Ex-Officer’s Appeal in Drug-Buy Case Denied

Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates denied on Thursday the administrative appeal of a former police officer who was fired after it was alleged that she had become “romantically” involved with a high school football player during an undercover drug investigation.

Gates’ decision was made public shortly after the officer, Sharon Fischer, appeared at a press conference with another officer who said she was raped while working under cover in the same program three years ago.

In her appeal, Fischer, 22, denied that her relationship with the 17-year-old student was romantic. The former officer said she befriended the “big man on campus” to bolster her undercover identity and to protect herself after she had been manhandled by a student who was trying to kiss her.

She said she informed her supervisor of her actions, which she said were taken to allow her to continue operating under cover in the 13-year-old police school buy program in which youthful-looking officers pose as students to arrange drug buys and make arrests.

In addition, she said, students involved in drug sales at the school were beginning to suspect that she was a “narc,” and she hoped her friendship with the youth would convince students that she was one of them.

Police Cmdr. William D. Booth said that, after the student’s mother complained to police, Fischer was fired on four counts of misconduct.

One count stated that she “improperly permitted a minor to fondle her breasts and buttocks.” The other counts included improperly writing and forwarding sexually suggestive notes to a minor, improperly telephoning a minor at his residence and maintaining “an improper relationship” with a minor.

In a prepared statement, Gates said: “This is an action I have to take that saddens me, but this department has high standards that must be maintained and, by her actions, she did not live up to them.”

Fischer’s lawyer, Michael P. Stone, general counsel for the Los Angeles Police Protective League, said he had not expected Gates to rule in his client’s favor.

Fischer has not decided whether to pursue the matter further, but Stone said “you can probably anticipate” a lawsuit seeking a department Board of Rights hearing, “which would place the burden of proof on the department to back up the charges.”

Prosecution of nine suspects arrested in Fischer’s investigation at Kennedy High School in Granada Hills was dropped because authorities said they feared Fischer’s “bad judgment” could taint the cases.

Fischer was joined Thursday by Officer Alice Padelford, 27, who said the attack on her in March, 1984, demonstrated the dangers that would justify Fischer’s fear of being harmed.

Padelford said she was raped and forced to smoke marijuana in March, 1984, by three drug dealers, one of them a former student at Hollywood High School, where she was working under cover. The officer said she had set up a meeting, which took place before the school day began, to arrange a drug buy. But the three targets of the buy had learned that she was a police officer and turned on her, Padelford said.

Two juveniles were convicted in the assault. Padelford filed, but later dropped, a claim against the Los Angeles Unified School District, charging school officials with negligence in allowing her identity to be revealed to the drug dealers. School district officials could not be reached for comment.

Prosecution of the third suspect was dropped, Padelford said, because she was exhausted by the matter and preferred to devote her energy to her work. Padelford, who is still a police officer, has been on leave since 1985 and is seeking a disability pension.

Like Fischer, Padelford was a probationary officer when she was selected for the school buy program. Padelford had completed nine months of the department’s 18-month officer training period. Fischer had completed a year of the program.

Both women said they believe that their police careers would have been damaged if they had asked to be taken out of the school buy program. They said their ordeals could have been avoided if they had been more experienced officers.

“A double-edged sword was at her stomach,” Padelford said of Fischer, referring to the pressure to stay under cover and the fear of being hurt while doing so.

The two women suggested that the department select officers who have more experience but still appear youthful.

Fischer said she regrets having deceived the football player and other students.

“I didn’t anticipate the hurt that he felt,” the former officer said. “It was not the best feeling in the world, no, but I was there for a purpose and I accomplished my job . . . to buy drugs.”