Former Officer Gets Probation in Rampart Case

In another case from the Rampart corruption scandal, a former Los Angeles police officer was sentenced to three years of probation Monday for filing a false report describing a 1998 police assault on a gang member.

Shawn Gomez, 30, who pleaded no contest more than two years ago as part of a plea agreement, was also ordered to serve 400 community service hours.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Wesley denied a defense request for a lighter sentence.

“He betrayed the public trust,” Wesley said. “I don’t reward that. Other similarly situated officers have gotten jail time.”

The office of Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley asked for probation and community service because Gomez cooperated with investigators and testified against former fellow Officer Ethan Cohan, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron Goudy.

“Mr. Gomez has done everything he said he would do,” said Goudy, referring to the terms of the plea agreement.

Wesley called the D.A.’s recommendation lenient; probation officers had recommended against probation.

“The present offense is a serious one, particularly considering the defendant, a police officer sworn to ‘protect and serve,’ violated a trusted position to commit the present offense with no apparent regard” for the victim, according to a probation report. The “defendant should be held accountable and sanctions should reflect the gravity of the present matter.”

Gomez was charged with filing a false report in connection with the police beating of Gabriel Aguirre, who was wanted for allegedly assaulting Eddie Alvarado.

On March 26, 1998, five officers raided an abandoned Los Angeles apartment building looking for Aguirre. He was found asleep and was attacked by Cohan, according to court testimony.

Gomez then conspired with other officers, including Cohan and Manuel Chavez, to cover up the incident, court documents said.

Cohan and Chavez both received jail time in the case.

“It was reported that victim Aguirre was injured after he fell down a fire escape and after he battered all of the police officers,” said the report.

Later, it was discovered that not only had Gomez and three others lied about the Aguirre beating, they also had lied in a report filed after they arrested Alvarado in a separate incident.

Asking the victim and his former employer to forgive him, Gomez said, “Thank you for your mercy.”

Gomez, Cohan and Chavez were the last officers charged in the Rampart corruption scandal, which began when disgraced former LAPD Rampart Division Officer Rafael Perez told authorities in 1999 of widespread misconduct in that station’s anti-gang unit.