Two former members of ex-Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s secretive special unit testified to the Civilian Oversight Commission on Friday, exposing details that led the commission’s chair to conclude that “we must be sure this will never happen again.”
Sgt. Max Fernandez and former Detective Mark Lillienfeld spoke for almost five hours about the Civil Rights and Public Integrity Detail, which was created under former Sheriff Alex Villanueva and has since been disbanded.
As the Los Angeles Times reported, the unit drew controversy for targeting some of Villanueva’s perceived political enemies, including former L.A. County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, Inspector General Max Huntsman and a Times reporter.
In total, however, there were about 55 to 60 cases on which the unit worked, though the public only heard about a handful of the most prominent incidents.
Commission Chair Robert Bonner noted that “there was a reason” those were the only well-known cases for the “McCarthy-esque” unit.
“It was set up to intimidate Alex Villanueva’s critics,” he said. “We must be sure this will never happen again.”
Before Friday’s hearing, Villanueva took to social media to argue that California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s probe into the LASD’s handling of the Kuehl investigation, which was related to contracts awarded to the nonprofit Peace Over Violence, was flawed.
He added that Kuehl and Peace Over Violence should be the focus for the Civilian Oversight Commission, not the Public Corruption Unit.
“They should subpoena [Bonta] and ask him why he lied about the mountain of evidence in the Peace Over Violence case,” he wrote. “This is a whole new level of lawfare!”
