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In The Public Interest
The California First
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BEACON AWARD
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salutes
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Report on
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| A courageously innovative, muckraking web site that focuses like a laser on the political, financial and legal shenanigans of the local government California First Amendment Coalition |
February 2, 2008
Convicted cop hired as
Maywood police chief
By Matt Lait, Los Angeles Times
Staff Writer
February 2, 2008
A man who was convicted of theft
and resigned from the Los Angeles
Police Department was hired Friday
night as the interim chief of the
Maywood Police Department, an
agency that has a reputation as a
haven for misfit and criminal cops.
Despite fierce opposition from
some rank-and-file officers and the
city's own attorney, Al Hutchings
was selected for the position by the
Maywood City Council in a 3-2 vote
at a special meeting.
Hutchings' unlikely ascension to the
job comes amid ongoing
investigations by state and local
authorities into allegations of police
corruption and brutality in Maywood.
The move stunned many city
residents who viewed his
consideration as another setback
for the troubled Police Department,
which patrols a gritty square-mile
city south of downtown Los Angeles.
Last year, a Times investigation
into Maywood found that at least a
third of the officers on the force
had either left other police jobs
under a cloud or had brushes with
the law while working for Maywood.
Several officers in recent years left
Maywood after being convicted of
crimes.
Hutchings was one officer who was
hired at Maywood in 2006 despite a
checkered past.
Court records show that he had
pleaded no contest to bilking the
LAPD for bogus overtime pay while
he was an officer. He has since
received a court order expunging
his record.
In an interview, Hutchings said that
all of the overtime he worked was
approved by a supervisor but that
he entered the plea so as to
quickly dispose of the case, which
he said was filed in retaliation for
reporting misconduct against a high
ranking-LAPD official. Hutchings was
also fired from Los Angeles Valley
College in 2005, where he worked
as a professor and was terminated
for acts of dishonesty.
When Hutchings joined the
Maywood Police Department, he
said he found that many of his
fellow officers were brutal, racist
and corrupt. He cast himself as a
whistle-blower, working to expose
problems.
Before his probationary year was
finished, however, Hutchings was
accused of misconduct of his own.
Police and city officials said he
agreed to resign from the Police
Department after he was allegedly
videotaped having an on-duty
liaison with the female owner of a
doughnut shop.
Hutchings, 45, has said the
allegation was fabricated "to
blackmail me into stopping the
work that I was doing." He said he
voluntarily left the department last
summer.
In an interview hours before he was
hired, Hutchings said Maywood
Police Department was a
dysfunctional agency with
incompetent officers and that he
hoped to "shut the place down and
bring in the Sheriff's Department."
He said he would donate his salary
to the Catholic church and to
people who had been victimized by
Maywood officers.
Hutchings replaces another interim
chief who was convicted of beating
his girlfriend and resigned from the
El Monte Police Department before
being hired at Maywood. That
chief's conviction was overturned on
appeal, and he was ultimately
convicted of a lesser charge of
making a verbal threat.
Known among law enforcement
circles as a department of "second
chances," Maywood Police
Department is one of nearly 50
independent police agencies in Los
Angeles County. The department,
whose officers are mainly white and
Latino, serves a densely populated
city of roughly 30,000 that is 96%
Latino.
Hutchings' return to the force, for a
three-month period pending a
search for a permanent chief, has
outraged other Maywood officers.
In a letter to city leaders, the
president of the Maywood Police
Officer Assn. said Hutchings had
"displayed a total lack of integrity
and honesty in his career as a
police officer."
Some city residents questioned why
City Council members would take
on an interim chief with baggage.
Mayor Felipe Aguirre, prior to
Friday's vote, said he supported
Hutchings because he believed he
was an honest man who would
reform the department. "Nobody
has the courage to clean this place
up," he said. "We need to hire
someone who can right this
department."
matt.lait@latimes.com
Los Angeles Times, Copyrighted.
Convicted cop hired as
Maywood police chief
By Matt Lait, Los Angeles Times
Staff Writer
February 2, 2008
A man who was convicted of theft
and resigned from the Los Angeles
Police Department was hired Friday
night as the interim chief of the
Maywood Police Department, an
agency that has a reputation as a
haven for misfit and criminal cops.
Despite fierce opposition from
some rank-and-file officers and the
city's own attorney, Al Hutchings
was selected for the position by the
Maywood City Council in a 3-2 vote
at a special meeting.
Hutchings' unlikely ascension to the
job comes amid ongoing
investigations by state and local
authorities into allegations of police
corruption and brutality in Maywood.
The move stunned many city
residents who viewed his
consideration as another setback
for the troubled Police Department,
which patrols a gritty square-mile
city south of downtown Los Angeles.
Last year, a Times investigation
into Maywood found that at least a
third of the officers on the force
had either left other police jobs
under a cloud or had brushes with
the law while working for Maywood.
Several officers in recent years left
Maywood after being convicted of
crimes.
Hutchings was one officer who was
hired at Maywood in 2006 despite a
checkered past.
Court records show that he had
pleaded no contest to bilking the
LAPD for bogus overtime pay while
he was an officer. He has since
received a court order expunging
his record.
In an interview, Hutchings said that
all of the overtime he worked was
approved by a supervisor but that
he entered the plea so as to
quickly dispose of the case, which
he said was filed in retaliation for
reporting misconduct against a high
ranking-LAPD official. Hutchings was
also fired from Los Angeles Valley
College in 2005, where he worked
as a professor and was terminated
for acts of dishonesty.
When Hutchings joined the
Maywood Police Department, he
said he found that many of his
fellow officers were brutal, racist
and corrupt. He cast himself as a
whistle-blower, working to expose
problems.
Before his probationary year was
finished, however, Hutchings was
accused of misconduct of his own.
Police and city officials said he
agreed to resign from the Police
Department after he was allegedly
videotaped having an on-duty
liaison with the female owner of a
doughnut shop.
Hutchings, 45, has said the
allegation was fabricated "to
blackmail me into stopping the
work that I was doing." He said he
voluntarily left the department last
summer.
In an interview hours before he was
hired, Hutchings said Maywood
Police Department was a
dysfunctional agency with
incompetent officers and that he
hoped to "shut the place down and
bring in the Sheriff's Department."
He said he would donate his salary
to the Catholic church and to
people who had been victimized by
Maywood officers.
Hutchings replaces another interim
chief who was convicted of beating
his girlfriend and resigned from the
El Monte Police Department before
being hired at Maywood. That
chief's conviction was overturned on
appeal, and he was ultimately
convicted of a lesser charge of
making a verbal threat.
Known among law enforcement
circles as a department of "second
chances," Maywood Police
Department is one of nearly 50
independent police agencies in Los
Angeles County. The department,
whose officers are mainly white and
Latino, serves a densely populated
city of roughly 30,000 that is 96%
Latino.
Hutchings' return to the force, for a
three-month period pending a
search for a permanent chief, has
outraged other Maywood officers.
In a letter to city leaders, the
president of the Maywood Police
Officer Assn. said Hutchings had
"displayed a total lack of integrity
and honesty in his career as a
police officer."
Some city residents questioned why
City Council members would take
on an interim chief with baggage.
Mayor Felipe Aguirre, prior to
Friday's vote, said he supported
Hutchings because he believed he
was an honest man who would
reform the department. "Nobody
has the courage to clean this place
up," he said. "We need to hire
someone who can right this
department."
matt.lait@latimes.com
Los Angeles Times, Copyrighted.
Al Hutchings,
formerly with the
LAPD, got the job
despite
opposition from
rank-and-file
officers and the
city's attorney.
formerly with the
LAPD, got the job
despite
opposition from
rank-and-file
officers and the
city's attorney.
| Photo credit: La Opinion Newspaper. |
Fabian,
You are the face of Proposition
93. It is a deceitful, hungry,
greedy and needy face.
Who are you? What have you
become? Power is indeed
intoxicating for you. Enjoy your
trips to the wine country of France,
your lavish shopping trips to Louis
Vuitton shops in Paris on other
people's dimes. Enjoy all that
while you can.
We understand that power has its
privileges, these are powers
granted to you more by your good
timing and back-room politics
than by any real skills you
possess. So, enjoy the power, but
don't over do it. All the millions of
dollars you collect from special
interests, like gaming, banking,
oh, and especially AT&T, we
understand that Quid-Pro-Quo for
you is public policy in the making.
Maybe there is a benefit for you
to continue in power a few more
years. Except that you have failed
to explain it in simple terms that
a citizen, blue collar, immigrant,
your constituent, can understand.
All that constituent sees is
Mexican PRI style politics warmed
over again. What an awful shame.
It doesn't help when you
personally take the time to
support local politicos like
Huntington Park's John Noguez,
who twice ran for public office with
convicted felons for campaign
managers. You supported and
called a "Man of Honor" the other
Huntington Park councilman
Edward Escareno, who was
unemployed, was a Republican,
was Noguez's 2003 campaign
manager and was convicted of
"Grand Theft" of public funds, a
felony. You supported these folks.
Why would you support criminally
connected local officials?
More egregious and disturbing,
Fabian, you have hand-picked
Huntington Park's John Noguez as
the successor to your Assembly
seat. Noguez is the guy who
asked for $50,000 in shake-down
money from Aspire Charter
Schools/Pacific Charter Schools in
exchange for approval of
construction permits. The city
attorney, Francisco Leal was at the
meeting. He is your closest friend.
Your name was invoked to
legitimize the illegal campaign
contribution. If only the FBI had
wiretapped this.
Your Assembly District here in
Huntington Park, the local political
foundation and base of support
on which your whole Assembly
career rests on, is a fetid cauldron
of corruption with FBI, DA's office
and other local law enforcement
agencies kept on their toes,
hovering always on the edge of a
political corruption scandal. You
and the California Latino Caucus
in Sacramento support and in fact,
harbor those that show the most
links to criminal activity, like the
California Senate staffer Mario
Beltran and his brushes with law
enforcement, cutting illegal
contracts with tow truck companies
worth Millions of dollars, being
caught with his pants down in a
downtown L.A. hotel, your district,
with a cocaine-addicted prostitute.
The Latino Caucus, including your
compadre Don Perata, Senate
Pro-Tem, came out swinging for
the poor boy gone bad. We
understand about second
chances, but not 3rd, 4th, 5th, or
more chances. Maybe Perata
himself believes in multiple
chances since he is also under FBI
investigation for alleged
corruption in his Bay area district
office.
You do not deserve to extend
your stay in the California
Assembly or the Senate. My
suggestion, go on into private
practice and earn your money,
like the rest of us. We are not on
welfare, political or otherwise.
You, Fabian, have become a
political "Welferero", a colloquial
Spanglish term denoting the worst
kind of welfare abuser, those that
drive nice cars and live in nice
houses but still ask for welfare
handouts.
We thought the Clinton
Administration would have gotten
rid of those kind.
Fabian, you had a chance to really
make a difference for the little
people here back home. But you
blew it.
Redemption is always possible,
but not through extending your
term limits.
Hope that you loose this, but wish
that you win back a sense of who
you are, where you came from
and whom you affect.
One more item,
WatchOurCity.com has high
regard for presidential candidates,
Clinton, Obama and McCain.
Since you are on Hillary's team as
California Co-Chair, and should
Hillary Clinton win the White
House, you and Antonio
Villaraigosa will get sweet
positions with her administration.
How you run you campaigns here,
who you support and associate
with here locally and
California-wide will only be
magnified to a grander scale in
Washington D.C. There is no trust
in you or Villaraigosa, and I can
extrapolate that the dirty and
corrupt back room deals you
support locally will only be
magnified on a grander scale
there.
Sorry, Hillary, your dependence on
corrupt California Latino politicians
may cost you, sooner or later, in
scandals, or who knows what. You
should have done some deeper
background checks on Fabian and
Antonio, not just depend solely on
their reputations for dazzling
fundraising (and womanizing the
same woman). For now, it just
cost you my vote. To Senator
Hillary Clinton's people, just enter
this website to see what I mean
about who Fabian really is and
who surrounds him locally. All
politics is local; Tip O'Neill sure
knew what he was talking about.
The Editor endorses Senators
Barack Obama and John McCain.
Best of luck.
The Editor,
WatchOurCity.com
You are the face of Proposition
93. It is a deceitful, hungry,
greedy and needy face.
Who are you? What have you
become? Power is indeed
intoxicating for you. Enjoy your
trips to the wine country of France,
your lavish shopping trips to Louis
Vuitton shops in Paris on other
people's dimes. Enjoy all that
while you can.
We understand that power has its
privileges, these are powers
granted to you more by your good
timing and back-room politics
than by any real skills you
possess. So, enjoy the power, but
don't over do it. All the millions of
dollars you collect from special
interests, like gaming, banking,
oh, and especially AT&T, we
understand that Quid-Pro-Quo for
you is public policy in the making.
Maybe there is a benefit for you
to continue in power a few more
years. Except that you have failed
to explain it in simple terms that
a citizen, blue collar, immigrant,
your constituent, can understand.
All that constituent sees is
Mexican PRI style politics warmed
over again. What an awful shame.
It doesn't help when you
personally take the time to
support local politicos like
Huntington Park's John Noguez,
who twice ran for public office with
convicted felons for campaign
managers. You supported and
called a "Man of Honor" the other
Huntington Park councilman
Edward Escareno, who was
unemployed, was a Republican,
was Noguez's 2003 campaign
manager and was convicted of
"Grand Theft" of public funds, a
felony. You supported these folks.
Why would you support criminally
connected local officials?
More egregious and disturbing,
Fabian, you have hand-picked
Huntington Park's John Noguez as
the successor to your Assembly
seat. Noguez is the guy who
asked for $50,000 in shake-down
money from Aspire Charter
Schools/Pacific Charter Schools in
exchange for approval of
construction permits. The city
attorney, Francisco Leal was at the
meeting. He is your closest friend.
Your name was invoked to
legitimize the illegal campaign
contribution. If only the FBI had
wiretapped this.
Your Assembly District here in
Huntington Park, the local political
foundation and base of support
on which your whole Assembly
career rests on, is a fetid cauldron
of corruption with FBI, DA's office
and other local law enforcement
agencies kept on their toes,
hovering always on the edge of a
political corruption scandal. You
and the California Latino Caucus
in Sacramento support and in fact,
harbor those that show the most
links to criminal activity, like the
California Senate staffer Mario
Beltran and his brushes with law
enforcement, cutting illegal
contracts with tow truck companies
worth Millions of dollars, being
caught with his pants down in a
downtown L.A. hotel, your district,
with a cocaine-addicted prostitute.
The Latino Caucus, including your
compadre Don Perata, Senate
Pro-Tem, came out swinging for
the poor boy gone bad. We
understand about second
chances, but not 3rd, 4th, 5th, or
more chances. Maybe Perata
himself believes in multiple
chances since he is also under FBI
investigation for alleged
corruption in his Bay area district
office.
You do not deserve to extend
your stay in the California
Assembly or the Senate. My
suggestion, go on into private
practice and earn your money,
like the rest of us. We are not on
welfare, political or otherwise.
You, Fabian, have become a
political "Welferero", a colloquial
Spanglish term denoting the worst
kind of welfare abuser, those that
drive nice cars and live in nice
houses but still ask for welfare
handouts.
We thought the Clinton
Administration would have gotten
rid of those kind.
Fabian, you had a chance to really
make a difference for the little
people here back home. But you
blew it.
Redemption is always possible,
but not through extending your
term limits.
Hope that you loose this, but wish
that you win back a sense of who
you are, where you came from
and whom you affect.
One more item,
WatchOurCity.com has high
regard for presidential candidates,
Clinton, Obama and McCain.
Since you are on Hillary's team as
California Co-Chair, and should
Hillary Clinton win the White
House, you and Antonio
Villaraigosa will get sweet
positions with her administration.
How you run you campaigns here,
who you support and associate
with here locally and
California-wide will only be
magnified to a grander scale in
Washington D.C. There is no trust
in you or Villaraigosa, and I can
extrapolate that the dirty and
corrupt back room deals you
support locally will only be
magnified on a grander scale
there.
Sorry, Hillary, your dependence on
corrupt California Latino politicians
may cost you, sooner or later, in
scandals, or who knows what. You
should have done some deeper
background checks on Fabian and
Antonio, not just depend solely on
their reputations for dazzling
fundraising (and womanizing the
same woman). For now, it just
cost you my vote. To Senator
Hillary Clinton's people, just enter
this website to see what I mean
about who Fabian really is and
who surrounds him locally. All
politics is local; Tip O'Neill sure
knew what he was talking about.
The Editor endorses Senators
Barack Obama and John McCain.
Best of luck.
The Editor,
WatchOurCity.com
Feb. 4, 2008
A Note to Fabian
Nunez, Assembly Rep.
for Huntington Park,
Maywood and current
Speaker of the
Assembly:
A Note to Fabian
Nunez, Assembly Rep.
for Huntington Park,
Maywood and current
Speaker of the
Assembly:
| The Editor presents: |
The intrigue, the corruption, the comedy, the incompetence and every policeman's ultimate fantasy of sex in a donut shop. CUT ME IN is a series of riveting stories of bumbling and deeply flawed characters - mobsters, fringe players, petty thieves turned politicians turned petty thieves - with dark agendas who betray their honor, and the Public's trust, on a dime's turn; at times humorous and tragic; redemption is always around the corner but flees when tempted by small ambition; rare moments of truth are discarded like chump change, all played out over the background both bleak and colorfully gritty of a blue-collar immigrant town in the shadows of the big city, a town of second chancers, forgotten and abused, but aching for a comeback... tales with no moral lessons to uncover, only everyday political dirty dealings with the help of one lone hero, Chucho* and his beloved low-rider. Meet a few bit players sure to play starring roles in CUT ME IN: The convicted cop is caught having sex in uniform and on duty in a Yum-Yum donut shop with the store's female clerk ("she gave me a smile I could feel in my hip pocket"), then is hired as the Chief of Police by a small-city mayor who can barely do basic math but thinks himself a genius at political calculus. The copper is a tall, square- jawed, chisel-faced simpatico, a wealthy Gringo but claims to be Latino; previously a college professor of Ethics who was terminated for acts of dishonesty; will donate his Chief's salary to the Rosary bead-wearing Padre from the local Catholic Church, whose faith is blind when it comes to donations of questionable provenance. A corrupt city council, lead by a ribald weasel-faced closet-full-of- skeletons mayor with a thick, shady moustache and an even shadier past, who's car was impounded for not paying auto registration fees for 2 years, and fronts for a south-of-the-border Mexican political party, hires the sex-in-a-donut- shop cop and wants to promote him as the new Chief of Police as part of his dark hidden agenda. Orders the Mexican flag to fly on top of an upside-down American flag in front of city hall; dupes same rosary-wearing Padre into using innocent souls for political ravel-rousing. Hires the crooked city slick attorney on his reputation, then fires him upon failing to meet the mayor's expectations; the mayor threatens to hire an even dirtier city attorney who will agree to hire the dirty cop as Chief, who can then help conceal the mayor's other dirty tricks from public scrutiny. A crooked city-slick attorney, a Harvard Law Latino (Veritas? I don’t got to show you no stinking Veritas!), is hired by the shady mayor in closed door session without competing bids, one of two exclusive business strategies deployed by the attorney (the other, if not hired to lucrative city attorney contracts, sends threats of recalls in messages delivered by friends in the State Legislature). Ignoble mayor asks city slick to approve hiring troubled cop as new Police Chief. Slick refuses in a rare attack of pang of conscience, which puts his reputation in question. Mayor fires city slick for refusing to rubber stamp Chief. City slick's moment of truth is a shocking aberration which goes against every hair in his immaculately brilliantined 'do, stands up to oppose the ethically challenged mayor. Slick's momentary but laudable lapse in character gives him courage but gets him canned anyway; his briefest of principled moments is worth the sacrifice. Besides, he's not worried; right away the attorney secretly schemes to fund a recall effort against the mayor and his lackeys as pay back, sure to be hired again by the next batch of neophyte council members... It's business as usual. _________ CUT ME IN A WatchOurCity.com Original Any resemblance to a typical day in the life of small local towns lying low in the penumbra of big city L.A. is flattering but purely coincidental. All names have been changed to protect the innocent, the not so innocent, the accessories to the crimes and the campaign contributors expecting astronomical returns on their investments. *Translation: "Chucho" is a common Mexican nickname meaning "dog" in colloquial Mexican Spanish. Anybody named "Jesus" is traditionally saddled with this quaint term of endearment, just like any "William" would be called a "Bill". What I can't explain is why, in the most Catholic of countries where the Virgin of Guadalupe made her appearance as the mother of Jesus to convert the new world indian savages, would those bearing the name of her son be called "dogs"? Chucho also means "Watchdog". *Reference: There is also the Mexican legend of "Chucho El Roto" during the time of the Mexican Revolution, a historical figure painted as a common bandit, but popular 19th Century Mexican culture identified with Chucho as a Robin Hood type. After Chucho's death, his legend grew in popularity and his mystique helped to transform him into a hero who personifies the desire of the poor that someone may protect them and advocate for them. "Roto", means "torn", an association denoting of lower class. "Around 1888, a short novel called "Chucho El Roto, or the Noble Mexican Bandit" was published anonymously, and quickly became very popular....by 1895, local newspapers picked up the legend, and even suggested that "Chucho El Roto" be pardoned so he could run for Congress". His one true love, Matilde, was the niece of a wealthy landowner who, legend has it, once invited Chucho to a fancy ball with Porfirio Diaz, Mexico's President, whom Chucho got to meet and even took the opportunity to steal the President's watch. Chucho El Roto's "high sense of justice made him give most of what he stole to the very poor in Mexico City, and the small towns and surrounding ranchos". There are movies made of Chucho and even a modern theatrical production in Queretaro, Mexico, titled "Chucho El Roto, En el Nombre del Pueblo", meaning "in the Public's Interest". |
Copyright © 2008 WatchOurCity.com
| A new collection of original short stories from the editor of WatchOurCity.com that revives the Noir Pulp Fiction genre, with a Latino twist, based on real-life shenanigans at small-time local city halls. The public record is stranger than fiction: High drama with low-lifes ensues when our hapless hero, Chucho*, the owner of a flamin' red '64 Chevy Impala low-rider white top with pink vinyl interior, angry at the impounding of his ride by Police Department rogue cops ordered to meet daily tow quotas, blows the cover on a tow truck money-making and profit-splitting scheme hatched in city hall between the mayor, the chief of police and the Iranian owners of a towing business. Chucho is slow to take insult, but takes umbrage not so much after noticing that the finely spray painted word "Matilde" above the driver side chrome door handle, done in elaborate Moorish-style lettering, had letters M and A badly scratched while in the tow yard, that was bad enough, but more due to the insult of the symbolic message left behind with the maliciously truncated word "tilde", which he suspects was the work of some prankster wise-guy cop in the tow yard poking fun at the Spanish language, since "tilde" is the wavy symbol over the letter N giving life to the word "Manana". Then, A corrupt small-time gay mayor, tall, macho-looking, suave, petty and vindictive with a lust for money, power and handsome young bucks, hires a crooked city-slick attorney to rubber-stamp a brazen hidden agenda to take control of public funds worth a few millions and, eager to leave the Triple A farm team for the big leagues, shakes down contractors and new charter schools for illegal campaign contributions which he launders to finance his ambitious climb to higher public office. His plans may be unwittingly jeopardized by our hero who, offered a personal invitation to the mayor's pool-side party after being spotted on the Boulevard in his pink interior sheet metal zoot-suit ride, accepts, thinking it's a low-rider appreciation party, but feels that his manhood was deeply deceived upon entering a low-rider pants, clothes optional men-only party, and all hell breaks loose. The mayor has already betrayed one lover, the mustachioed owner of a corner taco stand, what's to stop him from betraying the public trust, and making a pass on Chucho? Also, A simpatico convicted cop, with a weakness for donuts and the hot Latina damsel behind the counter, wants a second chance, but needs the corrupt mayor and the crooked attorney's blessing for a last try at drive-by redemption. Enter Chucho and his serendipitous timing who converts the donut shop's corner parking lot into an impromptu drive-by art gallery displaying his golden Aztec goddess wearing nothing but silver hoop earrings and sheet metal serpent plumage, made decent with flowing hip-length hair and spray painted on the Impala's hood which could stand its own against any Baroque Madonna frescoed in St. Peter's Basilica; then while documenting his artistry, our hero's camera accidentally captures some compromising footage in the back of the donut shop with the uniformed on-duty cop and the donut clerk kneading more than dough, putting Chucho in a slight moral dilemma and messing up his weekend plans: should he turn in the captured footage for profit, for civic duty, or use it to blackmail city hall into de-criminalizing cruising the boulevard on weekends? Chucho may have only a Junior College education majoring in auto body shop and fine art, with some continuing education in County jail- rumor has it, for shoplifting some baby formula to feed his neighbor's son, whose mother, Matilde, a struggling single mom, he's enamored of- but a dummy he's not. His mother taught him right from wrong, and the recipe to a kick-ass hot guacamole salad with a secret ingredient which he jealously guards, but has encoded into the side graphics of his low-rider in classic Arabic text which beats Old English for shear beauty and absolute obfuscation. |
| WatchOurCity.com |
February 14, 2008, updated
| A Gay Mayor |
| A convicted cop, |
| Latina |
| and a hot |
"The streets were
dark with
something more
than night"
Raymond
Chandler
dark with
something more
than night"
Raymond
Chandler
February 13, 2008
Controversial chief in
Maywood steps down
By Ari B. Bloomekatz, Los Angeles
Times Staff Writer
February 13, 2008
A man who nearly two weeks ago
was tapped to become the city of
Maywood's interim police chief --
despite having been convicted of
theft and resigning from the Los
Angeles Police Department -- has
stepped down from the position at
the request of the city's mayor.
On Tuesday night, Maywood city
leaders voted 5 to 0 to appoint
Maywood Cmdr. Frank Hauptmann
as their interim chief while a search
for a permanent replacement was
conducted.
Unlike Al Hutchings, whose
selection for the job on Feb. 1
prompted an immediate outcry
from residents and officers,
Hauptmann is generally supported
by the rank and file and has an
unblemished record, according to
officials with the state attorney
general's office.
"I think I made it very clear in the
beginning . . . my goal was to help
reform the department,"
Hauptmann said after the vote. He
said he would bring a new policy
manual to the department and
institute a new recruiting process,
among other improvements.
Mayor Felipe Aguirre, who helped
orchestrate Hutchings' appointment
as interim chief, withdrew his
support after meetings between the
city and the attorney general's
office, which has been investigating
allegations of wrongdoing by
officers in the troubled police
department. The district attorney
also is investigating, authorities
said.
Maywood City Atty. Francisco Leal
said authorities investigating the
department had expressed
concerns about Hutchings in the
days before the council's decision.
He said the Los Angeles County
district attorney's office had
requested several files they
deemed "sensitive" and did not
want to be accessible to Hutchings,
including his own.
Officials from the attorney general's
office also told city leaders that
appointing Hutchings would be a
mistake, Leal said. The council
ignored those warnings, voting 3 to
2 to hire Hutchings. Although he
was sworn in Feb. 4, he never
assumed the duties of chief
because his background check had
not been conducted.
Senior Assistant Atty. Gen. Louis
Verdugo said that after Hutchings'
appointment, his office concluded
that in selecting him, Maywood
could have violated state and local
codes regarding background checks
and qualifications for those serving
as chief of police.
If Hutchings and Aguirre had not
backed off, Leal said, the attorney
general's office indicated that it
would have taken legal action.
State investigators, he said, could
not understand why Hutchings had
been chosen, when it seemed "such
an easy decision" to select
someone with a clean background.
In some ways, Hutchings' selection
was not much of a surprise.
The Maywood Police Department is
known for giving "second chances"
to officers fired from other
agencies. A Times investigation of
Maywood last year found that at
least a third of the officers on the
force had brushes with the law or
had left other departments with
their ethics in question.
Hutchings, who was hired by
Maywood in 2006, was one such
officer. He pleaded no contest to
charges that he bilked the LAPD for
overtime pay while an officer there,
a conviction he has had expunged
from his record.
And in 2005 he was fired for acts of
dishonesty from Los Angeles Valley
College, where he was a instructor.
Before his one-year probationary
period ended in Maywood,
Hutchings resigned amid charges
that he had been videotaped
having an on-duty liaison with the
female owner of a local doughnut
shop.
He said the charges are a sham,
aimed at discrediting him because
he was exposing brutal and corrupt
officers on the force.
ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com
Los Angeles Times, Copyrighted.
Controversial chief in
Maywood steps down
By Ari B. Bloomekatz, Los Angeles
Times Staff Writer
February 13, 2008
A man who nearly two weeks ago
was tapped to become the city of
Maywood's interim police chief --
despite having been convicted of
theft and resigning from the Los
Angeles Police Department -- has
stepped down from the position at
the request of the city's mayor.
On Tuesday night, Maywood city
leaders voted 5 to 0 to appoint
Maywood Cmdr. Frank Hauptmann
as their interim chief while a search
for a permanent replacement was
conducted.
Unlike Al Hutchings, whose
selection for the job on Feb. 1
prompted an immediate outcry
from residents and officers,
Hauptmann is generally supported
by the rank and file and has an
unblemished record, according to
officials with the state attorney
general's office.
"I think I made it very clear in the
beginning . . . my goal was to help
reform the department,"
Hauptmann said after the vote. He
said he would bring a new policy
manual to the department and
institute a new recruiting process,
among other improvements.
Mayor Felipe Aguirre, who helped
orchestrate Hutchings' appointment
as interim chief, withdrew his
support after meetings between the
city and the attorney general's
office, which has been investigating
allegations of wrongdoing by
officers in the troubled police
department. The district attorney
also is investigating, authorities
said.
Maywood City Atty. Francisco Leal
said authorities investigating the
department had expressed
concerns about Hutchings in the
days before the council's decision.
He said the Los Angeles County
district attorney's office had
requested several files they
deemed "sensitive" and did not
want to be accessible to Hutchings,
including his own.
Officials from the attorney general's
office also told city leaders that
appointing Hutchings would be a
mistake, Leal said. The council
ignored those warnings, voting 3 to
2 to hire Hutchings. Although he
was sworn in Feb. 4, he never
assumed the duties of chief
because his background check had
not been conducted.
Senior Assistant Atty. Gen. Louis
Verdugo said that after Hutchings'
appointment, his office concluded
that in selecting him, Maywood
could have violated state and local
codes regarding background checks
and qualifications for those serving
as chief of police.
If Hutchings and Aguirre had not
backed off, Leal said, the attorney
general's office indicated that it
would have taken legal action.
State investigators, he said, could
not understand why Hutchings had
been chosen, when it seemed "such
an easy decision" to select
someone with a clean background.
In some ways, Hutchings' selection
was not much of a surprise.
The Maywood Police Department is
known for giving "second chances"
to officers fired from other
agencies. A Times investigation of
Maywood last year found that at
least a third of the officers on the
force had brushes with the law or
had left other departments with
their ethics in question.
Hutchings, who was hired by
Maywood in 2006, was one such
officer. He pleaded no contest to
charges that he bilked the LAPD for
overtime pay while an officer there,
a conviction he has had expunged
from his record.
And in 2005 he was fired for acts of
dishonesty from Los Angeles Valley
College, where he was a instructor.
Before his one-year probationary
period ended in Maywood,
Hutchings resigned amid charges
that he had been videotaped
having an on-duty liaison with the
female owner of a local doughnut
shop.
He said the charges are a sham,
aimed at discrediting him because
he was exposing brutal and corrupt
officers on the force.
ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com
Los Angeles Times, Copyrighted.
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