3 More LAPD Officers Plead Not Guilty In Gang Framing Scandal
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Three more Los Angeles Police Department officers pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of falsifying records that claimed people they had stopped were either gang members or associates.
Braxton Shaw, 38, Michael Coblentz, 44, and Nicolas Martinez, 37, were charged last July with one count each of conspiracy to obstruct justice and multiple counts of filing a false police report and preparing false documentary evidence. They were assigned at the time to the Metropolitan Division and are among six officers charged in the probe.
The other three — Rene Braga, 40, Raul Uribe, 35, and Julio Garcia, 37 — pleaded not guilty on March 16 and are due back in court next week. Shaw Coblentz and Martinez are next due in court Oct. 8.
The charges against all six offers came after a misconduct investigation conducted by the LAPD Internal Affairs Group and monitored by the Office of the Inspector General, according to the department.
LAPD Chief Michel Moore previously said that investigation was launched in early 2019 after a San Fernando woman received a letter from LAPD informing her that her son had been identified as a gang member. Believing it was a mistake, she contacted LAPD. When the department reviewed video from an officer's body-worn camera, they found it did not match what the officer reported and the woman's son was removed from that list.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has previously said that the alleged misconduct could disrupt criminal cases against as many as 750 defendants.
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
