Higher Bail Sought for Fire Captain
Prosecutors on Thursday said they recently learned of a second allegation of domestic violence against a Los Angeles city firefighter accused of killing a female acquaintance.
Prosecutors, in court papers, said that during a recent interview, Melissa Dale told investigators that her then-husband, Capt. David Jaime Del Toro, had hit her on numerous occasions in the 1990s. Dale told them that Del Toro, now 50, tried to burn her with a lighted cigarette in 1997, then punched her in the face.
In 2002, Del Toro was charged with misdemeanor violence against a girlfriend, but the city attorney dropped the case. According to the prosecution papers, the alleged assault on the girlfriend was witnessed by another firefighter who was Del Toro’s roommate at the time.
Del Toro is charged with murdering Jennifer Teresa Flores, 42, whose naked and bloody body was found Aug. 16 less than a mile from his Eagle Rock home.
His case has shone a spotlight on city officials’ failure to track domestic violence within the department. Several other big-city fire agencies as well as the Los Angeles Police Department keep a detailed record of employees with criminal or civil complaints for abuse and other alleged misdeeds, but the Fire Department does not.
Del Toro, who is free on $1-million bail, was in court Thursday to set a date for a preliminary hearing. Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Grace Jr. filed a motion to increase Del Toro’s bail to $5 million, citing new evidence “that the level of depravity shown in this murder” requires greater bail to protect the public.
Del Toro’s attorney, Michael J. Bess, told Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner James N. Bianco that he had not had time to review Grace’s motion. Bianco set a hearing on the motion for Sept. 21.
Del Toro, a 23-year department veteran, had been the supervisor of Fire Station 1 in Lincoln Heights, and had trained firefighters in stress management and prevention of sexual harassment.
Del Toro was placed on administrative leave after his arrest, and this month filed for his pension benefits. Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Carlos Calvillo said Del Toro is expected to retire by October.
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