Sheriff’s ‘Magnificent 7’ Make Their Mark

One investigator is called the Preacher, because he says he can get anyone to confess. Another is known as Popeye, for the arched-brow looks he gives his subjects when he thinks they’re lying.

And there are others on this quirky crew of cops--guys like Flattop and the Comma Meister, with their nicknames providing a bit of comic respite from their serious and sometimes controversial task: getting to the bottom of the most vexing issues at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

With a job that sometimes puts them at odds with their colleagues, seven of the department’s top sleuths are assigned to a special investigations unit, to probe such controversies as the erroneous release of inmates from County Jail and the alleged CIA connection to crack sales in South-Central Los Angeles.

The group--led by Capt. Neal Tyler--was put together last January as part of the reforms initiated in the wake of the Kolts Commission report, which studied police brutality, minority hiring and other issues facing the department.

The group’s first task was to develop detailed work histories of employees who appeared to present an excessive-force risk. But as other high-profile problems came up, top officials turned to the unit for quick answers.

“They were picked because they can do a variety of things,” Tyler said. “Performance review is the primary task, but we are getting more and more interested in looking at systems in the department when they don’t work so well.”

Recently, the group completed a lengthy investigation into allegations that the CIA helped fuel Southern California crack sales in the 1980s. Although the group found no evidence of government involvement in drug trafficking, it did turn up controversial new details about a group of sheriff’s deputies that had previously been convicted of stealing thousands of dollars during a 1986 raid.

Those critical findings were detailed extensively in a 3,500-page investigation, released by the department earlier this month.

Although the group’s efforts have received high marks from department brass, not everyone approves of its work.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) called the crack report flawed and incomplete. And representatives of the union for sheriff’s deputies are concerned that the investigators have relied on faulty information when putting together profiles of potentially problem employees.

“They say it’s ‘junk in, junk out,’ ” said Dick Shinee, an attorney for the Assn. of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriff’s Union.

Nevertheless, the fact that the department has formed the special unit to look into internal problems has won praise from department watchdogs. Merrick Bobb, an attorney who was appointed by the Board of Supervisors to monitor the department, referred to the profiling efforts as a “remarkable achievement” in his most recent report on reforms.

“They are quite a crew,” Bobb said.

Sheriff Sherman Block refers to the investigators as the “magnificent seven.” “They’re consummate professionals with the absolute highest integrity,” he said.

Among them are four sergeants, a couple of lieutenants and one deputy. Most of them have worked together in some of the toughest parts of the county--each with 15 years or more on the force. They have spent years investigating everything from petty thefts to gang shootings. And on occasion, they have been called on to look into the conduct of colleagues.

Lt. Mike Bornman--a.k.a. The Preacher--spent five years on the Operation Big Spender investigations, which led to the conviction of more than two dozen deputies on various criminal charges, including stealing millions of dollars in cash from narcotics traffickers and money launderers.

“Some of the people I investigated were friends of mine,” Bornman said. “But if you cross the line and you betray the trust, then that’s the way it goes.”

Because of Bornman’s past experience, Tyler and Assistant Sheriff Mike Graham turned to him last January to help put together the special unit--officially called the Performance Review Panel.

Over the year, different people have been rotated onto the unit, depending on their expertise.

For the crack probe, the group included Sgt. Dan Cruz, who Bornman calls Popeye. Cruz spent five years looking into the conduct of deputies involved in Operation Big Spender. Sgt. David M. Silversparre was picked because of his background probing violent takeover robberies. Known as a stickler for correct grammar, Silversparre wrote much of the 3,500-page crack report, hence the nickname Comma Meister.

Sgt. Bob Rifkin, who worked with Bornman on gang detail, was chosen because of his investigative skills and efforts in starting the Century station’s bike patrol unit. Lt. Axel Anderson--a.k.a. Flattop, as in the hairstyle--is known for supervising the robbery/assault team in East Los Angeles.

Sgt. Joe Hartshorne, a former homicide detective, was picked because he spent years looking into the conduct of the narcotics officers caught in the drug-money skimming scandal. And Deputy Bonnie Newman, who was assigned to the department’s risk management unit, was chosen because of her experience in internal investigations.

Group members spent two months working on the crack probe, for a time calling themselves the “rat squad,” in reference to a small, plastic rat that someone found during Halloween in a headquarters conference room.

Whenever someone in the group would get a key interview, they would squeeze the toy, making it squeak. It became a sort of tension reliever.

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In the end, the unit conducted 58 interviews in their quest to determine if the CIA and the Nicaraguan Contras fueled Los Angeles’ crack epidemic in the 1980s, the premise of a controversial series in the San Jose Mercury News.

Specifically, the probe centered on more than a dozen 1986 drug raids--conducted by deputies who were eventually charged with stealing money as part of Operation Big Spender. During those raids, one suspect allegedly boasted of ties to the CIA, and a search warrant cited confidential information as saying drug profits were being funneled to the Contras.

While they found no evidence of government involvement, they did discover that some of the deputies had taken between $40,000 and $63,000 during the raids.

“We found out things we never thought we would,” Bornman said.

Before putting together the crack investigation, group members studied the paperwork problems that led to the erroneous release of several dozen inmates--including five homicide suspects--from County Jail over the past two years.

The investigators warned department officials that the tracking system was woefully antiquated. A separate group is now working to come up with solutions, a process that Bornman will help oversee at the jail’s Inmate Reception Center.

For its next task, the group will get back to profiling deputies whose work histories have been deemed questionable. So far, about 100 have been identified.

At the urging of the Kolts Commission, the department asked this group to identify officers whose histories indicate a possible tendency to use excessive force. The unit formed profiles after examining citizen complaints, internal investigative reports, disciplinary actions and court claims. A performance review committee then was asked to determine if the deputies needed more training, psychological counseling or removal from field duties.

“We are basically looking at auditing ourselves better and better,” Tyler said. “People outside like to audit us. It’s always good if we have our systems in order.”