Sheriff Refuses To Answer – Why Were Malibu Commanders Sacked?
Written by 991KBU on January 30, 2019
Los Angeles County sheriff Alex Villanueva will not say why two top commanders the the Malibu Lost Hills Sheriffs Station have been transferred out … an apparent sideways demotion.
KBUU News was in downtown Los Angeles yesterday … and we confronted Villanueva on a downtown sidewalk.
NEWSCART 03209 LOST HILLS
REPORTER: “Sheriff, can you tell me what happened at Lost Hills?
“we had two commanders releaved of duty yesterday?
SHERIFF: “That has nothing to do with Lost Hills. But we gotta go.”
REPORTER: “But what did happen at Lost Hills … you had two commanders replaced at Lost Hills… you have a new one in mind out there?”
SHERIFF: “I think you are mixing up incidents out there.”
We were not mixing up our incidents.
We were asking the sheriff why Malibu Lost Hills Captain Thui Wright and Lieutenant James Royal were transferred out … removing the Malibu liasion to the sheriff’s office with no explanation.
The sheriff was at the Board of Supervisors yesterday to answer criticism about his rehiring of a deputy who had been found to have violently assaulted his domestic partner.
The L A Times article about that prompted Malibu area supervisor Sheild Kuehl to reprimand the sheriff.
NEWSCART 03423 KUEHL QQQ 40 YEARS AGO
“The deputy that you reinstated, it seemed like your own attitude was, ‘well, you know, a domestic violence victim if they don’t speak right up, how serious can it be?’ … which frankly we thought we left behind us like 40 years ago.”
At yesterday’s board meeting … Villanueva said the facts were quite different than what was reported int he newspaper.
He told the supervisors that the L A Times did not have access to the confidential sheriff’s investigation into that domestic violence allegation.
And that he would share the secret personnel file with the supervisors in closed door session.
NEWSCART 03424 VILLANUEVA BBB LEVEL OF A DISCHARGE.
“Upon review of this case in particular and of course, I am not releasing any information of the particulars of it, I will just say that it failed on so many different levels that it never should have left the department.
“And as I said at the oversight commission, even under the standards artificially created by my predecessor, it did not rise to the level of a discharge.”
Villanueva said the supervisors would change their harsh opinions once they saw the personnel file … but he cannot release it …as the female sheriff’s deputy has privacy rights.
The sheriff says numerous deputies had been railroaded out of the department … under unfair decisions made by his predecessor.
Outside the hearing … he told KBUU news that the county would pay millions of dollars in settlements … and lose good quality sheriffs deputies at a time of staff shortages … if he doesn’t try to right the wrongs.
NEWSCART 03223 QQQ TAXPAYER DOESNT TAKE A HIT.
“If someone we wrongly terminate two years ago, if we keep them wrecking
If someone we wrongfully terminated two years ago, are we going to keep it wrongfully terminated for a third-year?
“We are not helping anything.
“Especially if we are out for that money, we need to get him back to work as soon as we can, so the taxpayer doesn’t take a hit.”
L A County sheriff Alex Villanueva.
