas told detectives, Buchanan returned and told him that he was being booked on a charge of possession of narcotics for sale. It was then, Rivas said, that the officer taunted him over whom a jury would believe.

Rivas and Guevara were tried and convicted. Guevara served a year in jail and apparently has since returned to his native El Salvador.