LA Deputy Faked Evidence But Juries/Defendants Were Never Told

LOS ANGELES, CA — A sheriff's deputy who once was suspended for pouring taco sauce on a shirt to mimic blood to falsify evidence testified in 31 cases before the District Attorney's office found out about his misconduct, it was reported Thursday. It remains to be seen how the news could affect the outcomes of those cases, but the incident didn't stop the department from promoting the deputy, who now works as a sergeant earning $240,000, according to a Los Angeles Times investigation.

Jose Ovalle's past was kept secret for years from prosecutors, judges, defendants and jurors, even though he was a potential witness in hundreds of criminal cases that relied on his credibility, the times reported. When his credibility problem did come out, it led prosecutors to offer generous plea deals or drop cases altogether. Some of those defendants went on to commit serious crimes, according to the newspaper's analyses. According to the Times, Ovalle's case is not entirely unique.

California's police privacy laws help to hide misconduct by law enforcement officers who testify in court. The U.S. Supreme Court requires prosecutors to inform criminal defendants about an officer's wrongdoing, but the state's laws are so strict that prosecutors cannot directly access the personnel files of their own police witnesses. Instead, California puts the burden on defendants to prove to a judge that an officer's record is relevant, The Times reported.

Times reporters reviewed documents from hundreds of criminal cases in which the district attorney's office identified Ovalle as a potential witness after he was caught faking the bloody evidence in 2003.

Few defendants tried to obtain information about Ovalle's past. A handful of those who did weren't given information about the deputy's discipline. Judges never gave them a public explanation for why it wouldn't have been relevant.

The California Supreme Court will soon decide whether law enforcement agencies can tell prosecutors if a police witness has a record of serious discipline, according to The Times.

By the time the district attorney's office learned about Ovalle's misconduct, he had been a potential witness against 312 defendants. More than 230 were convicted.

Ovalle was caught faking evidence back in 2003 when he worked at the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic. Several gang members had slashed an inmate’s neck and blood-stained shirt — key evidence n the case — was thrown into the wash. So Ovalle poured taco sauce on the shirt and snapped pictures to fake the evidence, according to the Times. A staffer warned him not to do it and told authorities about it after he did it anyway.

He confessed and was able to keep his job.

“It was stupidity now that I look back on it,” he told the investigators, according to a transcript of his interview obtained by The Times. “This uniform means everything to me, this badge and gun, it’s my life. … I’m embarrassed.”

Ovalle now works as a sergeant in the Sheriff's Department's Century station in Lynwood. Last year, he was paid $240,000 in salary, overtime and other earnings.

When reached by The Times for comment, Ovalle said: ``I don't understand why the L.A. Times is so interested about me.'

He declined to comment further and asked not to be contacted again.

Click here to read the full Los Angeles Times investigation.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report. Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.