The omission from the internal criminal report of other instances of evidence-related conduct by LeFlore was clearly designed to control the process and help deliver impunity for a member of the agency who seemingly should have been held to a higher standard, considering he was engaged in this behavior after investigating others for the same class of misconduct.” “A comparison of the investigation of LeFlore with others carried out by the same investigators makes it abundantly clear that there were very different objectives when it came to LeFlore. “In hindsight, the ‘investigation’ and referral of LeFlore was likely only ordered because of concerns that the failure to act would raise potential complaints of disparate treatment. ![]() Sanders points out in his motion that this type of information was included in the reports of the other Sheriff’s Department personnel who were investigated. Yet according to the motion, the department withheld important information from the district attorney’s office, including the five reports in which LeFlore lied about booking evidence when he hadn’t. The Sheriff’s Department later investigated LeFlore’s misconduct and referred him to the district attorney’s office for potential criminal prosecution along with 16 others for evidence mishandling. The motion says the Sheriff’s Department was aware of LeFlore’s evidence mishandling misconduct before choosing him for the audit. In his motion, Sanders says LeFlore had booked evidence late on several occasions and wrote five reports where he lied about when he booked evidence. A third audit conducted by the district attorney’s office earlier this year led to 67 charges being dropped or reduced. LeFlore was chosen by the department along with a handful of others to take part in the investigations. For more than a year, Sanders has been revealing details about the scandal in court filings critical of the Sheriff’s Department and the district attorney’s response to the scandal.īefore the scandal was brought to light by an Orange County Register article in late 2019, the Sheriff’s Department conducted two secret audits of the evidence mishandling. ![]() LeFlore is one of the subjects of the widely reported evidence mishandling scandal, where Orange County sheriff’s deputies were found to have booked evidence late or failed to book evidence at all but subsequently lied about it in reports. "This deputy will be held accountable through a swift and thorough process including a full criminal and internal administrative investigation.Even after the Orange County Sheriff’s Department discovered one of its investigators mishandled evidence and lied about it, the department still tasked him with probing into widespread evidence mishandling of his peers, according to a recent court motion.Īssistant Public Defender Scott Sanders alleges in his motion that the Sheriff’s Department then tried to conceal information from the district attorney’s office to lessen the chances that Det. "The suspected criminal actions of this deputy are a violation of public trust," Sheriff Don Barnes said in a statement. He was also placed on administrative leave, and the department said it was investigating prior calls Hortz handled to see if similar instances had occurred. 10 and was booked into the Santa Ana Jail on suspicion of burglary. OCSD immediately launched an investigation into the burglaries as soon as they were reported. ![]() 10 and 16 in civilian clothes and allegedly removed items including weapon safes, ceiling fans and cases containing unknown items. Hortz then returned to the home on the mornings of Aug. It was unclear if Hortz, who was in uniform at the time, left with any property from the home. In the first incident, Hortz returned to the home July 27 and allegedly broke into the unoccupied residence through the rear and left a short time later.
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