Pubdate: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 Source: Contra Costa Times (CA) Copyright: 2001 Contra Costa Newspapers Inc. Contact: http://www.contracostatimes.com/contact_us/letters.htm Website: http://www.contracostatimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/96 Author: Associated Press Bookmarks: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption) http://www.mapinc.org/rampart.htm (L.A. Rampart Scandal) L.A. POLICE SCANDAL BEFORE GRAND JURY LOS ANGELES -- A federal grand jury has begun hearing testimony about a 1996 shooting that may have been the first in a string of corrupt actions by Rampart Division police officers, it was reported Thursday. At least two LAPD officers have testified before the grand jury in recent weeks about their knowledge of the shooting and wrongful incarceration of Javier Francisco Ovando by disgraced former officers Rafael Perez and Nino Durden, the Los Angeles Times reported, quoting attorneys and law enforcement sources familiar with the case. Perez was released last month from state prison, after serving fewer than three years for stealing cocaine from an evidence locker. Durden pleaded guilty earlier this year to several crimes stemming from the shooting and is expected to serve about eight years in prison. The scandal involves allegations that anti-gang officers at the department's Rampart station near downtown robbed, beat, framed and shot suspects over a period of several years in the mid-to late 1990s. Officers Mario Rios and Michael Montoya were working with Perez and Durden on Oct. 12, 1996, but were not present when the Ovando shooting occurred, according to police documents. Rios and Montoya have denied any wrongdoing. The officers, however, face disciplinary hearings. They are suspected of falsifying information about their roles in the shooting. The U.S. attorney's office has tapped a team of prosecutors and FBI agents investigating alleged civil rights violations by the Police Department. The secret grand jury proceedings, which could result in indictments, come as investigations by the LAPD and district attorney are completed. Perez and Durden have admitted shooting Ovando, planting a gun on him and then falsely testifying that he shot at them. Perez implicated himself and Durden in the shooting as part of a plea bargain to lessen his prison sentence. Although county prosecutors gave Perez immunity for certain crimes in which he implicated himself, federal prosecutors have not given him that protection, the Times reported. After the shooting, Ovando, a reputed gang member, was falsely convicted of assaulting Perez and Durden and sentenced to 23 years in prison. He was released from custody in September 1999, three years into his sentence, as a result of Perez's admission. Neither Montoya nor Rios was aware a gun was planted on Ovando, according to Perez. However, Perez told investigators that the officers, and their superior, Sgt. Edward Ortiz, lied about an element of the case to make it appear more tactically sound to their supervisors. Although police reports state Montoya and Rios were waiting in a chase car, the officers were never near the shooting location, Perez says. Rios and Montoya, according to their attorneys, maintain the initial police reports are correct. Ortiz could not be reached for comment. Perez's attorney, Winston Kevin McKesson, declined to comment on the grand jury investigation. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake