Pubdate: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 Source: Reuters Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited. Author: Dan Whitcomb L.A. MAYOR `DISGUSTED' BY ALLEGED POLICE CORRUPTION LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Mayor Richard Riordan, confronted with a police corruption scandal, said Monday that he was "disgusted" by cops gone bad and vowed to "get to the bottom" of criminal acts by officers. Standing before reporters at City Hall with Los Angeles police chief Bernard Parks and police commission head Jerry Chaleff, Riordan implored the city not to judge its police department by the actions of rogue officers. "Fellow Angelenos, you have my word that we are doing everything possible to get to the bottom of this," Riordan said. "Do not let a few evil officers ruin the reputation of the entire police force." In their first joint news conference since the scandal broke last week, Riordan, Parks and Chaleff urged patience while they probed charges of misconduct at the LAPD's Rampart Division by Officer Rafael Perez. Perez, who has pleaded guilty to stealing cocaine from an LAPD evidence locker and is cooperating with authorities, has told detectives that he and his partner, Nino Durden, shot Honduran immigrant Javier Francisco Ovando while he was handcuffed, then framed him for a crime he did not commit. Ovando, a member of the notorious 18th Street Gang who was left unable to walk, served three years of a 23-year prison term before a judge freed him Thursday at the request of prosecutors. Perez has also said he saw Rampart officers shoot and kill an unarmed man during a raid on a gang hide-out and then plant guns on him and another suspect to justify the assault. The scandal is also being probed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department's civil rights arm. They are also investigating allegations that Rampart officers sold drugs taken during busts and in February 1996 beat a suspect so severely that he vomited blood. Parks said a commanding officer who learned about the 1996 beating and "chose not to take the appropriate action" has been suspended and faces a so-called Board of Rights hearing to determine if he will keep his job. So far, 12 officers now or previously assigned to Rampart, which patrols a crime-plagued, mostly poor and Hispanic district west of downtown, have been suspended or fired in the scandal, including Perez and Durden. "It is unfortunate, disappointing and disgusting that a police officer would violate the laws he or she is sworn to uphold," Riordan said. Parks said Ovando has not been in police custody since his release, but is in hiding and cooperating with detectives. Asked about repeated claims by lawyers for Ovando's girlfriend that he has not been allowed to talk to her since his release, Parks responded: "Who are you going to believe, the police and Mr. Ovando or these lawyers?" - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck