Video Shows Sheriff-Ally Breaking Into Woman's Home

LOS ANGELES, CA — Video released this week appears to show the deputy at the heart of a power struggle between the County Board of Supervisors and Sheriff Alex Villanueva breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s apartment.

The video was part of the case that got Deputy Caren Carl Mandoyan fired by an oversight commission. It was a time when the department was reeling from numerous scandals and investigations, and leadership was cracking down on misconduct. But Villanueva, an ally of Mandoyan, reinstated him almost as soon as he was sworn into office, setting up an unprecedented showdown between the county’s top cop and the Board of Supervisors.

Villanueva has downplayed the allegations of domestic violence and misconduct against Mandoyan, who served as his driver during the campaign. He reinstated Mandoyan over the objections of county leaders and vowed to review other cases where deputies may have been wrongly dismissed for misconduct. For county officials, the stance signaled an effort to rollback the reforms instituted by Villanueva’s predecessors. Now, Villanueva and the county are tied up in a legal battle over whether he has the power to reinstate deputies dismissed for misconduct. The video has county leaders questioning Villanueva’s judgment.

The public release of the video by the Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission would seem to back him into a corner.

According to the commission, the video shows Mandoyan breaking into the home of a woman who ultimately filed a restraining order against him and accused him of domestic violence.
In the video, which was recorded in 2014 by Mandoyan's ex-girlfriend, also a deputy, he can be seen trying to wedge the woman’s sliding glass door open. Later, the video purportedly shows him breaking into her bathroom as she screams at him to leave.

While the commission fired Mandoyan for misconduct, prosecutors declined to charge him with domestic violence. After he was fired, Mandoyan became a chief supporter of Villanueva in his successful bid to unseat Jim McDonnell in November's election. Mandoyan volunteered on Villanueva's campaign and was on stage with him when he was sworn in.

For his part, Villanueva doesn’t see the video as problematic. At a news conference Wednesday, he said "there was no evidence of domestic violence, there was no evidence of attempted burglary" against Mandoyan.

But the commission didn’t see it that way.

Sheriff’s Department officials and the commission’s hearing officer determined Mandoyan repeatedly lied to internal affairs investigators by claiming he never tried to break into the woman’s home, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Mandoyan “was clearly using a metallic tool he found on [the woman’s] patio and trying to wedge it around and under the sliding glass door,” hearing officer Joseph P. Scully wrote in his report recommending that Mandoyan’s termination be upheld, the Times reported. “He was not honest or truthful in his [internal affairs] interview which suggests that his reputation for integrity is unwarranted. His lack of honesty alone calls into question his fitness for future service.”

The Board of Supervisors, which has limited authority over the sheriff because he is an elected official, filed suit to void Villanueva's decision to reinstate Mandoyan. The board is arguing that the sheriff doesn't have the authority to override the commission's decision. Villanueva says he wants to right wrongs created when new standards of discipline were put in place. Those standards have been challenged by the union representing rank-and-file deputies.

Stricter punishment for deputy misconduct was implemented by both Sheriff Lee Baca and McDonnell based on recommendations from the Citizens' Commission on Jail Violence.
Villanueva characterized those changes as "trying to chop off as many heads as possible to then claim to be a reformer," while the board and criminal justice advocates worried about reverting to 2012 standards.

City News Service contributed to this report.