Culver City Police Chief Urged Leniency for Vera

Culver City Police Chief John Montanio, accused of giving a city councilman’s son special treatment during a traffic stop, signed a letter this year urging leniency for the same man in an earlier concealed weapon case.

Montanio went to bat for Albert Vera Jr., 39, who received probation after pleading no contest to illegal possession of a handgun. The gun was discovered when the son of Culver City Councilman Albert Vera Sr. was arrested for petty theft last year.

The younger Vera’s attorney submitted Montanio’s letter in January along with letters from the then acting chief, assistant chief and a prosecutor.

Montanio, appointed chief in March, was a candidate for the job at the time. The letter came to light after Montanio was accused by one of his officers of intervening on behalf of the councilman’s son in a drug case.

Officer Heidi Keyantash alleged in a memo written Aug. 30 that Montanio had ordered her to omit information from her report on the Aug. 7 traffic stop that led to a misdemeanor narcotics possession charge against the younger Vera, a former reserve police officer.

Montanio, through an aide, said he could not comment.

Keyantash alleged that the councilman appeared at the scene where she had detained his son for driving a truck with an expired license tag.

According to Keyantash, the elder Vera threatened the officer, saying “I’ll get you.” She alleged Montanio later directed her to omit mention of the councilman from her report.

Vera Sr. had said that officers must have planted the drugs, a comment for which he has since publicly apologized.

At Montanio’s request, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca began an investigation this week into the councilman’s action.

In the first case, Vera Jr. pleaded no contest to illegally carrying a weapon when he was detained in an August 2003 shoplifting incident in Culver City. His lawyers collected letters from several officials, including Montanio, attesting to the defendant’s good character.

Montanio wrote that he had known Vera Jr. for 25 years as a “loving father and charitable person” and as a reserve police officer who had volunteered many hours. Montanio wrote that the younger Vera carried the weapon inside his family’s store and once had a concealed-weapons permit. The permit expired when he left the reserves after 14 years in 2001.

“I respectfully ask the court to take into consideration Mr. Vera’s background and prior service to the community,” Montanio wrote. Similar letters were written by then acting Police Chief Gary Martin, Assistant Chief William Bunck and Deputy Dist. Atty. John F. Nantroup Jr.

The younger Vera’s lawyer, Gerald Fogelman, argued that his client accompanied a woman who took a jacket from the store without paying for it. As they were being questioned, security guards realized Vera Jr. was armed. Vera explained himself by allegedly saying “he was a reserve officer,” Fogelman said.