Family Attorneys Contend LAPD Is Keeping Ovando at Secret Location

Javier Francisco Ovando, the 22-year-old man at the center of a worsening Los Angeles Police Department scandal, spoke by telephone with his 2 1/2-year-old daughter for the first time Sunday, attorneys for the daughter said.

But instead of the happy event it should have been, the conversation between Ovando, his daughter, Destiny, and the child’s mother, Monique Valenzuela, dissolved into tears and recriminations, said the attorneys.

The circumstances surrounding the 12:15 p.m. telephone conversation were provided at a news conference held by the attorneys at their Wilshire Boulevard offices, where Valenzuela and Destiny took the call.

The news conference revealed a widening quarrel between the attorneys and the police over just how much liberty Ovando actually has since his release from Salinas Valley State Prison last week at the request of prosecutors.

As part of the largest LAPD corruption investigation in 60 years, an officer has said Ovando was unarmed and handcuffed when he was shot by police and then framed for a crime he didn’t commit. He has been confined to a wheelchair since the shooting.

Gregory W. Smith, an attorney who attended the news conference, said Ovando is essentially being held by police at an unknown location with no contact with family and friends.

But a police spokeswoman said Ovando is not in protective custody, is at a location of his choosing and is free to contact family members. Officer Charlotte Broughton said she did not know if police were providing security for Ovando.

Another attorney, Dennis Chang, claimed that Sunday’s telephone call was monitored and supervised by police and that Ovando “has been told false statements to the effect that Monique does not want Destiny to see her father.”

“This is absolutely not true,” continued Chang. “The phone call was terminated by Monique because she was reduced to tears.”

Smith and Chang said the call was initiated by an LAPD officer earlier Sunday, who said he would call back and that only Valenzuela and Destiny should be on the line. When the call was made it was put on a speakerphone, but the officer asked that the speaker be disconnected or he would not allow Ovando to speak, said Smith.

Smith said that after Valenzuela broke down in tears, he spoke briefly with the officer again and the officer agreed to continue discussions about setting up a face-to-face meeting with Destiny and Valenzuela, but only at a location the police would choose.

The attorneys said they will refuse to accept any conditions from the LAPD about future meetings and that they are angry and frustrated at the way Ovando and his family are being treated.

“The man has had a horrible experience,” said Smith, who added that Ovando does not have his own attorney. “He should be let go to be with his loved ones and not under the supervision of the LAPD. They are manipulating this thing.”

Police officials offered a different version of events, saying Ovando is free to come and go. And Broughton said the attorneys brokered the telephone call with Ovando himself. She said she did not know if the call was supervised, and if it was, she didn’t know why. And she said Ovando is cooperating with investigators, who know where he is.

“He is at an undisclosed location that we are not releasing because of safety concerns,” said Broughton.

She said she did not know who is thought to pose a threat to Ovando, but there have been suggestions that police officers implicated in the investigation of corruption allegations might want to do him harm.

“I would certainly hope that is not the case,” said Broughton. “I don’t know a lot about Mr. Ovando or who the potential threat would be to his safety, but we are concerned.”

The lawyers said they intend to file a suit against the LAPD alleging that Ovando was not allowed to see his daughter when he was in prison.