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When he stepped as much as the witness stand final week, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Jaime Juarez informed the courtroom about his first inking get together — the day he acquired his Compton station tattoo. The intimate gathering was at a house someplace in Pomona, and most people there have been strangers.
However he knew the person who invited him, and knew that man sported the identical ink Juarez was about to get — a design generally linked to a suspected deputy gang often called the Executioners.
On Thursday afternoon, whereas testifying in a civil trial, Juarez pushed up a pant leg to disclose that tattoo: a helmet-wearing skeleton gripping a rifle. The uncommon and candid disclosure got here in a case centered on the secretive world of deputy gangs, experiences of which have plagued the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division for half a century and led to an array of investigations, research and authorized settlements.
The case that led to final week’s tattoo-bearing trial started in 2020, when Lt. Larry Waldie sued the county on claims of retaliation, alleging he was focused and demoted after he “overtly opposed” the Executioners’ management over the Compton station whereas he was performing captain there.
That trial continues, and its first two weeks have featured testimony from an array of present and former Sheriff’s Division officers. Some witnesses provided the names of everybody they’d seen with the so-called Executioners tattoo. One offered footage of a detective bureau desk embellished with the group’s image in a number of locations. One other — Juarez — defined the voting course of used to resolve who may get a tattoo and stated he’d helped make that call a number of instances.
However as a lot as final week’s testimony revealed, it additionally underscored the difficulties inherent in investigating the secretive cliques. The sheriff has acknowledged that deputy gangs exist and has created an workplace in his division to “eradicate” them.
Some witnesses — together with former Sheriff Alex Villanueva — maintained in any other case. Up to now, Villanueva took problem with the usage of the time period “deputy gangs,” sending the county Board of Supervisors a cease-and-desist letter final 12 months to demand it cease utilizing it.
Throughout opening statements within the first week of trial, attorneys for the county argued that the problem of deputy gangs was not the supply of Waldie’s issues in Compton.
“It has nothing to do with this case,” Sherry Gregorio informed the courtroom. “Lt. Waldie was not promoted to captain as a result of there have been simply extra individuals certified for the place.”
Waldie — whose father was as soon as an undersheriff in the identical division — had been working because the operations lieutenant at Compton station for a number of months when he took over because the performing captain in January 2019.
On the time, Juarez was the Compton scheduling deputy, which gave him energy in selecting the coaching and trip schedules for others on the station. In early 2019, he approached Waldie with a listing of different potential deputies he needed to take over the scheduling place.
However Waldie stated he believed Juarez was a tattooed member of the Executioners, and he needed a brand new scheduling deputy who was not.
So he refused the request. In response, Waldie alleged, Juarez orchestrated a “work slowdown” on the Compton station. After Waldie complained to higher-ups, he stated, Juarez was transferred to a different station for a couple of months.
However that August, when Waldie utilized to be the everlasting captain at Compton, he was eradicated so rapidly he wasn’t even thought of within the prime 10 candidates. Waldie’s lawyer argued that was an act of retaliation for complaining about gang exercise — as was the division’s later refusal to let him switch to a different division.
Attorneys for the county informed a distinct story, arguing that Waldie was not essentially the most certified candidate, that he himself was a part of one other tattooed group often called the Gladiators and that he’d promoted or given particular assignments to individuals who have been fellow Gladiators.
A lot of the testimony Juarez gave final week echoed what he stated beforehand when he gave a deposition within the case. Then, as now, he named names, spoke about inking events and talked in regards to the course of for deciding who may get a tattoo.
Beforehand — on the recommendation of county counsel — Juarez hadn’t answered questions on his personal tattoo. However this time, along with exhibiting his ink, he defined a number of the particulars. Particularly, he stated that the tattoo was a “optimistic factor” and that its design contains the quantity 18 as a result of he was the 18th individual to get that tattoo. In whole, roughly 40 deputies have the identical tattoo, he stated, including that nobody has a full listing of them.
He additionally stated “there’s no title” for the tattooed group, however those that bear the tattoo are generally known as “new ink,” whereas those that bear the identical tattoo as Waldie are known as “previous ink.”
He additionally disputed a number of points of Waldie’s claims and denied beginning a piece slowdown. Juarez stated Waldie was mendacity if he alleged in any other case.
One other key witness final week was the previous sheriff, who took the stand over two days. Villanueva alleged that Waldie’s “exceptional ascension” by the division was on account of nepotism, which in the end may have left him much less certified as a candidate for captain.
He additionally denied there have been ever gangs contained in the Sheriff’s Division and stated he enacted an anti-gang coverage solely to handle the “damaging marketing campaign” by the Board of Supervisors. He went on to inform the courtroom that he’d by no means seen the skeleton tattoo till {a photograph} of it was revealed with a information article, and that he’d by no means carried out a research to find out which tattoos existed inside the division.
“What considerations me is conduct, not tattoos,” Villanueva stated, emphasizing that he’d directed others within the division to research the allegations of misconduct at Compton.
The tense testimony comes amid broader debates about when deputies can or can’t be pressured to point out their tattoos, or reveal the names of others who sport the identical ink.
Earlier this month, Inspector Common Max Huntsman, the county watchdog overseeing the Sheriff’s Division, ordered 35 deputies to return in for questioning and present their tattoos. Afterward, Sheriff Robert Luna despatched out a departmentwide e-mail directing deputies to cooperate with Huntsman’s investigation or danger self-discipline.
Days later, deputy unions filed a labor grievance and a lawsuit, arguing that the sheriff’s order circumvented the collective bargaining course of and violated deputies’ constitutional rights.
Testimony within the trial continues Tuesday.
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