U.S.

LAPD Cops Charged In Frame Case

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

April 25, 2000 / 12:34 PM EDT / CBS

Three Los Angeles police officers are out on bail after being arrested on charges of framing a suspect on a weapons charge.

Prosecutors filed charges against Officer Paul Harper and Sergeants Edward Ortiz and Brian Liddy on Monday, just two days before the statute of limitations would have run out and prohibited authorities from pursuing the 1996 case.

These are the first charges to be filed against LAPD officers since the corruption scandal focused on L.A.'s Rampart section came to light last year.

CBS News Correspondent David Dow reports the three officers had already been relieved of duty, although two were still on the payroll.

Harper, 33, is charged with perjury and conspiracy. Ortiz, 43, and Liddy, 38, are charged with conspiracy and filing a false report.

Liddy's attorney, Paul DePasquale, says he doubts a case can be made against his client. DePasquale also notes he has not yet seen the evidence the prosecution is using to support the charge.

The three are among at least 70 officers who came under scrutiny last year when ex-officer Rafael Perez told investigators he and other anti-gang unit officers at the Rampart station framed suspects and falsified evidence.

District Attorney Gil Garcetti says the three officers made up a story in a 1996 arrest, claiming that suspect Allan Lobos had hidden a gun while running away on foot. Lobos' gun conviction was overturned in February, but he remains in prison on an unrelated murder conviction.

"In this case, however, Mr. Lobos is the victim," Garcetti told a news conference. "There can be no excuse for intentional crimes committed by police officers."

So far at least 30 officers, including three sergeants, have been relieved of duty, suspended, fired or resigned in the wake of the scandal. Convictions involving 67 people have been dismissed at the request of prosecutors and authorities are investigating hundreds of criminal cases to determine if they were tainted by dishonest cops.

Garcetti says Monday's arrests will not be the only ones made under pressure of the deadline imposed by the statute of limitations. He declines to say exactly how many cases are facing a tight deadline, except to comment that no such deadlines are imminent in the next two weeks.

Garcetti adds that his office is working hard to put together prosecutable cases as quickly as possible. "You have to proceed with caution in all of these cases," he said, pointing out that prosecution is difficult "when your main witness is an admitted liar."

The delay in filing criminal charges has sparked criticism from Los Angeles police chief Bernard Parks. He complains that Garcetti has been slow to act and the drawn-out investigation has further damaged the credibility of a department already hurt by one of the worst scandals in its history.

The scandal broke wide open last summer when a former member of the Rampart station's anti-gang detail, Rafael Perez, egan cooperating with investigators in exchange for a lighter sentence for stealing cocaine from a police evidence locker. He told investigators that Rampart officers had been routinely beating, robbing, shooting and framing innocent people in the poor, largely minority neighborhood near the police station.