Man Police Shot Enters Plea Deal

Javier Francisco Ovando, paralyzed below the waist after he was shot by Los Angeles police in 1996 and later awarded a $15-million settlement as the highest-profile victim of the Rampart scandal, pleaded guilty Thursday to transporting cocaine to Las Vegas.

Ovando, 24, agreed to undergo drug treatment to avoid prison, and to forfeit $50,000 in cash and a handgun found in his expensive sport-utility vehicle--as well as the SUV itself--at the time of his arrest.

In March, Ovando and five others were headed for a weekend of partying in Las Vegas and had just crossed into Nevada when they were pulled over by a California Highway Patrol officer for speeding. Ovando’s girlfriend was driving the vehicle.

Police found $71,888 in cash, 50 grams of cocaine and 37 grams of marijuana in the vehicle, and a handgun hidden beneath the hood. They originally suspected that Ovando was a drug trafficker, but quickly learned that the cash had come from his settlement with the city of Los Angeles over his shooting and wrongful imprisonment.

“He wanted to come here and relax,” his Montebello attorney, Gregory W. Moreno, said outside the courtroom in explaining the presence of cash and drugs in Ovando’s 1999 Cadillac Escalade.

“He’s learned his lesson,” Moreno said as Ovando smiled from his wheelchair. “He’s had no problem before, and the court system will now give him a chance to take care of the [drug] problem.”

Ovando had faced a possible life term in prison stemming from four felony counts--conspiracy to possess, possession, trafficking and transporting a controlled substance.

In a plea agreement, Ovando, through an interpreter, admitted his guilt in transporting the drugs, and the other charges were dismissed.

Clark County District Judge Michael L. Douglas set formal sentencing for Oct. 25.

According to the agreement, Ovando must first qualify for a drug rehabilitation program, which his attorney said the defendant would do. If he fails to complete the program, the judge said, Ovando will face one to six years in prison and be fined $20,000.

“In the interest of justice, we thought this was a fair resolution,” said Melisa De La Garza, a Clark County deputy district attorney.

All six people arrested had been free on bail. The driver, Crystal Rios, is being sought after missing her first court hearing. Three others--Walter Roa, Samuel Antonio Alfaro and Manuel Jesus Lopez--failed to appear in court Thursday, and warrants were issued for their arrests. Proceedings against Richard Reyes, the remaining suspect, were delayed one week. All are from Los Angeles.

Five years ago, as a 19-year-old, Ovando--who his attorney said had no prior criminal record--was shot in the chest and head by then-LAPD Officers Rafael Perez and Nino Durden, who accused Ovando of trying to attack them.

Ovando had served 2 1/2 years of a 23-year prison sentence when his conviction was overturned in 1999 with the unfolding of the Rampart police corruption scandal and the revelation that the officers had fabricated their story, had shot him and then planted a gun on him.

His was one of about 100 cases voided in the wake of the scandal. The circumstances surrounding the Ovando case are being probed by a federal grand jury.

Ovando has received the bulk of his settlement, but is due the final two payments, Moreno said.