Former Officers Sentenced in Shooting

Three former Los Angeles police officers pleaded no contest Wednesday to felony charges growing out of a drunken, off-duty shooting spree as they drove through Montebello last year after a late-night party.

The three were accused of indiscriminately firing at least 16 rounds July 30, prompting several 911 calls to Montebello police. The LAPD officers were arrested in a speeding sport utility vehicle carrying beer and weapons. No one was injured.

Osbaldo Camacho and Cesar Roberto Huezo, both 27, and Christian Nicholas Abdelkerim, 28, were sentenced to three years’ probation, fined $1,500 each and ordered to pay $200 each in restitution for negligent discharge of firearms.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Kellogg also ordered them to perform 250 hours each of community service. The work must involve “addressing at-risk children with the message that no one--including police officers--is above the law,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas R. Krag.

The three, who were fired after the incident, had faced a maximum penalty of three years in prison.

Under the terms of their probation, Krag said, the men are required to cooperate in the prosecution of a fourth, Steven Michael O’Neal. His preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 9.

Prosecutors said the incident began shortly after 3 a.m. when the officers, all assigned to the LAPD’s Southeast Division, and two women left a party at a Whittier restaurant where Sheriff’s Department personnel were celebrating the end of their probationary period.