Deputy Investigated Over Racy Photos

Even for the Sunset Strip, it had to be a strange night for a sheriff’s deputy. And he may only have been trying to help with crowd control last year in West Hollywood.

But now that a magazine has published photos of him trying to corral some scantily clad adult-film actresses who had spilled out of a party and onto the street, the deputy is being scrutinized for possible unprofessional conduct, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials said Monday.

The photos were part of a two-page display--”Cop-a-Feel” reads the title on one page--taken on the street outside a promotional event at the Hustler Hollywood store on Sunset Boulevard last summer and printed in the March 2000 issue of Cheri magazine.

Far from being depicted as beefcake, sheriff’s Deputy Charles Kristoff, a portly 42-year-old assigned to the West Hollywood station, is shown alternately laughing and looking distracted as different women--dressed in bra tops and hiked-up shorts--sidle up to him.

In the most risque photo, Kristoff is standing behind a woman as she holds his hands to her barely covered breasts. In another photo, a woman has her legs over his shoulders as she sits atop a patrol car.

Kristoff, who remains on duty in West Hollywood during the investigation, could not be reached for comment Monday. Sunday night, Kristoff told KCAL-TV Channel 9 that the pictures had caused problems for him.

Sheriff’s Department standards require an officer in uniform to act professionally and not do anything to embarrass the department.

Sheriff’s officials said they saw the photos for the first time last week.

“The matter has been referred to Internal Affairs for investigation,” said Capt. Richard Odenthal. “If during the investigation we determine that other deputies participated in this, they may become subject to investigation.”

According to two people who attended the party last summer when the photos were taken, Kristoff was only on the scene as part of his duties patrolling the area. The party had spilled out onto the sidewalk, making an already congested part of Sunset Boulevard more crowded.

Dustin Flynt, a manager at Hustler Hollywood, said several deputies showed up. “They were just controlling the traffic, I guess,” he said.

Kristoff, however, is the only deputy who appears in the photographs.

“The pictures are so deceiving,” said Samantha Lewis, vice president of Digital Playground, the adult entertainment company that hired actresses to make appearances at the store. Lewis said she had no control over the text or pictures used for the article in the magazine.

“Thank God he was there. He kept control of the crowd, he absolutely did not do anything wrong; he actually tamed everyone down,” said Lewis, who said she remembered one or two other deputies showing up to check on traffic flow.

Lewis attributes the suggestive photos to the playfulness of the women. “Whenever the girls see an officer, they always go the extra mile to get their picture taken,” Lewis said. “These girls are entertainers. They try to make you loosen up even if you don’t want to.”

At one point, Lewis said, a woman sat on top of the patrol car. “I remember him saying, ‘No, no, you can’t do that,’ ” said Lewis.

As for the photograph of a woman sitting on top of the patrol car with her legs wrapped around Kristoff, Lewis said, “That’s when she was trying to get down off the car.”

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Times staff writer Tina Daunt contributed to this story.