‘A shock to us all’: LAPD moves to fire supervisors of troubled Mission gang unit
A year after Los Angeles police officers from an anti-gang unit in the San Fernando Valley were accused of illegally searching vehicles and stealing from people they pulled over, an internal department email shows three of their supervisors now face termination.
Interim Chief Dominic Choi has called for the firing of a captain, a lieutenant, and a sergeant in the LAPD’s Mission Division, according to the email and multiple sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about police personnel matters. At least five lower-ranking officers have been implicated in the still-unfolding scandal.
According to the email, senior Mission Division Capt. James “JT” Townsend, Lt. Mark Garza and Sgt. David Gomez were each relieved of duty and have been directed to a disciplinary hearing, known as a board of rights. Such a move typically indicates that the chief believes there is enough evidence to justify firing an officer.
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As the senior captain at Mission, Townsend was responsible for most of the division’s daily operations, which included oversight of the so-called Gang Enforcement Detail. The unit came under scrutiny last August when an LAPD internal investigation reportedly found misconduct by officers, including the theft of a knife with brass knuckles on the handle.
Garza was the lieutenant in charge of the gang unit, while Gomez was one of his supervisors.
The department’s investigation focused on five additional officers for their alleged roles in the scandal, according to an Internal Affairs document reviewed by The Times.
The probe deemed that the allegations against the station’s then-junior captain, Matt Plugge, were unfounded, according to the document. Plugge was transferred last fall to a unit responsible for investigating less serious uses of force by officers. He did not respond to a message seeking comment.
An LAPD spokesperson said the department “cannot provide further comment on any potential personnel matters related to the investigation into the Mission Gang Enforcement Detail.”
An attorney for Garza reiterated that his client followed procedure by alerting his supervisors as soon as he learned of potential wrongdoing by his officers. The department accused Garza of failing to “develop and maintain adequate oversight” while clearing the division’s captains, said the attorney, Matt McNicholas.
The Los Angeles Police Protective League has filed a lawsuit accusing LAPD Cmdr. Lillian Carranza of improperly accessing the officers’ union’s records.
“The department is creating scapegoats, and I stand by the evidence will absolutely show that at the first instance of any potential issue, Garza reported this up the chain and then was told the bureau is on it, and he’s done with anything that he needed to do,” McNicholas said. “We believe this is 100% due to the fact that Garza reported the problems immediately, but the captains did nothing.”
The scandal broke into public view late last summer after The Times reported LAPD investigators had taken the rare step of searching lockers at the Mission Division station, seeking evidence amid the officers’ personal belongings. The probe is still unfolding, with the department now looking into allegations of poor management and supervision in the neighboring Foothill area, where some of the Mission officers were stationed previously.
The email reviewed by The Times was sent by a Mission Division official late last week to “eliminate any rumors or misunderstandings,” according to the subject line. The messaged referenced the investigation into the anti-gang unit and said of the commanders facing discipline: “This news has been a shock to us all. I want to remind everyone that no matter the allegations, an employee is innocent until proven guilty.”
The message said the department “is working on filling Mission Area commanding officer position,” and that the role will be temporarily filled by another senior LAPD official.
Former Chief Michel Moore announced last August that the FBI had also opened a case, and ordered two of the officers involved to a disciplinary hearing by the Board of Rights, signaling that he wanted to fire them. The department has yet to identify the two officers.
Choi’s decision to punish the Mission supervisors comes a week after he announced the department would conduct a top-down review of its disciplinary system at the City Council’s request. Despite strong criticism of the board of rights process, he has defended the department’s system for disciplining officers as “one of the most thorough” in the country.
The chief has pushed back on arguments from the Los Angeles Police Protective League and others that a double standard exists for senior officials, with the union alleging members of the top brass tend to receive lighter punishments than junior officers for the same misconduct.
In her veto letter to the City Council, Bass said the proposal risked creating ‘bureaucratic confusion’ within the LAPD’s disciplinary system.
The Mission gang unit was temporarily disbanded amid the scandal, its members dispersed to other assignments or placed on administrative leave.
Prosecutors have so far charged one Mission officer, Alan Carrillo, but signaled that more charges could be forthcoming. In May, Carrillo pleaded not guilty to charges of theft and evidence tampering.
He previously worked on the Foothill gang squad, whose other officers have in recent years been accused of violent tactics against protesters and at least one out-of-policy shooting of an unarmed man, according to court records and sources familiar with the LAPD’s ongoing investigation.
Carrillo is accused of stealing personal items from people during patrol stops in the Mission Division in April and June 2023, including the knife with brass knuckles. Of that allegation, his attorney, Caleb Mason, said in an interview with The Times that in that his client was being charged for essentially “taking contraband away from a suspect,” who was a minor.
Prosecutors have identified as many as 350 criminal cases that are potentially compromised because they relied on the testimony of or evidence gathered by two Mission gang officers. One of them, the sources familiar with the case said, is now believed to be Carrillo.
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