Rampart Victim Ovando in Court on Drug Charges

Wearing a Dodgers baseball cap and sitting in his wheelchair, brain-injured Javier Ovando, the most high-profile victim of the Rampart police scandal, found himself back in a courtroom Thursday in a case that had nothing to do with the LAPD.

In 1996, Ovando was shot and paralyzed by Los Angeles police officers Rafael Perez and Nino Durden after he allegedly attacked them. Ovando was convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison.

It turned out the officers were the ones doing the attacking, and they planted a gun on the 19-year-old gang member. Ovando was released after serving 2 1/2 years in prison, his conviction was overturned, and the city of Los Angeles gave him $15 million--the largest settlement ever in connection with LAPD misconduct.

On Thursday, Ovando, now 23, sat quietly in court, accused of being a cocaine trafficker. If convicted, he faces a maximum term of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 10 years.

Ovando and five others were indicted by a Clark County grand jury March 30 after the six were stopped in Ovando’s 1999 Cadillac sport utility vehicle while they were headed to Las Vegas for a gambling getaway.

A California Highway Patrol officer, trailing the SUV across the desert and into Nevada, pulled the vehicle over for traveling 105 mph.

Nevada law enforcement officers arrived at the scene and found 50 grams of cocaine in various plastic bags, 37 grams of marijuana and a black duffel bag containing $71,888 in cash, said Clark County Deputy Dist. Atty. Melisa De La Garza.

She said that, in Nevada, possession of 28 grams or more of cocaine is considered a “large-level trafficking offense” and characterized the charges against Ovando as “very serious.”

The amount of cash found in the vehicle was not factored into the trafficking charges, she said, “because we knew of his Rampart settlement.”

Because the cocaine and marijuana allegedly were found in the vehicle but not on any one person, all six occupants were being similarly charged on all four counts, she said.

On Thursday, Ovando refused to enter a plea in a downtown Las Vegas courtroom. Clark County District Judge Mark Gibbons entered a plea of not guilty on Ovando’s behalf.

Besides cocaine trafficking, Ovando and his five co-defendants also each face charges of conspiracy to possess cocaine and/or marijuana, possession of marijuana and transporting cocaine.

Ovando’s attorney, Arnoldo Casillas of Montebello, said his client did not enter a plea Thursday because “the charges are horribly vague. He is entitled to a specific description of the charges.”

Casillas said Ovando “is real shaken” by his most recent arrest “but confident this all will be resolved favorably. He looks forward to putting this episode behind him.”

Casillas said there was “no basis for the drug-trafficking charges” but declined to say more.

Four other defendants pleaded not guilty Thursday. They are Richard Reyes, Samuel Alfaro, Manuel Lopez and Antonio Walter, all 26 and from Los Angeles. A sixth defendant, Crystal Rios, did not appear in court Thursday and a warrant was issued for her arrest.

The judge set an Aug. 27 trial date.

The Rampart Division police scandal unfolded when Perez, a former anti-gang officer, was accused of stealing six pounds of cocaine from LAPD evidence facilities. In exchange for a lighter sentence, Perez agreed to name other allegedly corrupt officers. He told investigators that rogue officers from the Rampart Division routinely framed and beat suspects and covered up unjustified shootings.

Since his disclosures, some 100 criminal convictions have been overturned and eight LAPD officers have been charged with corruption-related crimes. The investigation is ongoing.

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Times staff writer Matt Lait in Los Angeles contributed to this story.