Sheriff Villanueva fights subpoena for his testimony on deputy cliques

L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva is challenging a subpoena to answer questions about secretive, gang-like cliques of deputies in the department, arguing in a court filing that the request is “too broad” and “harassing.” Max Huntsman, the agency’s independent watchdog, issued the subpoena last month after Villanueva made comments that Hunstman found to be “somewhat unclear” about efforts to root out the cliques and enforce a new policy banning any deputy groups that violate people’s rights. When the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission last year requested Villanueva’s testimony about his agency’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic inside its sprawling jail system, his attorney argued that the request was an abuse of power and that Villanueva had met his obligation by sending an assistant sheriff who was knowledgeable about the issue to the meeting. Lawyers representing L.A. County dropped the case against Villanueva after he showed up voluntarily to the commission’s December meeting, when he took questions from the panel about deputy subgroups. At the commission’s December meeting, Villanueva said that no deputy had been disciplined for joining a clique since his ban on deputies joining abusive groups went into effect early in the year.