Pubdate: Sat, 03 Feb 2001 Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA) Copyright: 2001 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. Contact: PO Box 120191, San Diego, CA, 92112-0191 Fax: (619) 293-1440 Website: http://www.uniontrib.com/ Forum: http://www.uniontrib.com/cgi-bin/WebX Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rampart.htm (L.A. Rampart Scandal) JUDGE REFUSES TO TRANSFER EX-LAPD OFFICER TO PRISON LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Corrupt former police Officer Rafael Perez will remain in local custody because moving him to state prison would place him in potential danger, a judge ruled yesterday. Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry denied a prosecution request for the key witness in the Los Angeles Rampart police corruption case to be moved to prison to serve out his sentence for stealing cocaine from a police evidence room. "Mr. Perez is in likely danger from all kinds of interests, and I'm most comfortable leaving him where he is," Perry said. "I'm not gonna move him." Perez was not at the hearing. He is scheduled to be released in early June. Prosecutors have said the convicted ex-cop-turned-informant whose confessions and accusations broke open the Rampart scandal no longer is needed for the investigation. The move came after Perez's attorney, Winston McKesson, told prosecutors his client "will not be made available to testify at continuing (Los Angeles Police Department) Board of Rights (hearings) or for further interviews until further notice," according to a letter. Perez became the central figure in the biggest Los Angeles Police Department scandal in decades after pleading guilty to stealing 8 pounds of cocaine from a police evidence room. In exchange for a lighter sentence, he agreed to tell prosecutors what he had seen as an officer in an anti-gang unit in the department's gritty Rampart Division near downtown. Perez was sentenced a year ago and his statements about officers lying under oath and abusing innocent people helped lead to the suspensions of dozens of officers, the overturning of about 100 tainted cases and the arrests of five officers. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D