Sheriff’s official on leave after DUI arrest
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The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department placed one of its top-ranking executives on leave Thursday after learning that his driver’s license had been suspended after a June arrest for allegedly driving while intoxicated in his county-issued car.
Division Chief Michael Aranda, 62, was arrested June 12 after he failed a field sobriety test during a late-evening traffic stop on the 14 Freeway, said California Highway Patrol Officer John Lutz.
Aranda, who has served nearly 40 years with the Sheriff’s Department, declined to comment.
Sheriff’s officials had been waiting for the criminal case to conclude before deciding whether to discipline Aranda, said Steve Whitmore, a sheriff’s spokesman.
The department didn’t know that the state Department of Motor Vehicles had suspended Aranda’s license until it was contacted by The Times, Whitmore said.
After learning of the license suspension, Sheriff Lee Baca placed Aranda on paid administrative leave and ordered an internal affairs investigation. Aranda will be suspended with pay until the conclusion of the investigation, Whitmore said.
Deputy Dist. Atty. John Nantroup, who supervises prosecutions in the Lancaster court, said he expects to make a decision soon about whether to file charges against Aranda.
Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, said the case has been handled no differently from any other.
It was initially reviewed by the district attorney’s Justice System Integrity Division, which decided it should be handled in Lancaster. The justice unit typically handles allegations of criminal misconduct by peace officers while on duty, Gibbons said.
The CHP started looking for Aranda’s car, a black 2007 Chevrolet Impala, about 11:45 p.m. after someone called 911 and reported it was being driven erratically, Lutz said.
Officers spotted the car in northbound traffic on the 14 Freeway near Crown Valley Road and stopped the motorist because he was “weaving back and forth” and driving 53 mph, well below the speed limit, Lutz said.
“He did show signs of impairment. An arrest was made,” he said.
Neither Lutz nor Nantroup would disclose Aranda’s blood-alcohol content. But DMV records show that his license was suspended in July for driving with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit of 0.08%.
After the arrest, Aranda was taken to the CHP’s Antelope Valley station, where he was cited and released about 1:40 a.m. June 13, Lutz said. His car was released to the Sheriff’s Department, he said.
Lutz said the division chief was “treated just like any other person we come in contact with.” Aranda was cooperative throughout the process, he said.
Aranda, chief of the Technical Services Division, oversees the department’s computer and data systems, crime lab and records division. He joined the department in 1968.
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