California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta took control from the L.A. County Sheriff's Department of a controversial criminal investigation into county Supervisor Sheila Kuehl and others, saying that sidelining the Sheriff's Department was in the 'public interest.'
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta on Tuesday took control from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department of a controversial criminal investigation into county Supervisor Sheila Kuehl and others, saying that sidelining the department was in the “public interest.”
Bonta informed the Sheriff’s Department that his office had assumed control of the investigation in a letter sent Tuesday to Undersheriff Tim Murakami. He ordered Murakami to “please have your department staff transmit all evidence, investigative reports, and information to” two agents in Bonta’s office.
The judge stopped short of granting a request from attorneys for Kuehl and Metro that he find the search warrants sheriff’s investigators obtained invalid and order the Sheriff’s Department to return the seized property. The validity of the warrants, he wrote, would be decided after hearings with lawyers for the Sheriff’s Department and those targeted in the investigation.
“It seems to the court that temporarily delaying the Sheriff access to the computers and devices seized, which may contain privileged communications, while the court considers appointing a special master, works little to no prejudice to the investigation,” Ryan wrote. The evidence investigators presented to Richman made clear they were focused on a series of contracts worth more than $800,000 that Metro awarded to the nonprofit between 2014 and 2020 to operate a hotline for reporting sexual harassment on public transit. The statement says that the hotline was a “complete failure” but that the contract was still extended without a competitive bid or analysis.