U.S. to Start Probe of O.C. Jail Beating

Federal authorities announced Friday they will launch a criminal probe into an alleged jailhouse beating by Orange County Sheriff’s deputies in 1999, an incident that county prosecutors said was marred by a “fatally flawed” sheriff’s investigation.

The new inquiry becomes the third allegation of jail brutality to come under federal scrutiny since late February, and comes amid a flurry of legal claims from inmates alleging they were mistreated by guards.

Michael Gennaco, who heads the civil-rights section of the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles, on Friday said he had asked the FBI to determine whether deputies violated the civil rights of inmate Leonel Vega, who made the 1999 complaint.

“We have received information about [the case] from sources, including the media, and we are going to look into it,” Gennaco said.

Sheriff’s officials said they welcomed the FBI investigation and promised their full cooperation.

“If anybody did anything wrong, they should be punished for it,” said Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amormino. “If there’s a problem, we will fix it.”

Vega, 21, accused four deputies of punching and kicking him in the groin while he was being housed at Men’s Central Jail in Santa Ana in December 1999. Vega, who was later convicted of drug charges, had to be taken to the hospital.

Vega’s allegations triggered a county grand jury investigation and marked the closest Orange County prosecutors have come in years to charging jailhouse deputies accused of brutality.

In a March 14 letter, the district attorney’s office criticized the Sheriff’s Department for botching the investigation. Among other things, jail authorities allowed one of the accused deputies to help with the investigation in its early stages, the letter stated.

In the letter, Supervising Assistant Dist. Atty. Douglas Woodsmall suggested that the inmate’s allegations may have merit, even though prosecutors decided not to file charges against the deputies.

The deputies maintain their innocence, alleging that Vega was attacked by fellow inmates, not jail guards.

On Friday, civil rights attorneys representing other inmates suing the county over alleged jail brutality said they intend to use Woodsmall’s letter to help prove a pattern of abuse exists at the County Jail.

Jonathan Slipp, who is representing dozens of inmates, said the letter shows that the department is not adequately policing its own deputies.

“Together with everything else going on, it will be significant among the bits and pieces of evidence showing that the county allows the use of excessive force in the jails and then covers it up,” he said.

A federal judge in Los Angeles recently granted civil rights attorney R. Samuel Paz permission to review internal sheriff’s documents to determine if a “pattern or practice” of brutality flourished inside the jails.

Paz, who filed a lawsuit following the 1998 death of inmate Gilbert Garcia, said Woodsmall’s letter supports that theory: “In a sense it confirms what we’ve always suspected,” Paz said.

County attorneys handling the cases could not be reached for comment Friday.

Sheriff’s officials said they are taking the district attorney’s criticism to heart and are trying to determine what went wrong.

They insisted, however, that any problems in the Vega probe were an aberration and said the department thoroughly investigates all incidents in the jail.

“We take the suggestions quite seriously,” Asst. Sheriff Rocky Hewitt said in a previous interview. “We feel that we run a very professional shop. However, we’re always looking to improve.”