Ex-LAPD Official Fined, Put on Probation : Crime: Daniel R. Sullivan admitted that he illegally had police information in his possession as a private detective.

Former LAPD Deputy Chief Daniel R. Sullivan, once considered a top contender for the chief’s job, pleaded no contest Friday to illegally possessing confidential law enforcement information as a private detective and was sentenced to a year’s probation.

He became the highest ranking former LAPD official sentenced on criminal charges since the corruption scandals of the early 1900s.

Municipal Court Judge Veronica Simmons McBeth also fined Sullivan $4,995.

“It’s an appropriate plea given the circumstances,” said Deputy District Atty. Alan Yochelson. “It’s a significant fine and the publicity that this case has gathered will serve as a deterrent in future situations.”

Sullivan’s attorney was unavailable for comment.

Sullivan, who last June pleaded not guilty to 11 counts and denied any wrongdoing, pleaded no contest to five misdemeanor counts, said Sandi Gibbons, of the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. No contest is the equivalent of a guilty plea for California criminal court purposes.

Prosecutors accused Sullivan and Thomas Whiteaker, of Whiteaker Investigative Services in Mission Hills, of receiving confidential information contained in law enforcement files from Walter Ray Bentley Jr., an LAPD officer who resigned last year after he was arrested on child pornography charges.

Yochelson alleged that Bentley used LAPD computers to get information on people--including witnesses in criminal cases--and then passed the information along to Sullivan and Whiteaker.

In an interview last June, Yochelson told The Times that Whiteaker received information on a murder witness who had been relocated for his protection and on actor Todd Bridges.

The charges against Sullivan reflect the increased concern by police executives and prosecutors over LAPD officers selling or giving confidential information to private detectives.

The concern was heightened by a scandal in the 1980s involving the LAPD’s Public Disorder Intelligence Division, which was disbanded after city officials learned that a detective kept some confidential dossiers at home and shared them with ultra-conservative groups.

Bunco detectives had investigated Sullivan for more than a year because of his alleged connections to Bentley.

A year ago, hidden cameras recorded Bentley, a veteran Juvenile Division officer, getting requests from the two private investigation companies, checking almost 500 names against LAPD computers and then relaying that information to Sullivan and Whiteaker, according to search warrants filed in the case.

Before he retired from the department eight years ago, Sullivan had a widespread reputation as an energetic, capable, untouchably honest officer who was widely admired and at one point was considered a candidate to succeed former Chief Daryl F. Gates.

Yochelson said separate cases against Bentley and Whiteaker are still pending.

Times Staff Writer Julie Tamaki contributed to this report.