LAPD Detective Awarded $1.5 Million in Retaliation Lawsuit

LOS ANGELES, CA — A jury Monday awarded $1.5 million to a veteran LAPD detective who sued the city, claiming he was denied career advancements for refusing to sign a statement -- prepared by a federal prosecutor -- that contained false information

The Los Angeles Superior Court jury deliberated for a little more than a day before finding in favor of Detective Jamie McBride, who joined the Los Angeles Police Department in 1990.

In February 2011, personnel from the LAPD and several other agencies arrested 57 people in a roundup targeting a street gang, according to McBride's lawyer, Gregory W. Smith. One of those arrested was Ruben Marquez, who worked as a confidential informant for McBride from 2007-10, according to Smith.

McBride later spoke with Assistant U.S. Attorney Ariel Neuman and told him what he knew about Marquez and what the informant had done for the plaintiff, Smith told jurors.

In November 2011, Neuman sent McBride a declaration to review and sign in connection with the prosecution of the defendants charged after the round- up, but the plaintiff found five errors in the declaration and said he would not sign it, according to Smith.

Neuman ended up agreeing to allow Marquez to enter a plea to a lesser charge, Smith said. The LAPD, unhappy with McBride's unwillingness to sign the declaration, removed him from field duty in 2012 and the next year sent him to a Board of Rights hearing, according to his lawsuit.

Although McBride prevailed on five of the seven charges filed against him at the BOR hearing in 2014, Jorge Villegas, an LAPD bureau chief, prohibited the plaintiff from working as a night watch detective supervisor and from having any supervisory roles, according to Smith.

Former LAPD Officer Rodney Rodriguez stated in a sworn declaration that he overheard Villegas say to someone in a cell phone call that McBride had embarrassed the department by refusing to sign the declaration given him by the federal prosecutor and that the entire case could have been jeopardized.

"We're going to have to deal with him," Villegas said, according to Rodriguez's declaration.

Deputy City Attorney Dennis Kong told jurors McBride was treated the same way any other LAPD officer would be under the same circumstances and that there was no retaliation by the department.

He said Villegas stopped an attempt to downgrade the plaintiff to a lower grade of detective because of a lack of evidence at the time. He also said Marquez was close to known Mexican Mafia associate George Bustamante.

Kong said that since the Rampart scandal of the 1990s, the LAPD has been more sensitive about public trust and the lax relationships some officers have with their informants.

McBride said the only training he had from the LAPD in handling confidential informants was a 20-minute department video on the subject.

Unable to advance in his career because of the continuing restrictions, McBride ran for -- and was elected -- director of the Los Angeles Police Protective League in January 2015, according to his lawsuit filed in November 2014.

By BILL HETHERMAN, City News Service; Photo: Shutterstock