Lee Baca, the former sheriff of Los Angeles County, pleaded guilty to a federal charge of lying to investigators on Wednesday, February 10, during a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe of corruption in the Los Angeles County jail system in 2014. Baca admitted in court that he lied when asked if he was aware that some of his deputies had paid a visit to the home of a female FBI agent. The purpose of the visit was plainly to intimidate the agent into backing off of the corruption investigation.
Baca agreed not to contest other allegations leveled by federal prosecutors, including that he directed subordinates to approach the agent, stating that they should "do everything but put handcuffs" on her, the agreement said.
Prosecutors accused Baca in court records of lying about his involvement in hiding a jail inmate from FBI investigators. Baca, they alleged, ordered the inmate to be isolated, putting Tanaka in charge of executing the plan.
In addition, Baca falsely claimed he was unaware that some of his subordinates had interrupted and ended an interview FBI agents were conducting with the inmate, who was working as a federal informant, prosecutors alleged in the court documents.
The Los Angeles County jail system has been plagued by allegations of brutality and corruption for years. The ACLU of Southern California has been a monitor of the jails for years and they say that the leadership of the jails is what led to the climate of brutality in the first place.
“There were terrible things that went on in the jails for a long time," [Peter Eliasberg, legal director of American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California] said. “In terms of people in the jails, what happened to inmates was horrible. He is in large part to blame for that."
Baca is now the 18th of 21 members of the L.A.Sheriffs Department to be convicted of some form of corruption, wrongdoing or misconduct in the probe of the L.A. County jail, the largest jail system in the world. He could have faced up to five years in prison but in exchange for his guilty plea Baca is seeking a sentence of no more than six months. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 16.