Ex-Rampart Officer Held in Cocaine Sting

A Los Angeles police officer once assigned to work narcotics in the troubled Rampart Division is in jail in San Diego facing federal drug charges for allegedly buying 10 kilograms of cocaine from undercover agents, according to court documents.

Officer Ruben Palomares, who is currently assigned to the LAPD’s Northeast Division, and four other men are charged with possession with intent to distribute the drug, federal court papers say.

Palomares, 31, is the subject of a separate investigation by the FBI into his role in the 1998 shooting of an alleged drug dealer. Rafael Perez, the key informant behind the LAPD’s Rampart corruption scandal, told investigators that the shooting was unjustified and covered up.

Palomares and the other suspects were arrested Friday in a Chula Vista parking lot after an afternoon rendezvous with men they allegedly believed were drug dealers. According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in San Diego, the suspects paid $130,000 cash to an undercover agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

If convicted of possessing such a large amount of the drug, the defendants would face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Randy Jones, who is prosecuting the case.

“This is a very disturbing situation for us,” said LAPD spokesman Lt. Horace Frank. “We were just coming around the corner [on the Rampart scandal]. This just puts a damper on the 99% of officers who are out there doing their jobs.”

Because they were in custody, neither Palomares nor his co-defendants could be reached for comment. Officials at the U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego and the DEA declined to comment about the case, including the relationship between Palomares and the other suspects.

The complaint indicates that DEA agents learned in March that one of the suspects, Dennis Garcia, “was interested in purchasing a large quantity of cocaine.” After two months of negotiations between an undercover agent and Garcia, the deal was arranged.

About 2 p.m. Friday, Garcia, Palomares and Gabriel Loaiza arrived in Chula Vista, south of downtown San Diego, to make the deal, court papers say.

Palomares and Garcia met with the agent as Loaiza sat on a park bench “conducting counter-surveillance,” the complaint states. Palomares told the undercover agent that he would find the money in a box in the vehicle in which Palomares and his alleged partners had just arrived, the document says.

“The [undercover agent] then proceeded to the vehicle and observed approximately $118,000,” according to the complaint. Minutes later, co-defendants Jose Garcia and Alvin Moon pulled into the parking lot in a separate vehicle and provided the undercover operative with $12,000, the balance of the money, the document says.

At that point a second undercover DEA agent pulled up in a van loaded with cocaine, according to the complaint.

Then the undercover agent and Palomares swapped keys.

Palomares and Dennis Garcia got in the van and drove away with the drugs, then were pulled over about a quarter of a mile away and arrested without incident, according to court papers. Palomares was armed with two guns, the documents state.

Moon, Loaiza and Jose Garcia fled in another vehicle and were arrested after a brief chase by DEA agents and Chula Vista police. Inside that vehicle, agents seized a black bag containing loaded weapons, ammunition and chemical spray.

Capt. Kyle Jackson of the LAPD’s Northeast Division declined to speak to a reporter about Palomares. Jackson’s aide said the officer had been at Northeast for a short time and was assigned to administrative duties.

Palomares was one of two narcotics officers who fatally shot Carlos Vertiz, a suspected drug dealer, in the basement of a Rampart-area apartment building in May 1998.

Perez, as part of a plea agreement to shave time off his sentence for stealing cocaine from LAPD evidence lockers, has alleged rampant corruption within Rampart.

According to transcripts of his interviews with investigators, he told them that he had discussed the Vertiz shooting with Palomares and his partner over beers.

“Supposedly, there was a shotgun put there,” Perez said. “Which officer did what, I don’t know.”

The Times reported in December that detectives on the corruption task force were investigating the shooting.

Vertiz, a 44-year-old house painter who had no criminal record, was shot several times when he allegedly pointed a shotgun at the officers. Vertiz never fired the weapon he allegedly pointed at the officers, and the gun’s chamber was determined to be empty.

Lt. Frank, contacted away from his office, said he could not immediately determine whether Palomares was facing internal discipline as a result of the shooting. Frank confirmed that the LAPD’s investigation of the incident continues. A spokesman for the FBI in Los Angeles said federal investigators are also probing the shooting.