County Urged to Halt Appeal of $60,000 Bias Award

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Det. Brian Moriguchi came to work one day at the Metrolink station here and was greeted by a bucktoothed caricature on his office’s message board, complete with pseudo-Asian lettering and words such as “ah so!”

But when the 10-year veteran complained to his supervisors, his tires were slashed, his locker was broken into, and he was denied a promotion.

Four years later, a Superior Court jury found not only that Moriguchi had been discriminated against, but also that his supervisors had launched a phony internal affairs investigation to dissuade him from complaining. Still, county lawyers are appealing the jury’s $60,000 compensation award.

On Tuesday, a group of attorneys and civil rights organizations urged the Board of Supervisors to ask its special counsel for the Sheriff’s Department to probe the incident, which the department never investigated. They also implored the board to halt the appeal.

“This appeal sends a loud and unfortunate message that the county, at its very highest level, endorses retaliation against officers with the courage to speak up,” said Kimi Lee of the Southern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Moriguchi, who stayed with the department and has since been promoted to sergeant, said: “The good ol’ boys network is alive and well.”

County Counsel Lloyd W. Pellman said the county was appealing the case because jurors explicitly found the county not liable for the discrimination. Instead, the jury awarded damages against Moriguchi’s two superiors.

But the county still must pay those damages, since they were levied against county managers, Pellman said. In addition, he said, the county questions whether the message board incident is connected with the alleged retaliation, which he said occurred months later.

“I don’t think anybody in the process disputes that the drawing was inappropriate,” Pellman said.

On Feb. 28, 1996, Moriguchi went into the sheriff’s Metrolink substation in Santa Clarita to find a message he had left for deputies on the station’s white message board covered by the drawing, accompanied by phrases such as “ah so,” and “Al-ight den.” Moriguchi complained to his supervisor, Sgt. James Maurer, and asked for an investigation. Maurer never acted, and later told Moriguchi, “You don’t count, you’re not black or Hispanic,” according to a judge’s findings.

Moriguchi tried to take the matter up the command chain, the judgment states, but Maurer “fabricated” allegations against Moriguchi, triggering an internal affairs probe that could have stayed in Moriguchi’s personnel file.

Moriguchi told supervisors Tuesday that after he complained, the tires of his car were slashed multiple times while it was parked in a secure sheriff’s lot. His locker was broken into, his computer files were deleted, and he and his girlfriend were followed.

After a unanimous jury verdict against Maurer and Lt. Anthony Torres last summer, Superior Court Judge Charles W. McCoy took the unusual step of enjoining the county from leaving written records of the investigation in Moriguchi’s personnel file or ever disclosing to any third party the substance of that probe.

Attorneys Tuesday reminded supervisors of the troubled history of the Sheriff’s Department, especially in light of a 1992 study by retired Superior Court Judge James Kolts that found that the agency was not addressing racial problems. Female deputies also have complained of retaliation when they lodge sexual harassment complaints in the department.

“This is not an isolated incident,” said Nora Ramos, of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center.