Inside the Sheriff’s Department’s secretive investigation into Villanueva’s critics

Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva testifies under oath about deputy gangs in front of the county’s Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission. A multi-year criminal investigation under former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva into the agency’s inspector general — a probe that a legal advisor for the county called “not legally viable” — was based largely on unfounded accusations that state and federal prosecutors repeatedly turned down, documents reviewed by The Times show. Over the next 11 months, the sheriff’s report says, that auditing tool showed that Office of Inspector General officials downloaded an “extraordinary number” of items — 1,500 — from the department’s database of personnel files. Huntsman said that number was not surprising “because that was precisely our job.” According to the report, Shasty accessed the files of nine current or former sheriff’s officials on Nov. 28, 2018. In an emailed statement early Thursday, the state Department of Justice said only that it did a “thorough investigation” and ultimately “found insufficient evidence to warrant criminal charges.” *** It’s highly unusual for law enforcement officials to openly discuss ongoing corruption probes, especially before there are charges filed.