Ex-L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca ordered to begin prison sentenceFormer Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca was ordered Thursday to turn himself in no later than Feb. 5 to begin serving a three-year federal prison sentence for obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI. The 77-year-old former sheriff, who has Alzheimer’s disease, was sentenced in May 2017 but has remained free pending appeal. U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson issued an order directing Baca to surrender to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. Baca must begin serving his sentence by Feb. 5. “Now that Mr. Baca is going to serve his prison sentence, the clear message to the public is that no man is above the law,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Fox, who prosecuted the case. “As is evident from our work in this case, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI will vigorously enforce the law, no matter who committed the crimes and no matter how long it takes.”
Baca was convicted of conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice and making false statements. During his two trials, prosecutors described the ex-lawman as being the top figure in a multi-part conspiracy, which also involved his former right-hand man, Paul Tanaka, and eight deputies who took orders from the sheriff.
Baca — who ran the nation’s largest sheriff’s department for more than 15 years — was first tried in December 2016 on obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice counts, and prosecutors had planned a second trial on the false statements count. But a mistrial was declared after jurors deadlocked 11-1 in favor of acquittal, and the judge in downtown Los Angeles combined all three counts in the retrial that ended with Baca’s conviction. Baca did not take the stand in either trial. The charges stemmed from events nine years ago: A cellphone was discovered in the hands of an inmate-informant at the Men’s Central Jail. Sheriff’s deputies quickly tied the phone to the FBI, which was conducting a secret probe of brutality against inmates. <Source> |
Bottom line …
Had Baca been a well-connected Democrat, the chances are better that there would have been no investigation, no conviction, and no jail. If he would have been a Clinton, he would have been declared humanitarian of the year.
We are so screwed.
-- steve
“The key to fighting the craziness of the progressives is to hold them responsible for their actions, not their intentions.” – OCS
"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius
“A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves, and traitors are not victims... but accomplices” -- George Orwell
“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”-- George Bernard Shaw
