FBI to announce Indictments and Arrests in LA County Jail Investigation

How high in the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department's Chain of Command will the FBI's Arrests and Indictments in its investigation of LA County Jailhouse Abuse go?

Will today's FBI Arrests and Indictments reach the level of Sheriff Lee Baca and former Undersheriff Paul Tanaka?

Numerous media outlets are reporting arrests and pending indictments of Los Angeles County Sheriff Department officials by the FBI, in its investigation of LA County Jailhouse abuse cover-ups and the alleged tampering of an inside FBI informant.

As the time nears the 1 P.M. Press Conference by G-Men Officials, the LA Times is reporting that seven officials have be indicted on obstruction of justice and giving false testimony under oath. The San Jose Mercury News states that at least a dozen officials have been implicated.

As one can visualize, this story is very fluid with Randy Economy of the Los Cerritos News noting the following .........

United States Attorney André Birotte Jr. and FBI Assistant Director in Charge Bill Lewis will be announcing the arrests during the press conference that is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m..
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Spokesperson Mike Parker told HMG-CN that he is referring all media questions to the Los Angeles office of the FBI and that he would not comment on the specifics of the situation.

** LA Weekly's Gene Maddaus gets the award for best pre-press conference report via this missive at the "Weekly of Record" ..........

Federal authorities have indicted 17 current and former members of the L.A. County Sheriff's Department on a range of charges, including obstructing an investigation of abuse in the county jails, according to two sources familiar with the investigation.

The federal charges also relate to two incidents of violence against county inmates, as well as unrelated mortgage fraud and gun charges, according to the sources. The highest ranking defendants are two lieutenants -- Gregory Thompson and Stephen Leavins -- according to a copy of one of the indictments, posted after the jump.

More updates later this afternoon.

Your thoughts .................
Scott Johnson in CD 14

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Thursday

You make fun - yet I'm the one attempting to do some good. Or do you really want a neighborhood where people piss on your stoop every night? Bohemia, Bohemia's a fallacy in your head. This is Calcutta, Bohemia is dead. (with apologies to Jonathan Larson and props to Ron Kaye)

Democrats across the land, including Joe B, were pleased when the Obama Administration filed suit against the State of Arizona over their controversial immigration reform law, SB1070. However that's not exactly the case for Blue Staters within the Grand Canyon territory as nearly the entire Arizona Democratic Congressional delegation and the current Attorney General and Democratic nominee for Governor Terry Goddard expressed reservations about the DOJ suit. The Arizona Dems are fearful of a backlash within the state, where immigration is a hot issue, if it appears that Obama is meddling. At the same time these Dems should be concerned that Latino voters may see them as vendidos and either stay home or support other candidates. No doubt a tough place for them to be in and Obama could have probably helped them more by first making some stand on the border before calling out the lawyers and offering up red meat to the liberal base (as might be said about the Republicans who promoted SB1070 as well).

The DWP drama continued at City Hall Wednesday when interim General Manager Austin Beutner failed to show up to a joint Council committee meeting reviewing Controller Wendy Greuel's recent audit of the utility. The no-show by Beutner or anyone else of significance from the DWP incensed Members Paul Koretz and Greig Smith who both found the snub to be unprecedented. In other DWP news Councilman Tom LaBonge has cancelled the DWP's annual Holiday Light Show in Griffith Park due to water main construction.

No surprise here. A Rand Corporation study finds that the cost of pot could drop significantly if a ballot measure legalizing the crop passes in November. Among the low prices the move could encourage "pot tourism" in California as well as have an impact on smuggling from Mexico. In the meantime a group of African American leaders are calling on California NAACP President Alice Huffman to resign her post due to her support of the legal grass proposition.

If you're passing by LA Trade Tech College Friday morning and think that Al Queda has hit don't worry. It's actually a simulated homeland security exercise coordinated by the LA Sheriff's Department. The exercise will involve a Blue Line train and about 35 actors in a fake terrorist attack staged to test local responders. We send our props to the Sheriff's office!

Off duty sheriff deputy killed in drive-by shooting in Cypress Park

From the Los Angeles Times.

Juan Abel Escalante, a 27-year-old father of three who worked at the Men's Central Jail, is killed in a drive-by shooting in an area that has been troubled by gang feuds.

The shooting occurred at 5:45 a.m. in the 3400 block of Thorpe Avenue, and the deputy died at the scene, said Los Angeles Police Sgt. Chris Gomez.

No further details were released because of the ongoing investigation by police and sheriff's investigators. "We don't want to release any information right now that will interfere with that investigation," Gomez said.

Report on KFWB AM 980 states that the deputy may have been on his way to work when the shooting took place.

"We have no information about the suspect," said LAPD Deputy Chief Sergio Diaz. "The best detectives in our Police Department are handling this case."

A neighbor, Gloria Ruiz, said that her son and the deputy grew up together and had both served in Iraq. She said he had a strict upbringing and his mother "would gleam whenever he had good grades."

Bratton described the area as a historically troubled one because of a feud between the gangs in the Cypress Park and Glassell Park areas, but said that it had been quiet in recent months after an LAPD raid earlier this year.

Both LAPD Chief Bratton and Sheriff Lee Baca are on the scene. They describe the deputy as a two-year member of the department who was assigned to the counties detention system.

Our prayers go out to the LASD and the family of the fallen deputy.