Baca seeks probe of allegation of preferential treatment

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca asked his department’s watchdog Tuesday to review his handling of a case in which he was accused of giving preferential treatment to a long-time supporter who has given the sheriff political donations and expensive gifts.

Baca wants the Office of Independent Review to consider guidelines that would help him decide how to handle investigation requests brought directly to his attention, including pleas from donors, celebrities and friends.

Baca made the request in response to a Times investigation showing that he directed detectives to go outside his agency’s jurisdiction to open a criminal probe on behalf of Ezat Delijani, a Beverly Hills businessman.

Michael Gennaco, who heads the Office of Independent Review, said he would use the Delijani case as a platform for considering new guidelines that could limit “the perception of favoritism” in cases taken to the sheriff.

On Monday, Gennaco said he did not intend to investigate the case, adding that he thought setting guidelines for criminal investigations on behalf of political donors might be impractical.

“I’m still saying that,” Gennaco said Tuesday about such guidelines. “It may end up just too difficult trying to draw these lines. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look at it and try.”

Gennaco said there are some situations in which favors for high-profile individuals can be violations of department policy, including expunging a ticket and unfairly reducing jail time.

Sheriff’s Department spokesman Steve Whitmore said Baca, who is on a trip to the Middle East, called him with the request because “he has nothing to hide.”

“He’s accountable to the public,” Whitmore said. “He doesn’t want even the perception of impropriety.”

Whitmore said that Baca does not believe he did anything improper. Department policy is to be “responsive to victims,” Whitmore said, and if Baca was asked to launch the Delijani case again, “he would do it again.”

In the Delijani case, Sheriff’s Department detectives investigated lease forgery allegations against a tenant of Delijani’s. After Delijani’s son e-mailed Baca’s aide, the sheriff sent a handwritten note to his then-chief of detectives requesting a criminal investigation into the tenant, a Beverly Hills pharmacist named Afshin Nassir. The case was labeled a “special” investigation in internal memos and given “rush” status, although the Beverly Hill Police Department had already concluded that the dispute between the Nassir and Delijani was not a criminal matter.

After Sheriff’s Department detectives completed their four-month investigation, prosecutors declined to file criminal charges, citing lack of evidence. The Sheriff’s Department appealed that decision, prompting prosecutors to review the case a second time. That review is pending.

Outside police experts have called Baca’s conduct an abuse of power and an unfair allocation of county resources.

Gennaco said there wasn’t a timeline for his probe but that it would begin after prosecutors finish their review of the case.

At Baca’s request, county supervisors established the Office of Independent Review in 2001 as a civilian oversight agency monitoring allegations of misconduct in the department. Baca has turned to it for probes in the past.

Whitmore said Baca was open to new guidelines for handling investigative requests made directly to him by donors and others.

“He wants to know, indeed, if there can be a better process, if there’s a better way to do this,” Whitmore said, “so it’s not perceived that somebody is receiving special favors.”

Gennaco said the fact that Baca requested the review of the Delijani case is “helpful.”

“It indicates he’s interested in what we have to say,” he said.

robert.faturechi@latimes.com