Jack Leonard

Senior Editor, Investigations

As senior editor of investigations, Jack Leonard oversees the work of a team of investigative reporters in the Los Angeles Times’ Metro section and coordinates investigative stories in other departments as well as investigative partnerships with other organizations. As a reporter, he was part of the team that exposed fraud and abuse in California’s conservatorship system, a series that won several national awards. He went on to investigate how early releases from L.A.’s jail system perverts justice and fosters more crime on the street. Later, he worked on a sweeping expose of abuse and corruption in the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.

Latest From This Author

California

Rediscovering the L.A. Times’ investigative reporting from 2021

Times reporters’ dedication to accountability reporting inspired countless stories ranging from breaking news to features to hard-hitting investigations. Here are some of those stories.
Business

Humans created new trees. Cellular trees. Why?
California

Catch up on the L.A. Times’ investigative reporting from 2020

Toxic fumes on airplanes. COVID-19 spreading in prisons. Long delays to see medical specialists. Catch up on our accountability reporting from 2020.
World & Nation

Man arrested for alleged threats at plant

Search: Two deputies are overcome by fumes as they search the fired San Onofre worker’s storage unit. He allegedly made threatening calls against other employees.
California

2 bodies found inside Joshua Tree National Park

The bodies of two dead people were found inside Joshua Tree National Park on Sunday, authorities said.
California

After upheaval, California Coastal Commission selects veteran insider as new head

After a tumultuous year that included allegations of undue influence from wealthy developers and the firing of a popular leader, the California Coastal Commission has selected a new executive director.
California

Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputy is shot and killed, and a suspect is in custody

A Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed Sunday in “an execution” carried out by a wanted man who was caught hours later after he carjacked one motorist, robbed a liquor store and tried to snatch a purse from a woman in Tulare County, authorities said.
California

Hear the lies that federal prosecutors say Sheriff Lee Baca told them
California

Hear the lies that federal prosecutors say Sheriff Lee Baca told them

Retired Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca pleaded guilty this week to a felony count of making a false statement in the jail abuse scandal that led him to step down in 2014.
California

Convicting a police officer in an on-duty shooting is an uphill climb

If the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office agrees to Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck’s request for criminal charges against an officer who shot and killed a homeless man in Venice last year, it would set the stage for an extremely rare kind of case in California, that of a police officer charged in an on-duty shooting.