A year after Los Angeles police officers from an anti-gang unit in the San Fernando Valley were accused of illegally searching vehicles and robbing people they stopped, an internal department email shows three of their supervisors now face termination.
Interim Chief Dominic Choi has called for the firing of a captain, a lieutenant and a sergeant from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Mission Division, according to the email and several sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about matters involving police personnel. At least five lower-ranking officers have been implicated in the scandal that has yet to end.
According to the email, Mission Division Captain James “JT” Townsend, Lt. Mark Garza and Sgt. David Gomez have been relieved of duty and sent to a disciplinary hearing, known as a board of rights. This type of action typically indicates that the chief believes there is enough evidence to warrant firing an officer.
As Mission’s top captain, Townsend was responsible for most of the division’s day-to-day operations, which included overseeing the so-called Gang Enforcement Task Force. The unit came under scrutiny last August, when an internal LAPD investigation allegedly found misconduct by officers, including the theft of a knife with brass knuckles on the handle.
Garza was the lieutenant in charge of the gang unit, while Gomez was one of his supervisors.
The department's investigation focused on five additional officers for their alleged roles in the scandal, according to an Internal Affairs document reviewed by The Times.
The investigation found the allegations against the station's then-deputy Capt. Matt Plugge to be unfounded, the document said. Plugge was transferred last fall to a unit tasked with investigating less serious uses of force by officers. He did not respond to a message seeking comment.
A Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson said the department “cannot provide further comment on any potential personnel matters related to the Mission Gang Enforcement Team investigation.”
An attorney for Garza reiterated that his client followed procedure and alerted his supervisors as soon as he learned of possible wrongdoing by his officers. The department accused Garza of failing to “develop and maintain adequate supervision” in giving the go-ahead to division captains, said the attorney, Matt McNicholas.
“The department is creating scapegoats and I maintain the evidence that will absolutely prove that in the first instance of any potential issues, Garza reported them to superiors and was then told the agency was working on it and there was nothing for him to do,” McNicholas said. “We believe this is 100% due to the fact that Garza reported the issues immediately but the captains did nothing.”
The scandal came to light late last summer after The Times reported that Los Angeles Police Department investigators had taken the unusual step of searching lockers at the Mission Division precinct for evidence among officers’ personal belongings. The investigation is ongoing, and the department is now looking into allegations of mismanagement and supervision in the neighboring Foothill area, where some of the Mission officers were previously stationed.
The email obtained by The Times was sent by a Mission Division official late last week to “dispel any rumors or misunderstandings,” according to the subject line. The email referenced the investigation into the gang unit and said of commanders facing disciplinary action: “This news has come as a shock to all of us. I want to remind everyone that no matter the allegations, an employee is innocent until proven guilty.”
The message said the department “is working to fill the Mission Area Commander position” and that the position will be temporarily filled by another senior LAPD official.
Former Chief Michel Moore announced last August that the FBI had also opened a case and ordered two of the officers involved to a disciplinary hearing before the Board of Rights, indicating he wanted to fire them. The department has not yet identified the two officers.
Choi's decision to discipline the Mission supervisors comes a week after he announced the department would conduct a top-down review of its disciplinary system at the request of City Hall. Despite strong criticism of the rights board process, Choi has defended the department's system for disciplining officers as “one of the most thorough” in the country.
The chief has rejected arguments by the Los Angeles Police Protective League and others that there is a double standard for senior officers, with the union alleging that higher-ups tend to receive lighter punishments than junior officers for the same misconduct.
The Mission gang unit was temporarily disbanded amid the scandal and its members were dispersed to other duties or placed on administrative leave.
Prosecutors have so far charged one Mission officer, Alan Carrillo, but have signaled that more charges could be filed in the future. In May, Carrillo pleaded not guilty to charges of theft and tampering with evidence.
He previously worked on the Foothill gang squad, whose other officers have been accused in recent years of violent tactics against protesters and at least one out-of-policy shooting of an unarmed man, according to court records and sources familiar with the LAPD’s ongoing investigation.
Carrillo is accused of stealing personal items from people during patrol stops in the Mission Division in April and June 2023, including the brass knuckle knife. Regarding that allegation, his attorney, Caleb Mason, said in an interview with The Times that his client was essentially being accused of “taking contraband from a suspect,” who was a minor.
Prosecutors have identified as many as 350 criminal cases that could be compromised because they were based on testimony or evidence gathered by two Mission gang officers. One of them, sources familiar with the case said, is believed to be Carrillo.
