Sheriff’s Sergeant Pleads Not Guilty to Molestation

Kevin Carney, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s sergeant and Palmdale councilman, pleaded not guilty Thursday to 17 felony counts of child molestation and one misdemeanor count of possessing child pornography.

Carney, a 23-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department who was elected to the Palmdale City Council in November, surprised authorities by turning himself in at a downtown courtroom.

Wearing a blue business suit, the 48-year-old Carney was quiet and appeared tired. An arrest warrant had been issued for him Wednesday when prosecutors filed charges.

In court Thursday, Carney’s defense attorney, Milton C. Grimes, argued that the $2-million bail was unfair because Carney had already been arrested Oct. 29 and had posted a $100,000 bond.

“They had the same information from the beginning,” Grimes said, holding Carney’s right arm. “Two million is excessive, there is no ground for justification.”

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Dver said investigators did not learn about all the alleged victims and the child pornography until after Carney’s October arrest, just four days before his election to the council.

“When you have one child, you have a doubt, two children, less doubt, four children, there is no doubt at all,” Dver said.

Municipal Judge Sam Ohta said prosecutors did nothing wrong by raising the bond to $2 million and set a Jan. 14 hearing to review the bail.

The charges against Carney, a married father of three, involve four girls from the Antelope Valley. All of the incidents are alleged to have taken place when Carney, then assigned to the Lancaster sheriff’s station, was off duty. Now on paid leave, he has filed papers to retire.

The investigation began when a teenager went to the station where Carney worked and said he had molested her. Officials said the alleged incidents began in April 1990 when the girl was 6 and continued until she turned 14 last year.

The investigation found three other alleged victims: A second 14-year-old said she had been molested in September 1994, Dver said, and two girls ages 7 and 8 reportedly were molested between June 1, 1996, and March 7, 1997.

Carney is the third Antelope Valley deputy arrested on suspicion of a child-related sex crime.

“There is no connection between any of the incidents, any of the deputies or any of the victims,” said sheriff’s Capt. Garry Leonard. “They all appear to be isolated, individual incidents. One is unacceptable, let alone three.”

On Tuesday, Deputy Douglas Mills, 33, who is assigned to the Lancaster station, was charged with felony child molestation of a 12-year-old girl. He is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 11.

In October, Steven Brown, 41, a deputy with the Palmdale station, was charged with using the Internet to meet someone he reportedly believed to be a 13-year-old girl for sex. Brown allegedly sent an undercover FBI agent sexually explicit messages and was arrested at a West Los Angeles mall where he had planned to meet the girl, authorities said. He has pleaded not guilty.

If Carney is convicted of all charges, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

A conviction of any felony would force him to give up his council seat, said Cesar Bertaud, Palmdale senior deputy city attorney.

Carney was being held in a county jail Thursday night in segregated quarters because he could be targeted by other inmates.

A preliminary hearing has been set for Jan. 19.