Sheriffs’ actions chided in pot incident

Deepa Bharath

The Orange County grand jury on Thursday criticized the way Orange

County Sheriff’s officials handled a marijuana incident involving a

high-ranking county official’s son, who also stands accused of

gang-rape, but deemed there was no criminal intent.

Prosecutors say Greg Haidl, 19, son of Orange County Assistant

Sheriff Don Haidl, Kyle Nachreiner and Keith Spann raped a girl and

sexually assaulted her with various objects at the Haidls’ Corona del

Mar home.

A jury on Monday deadlocked on the case, forcing the judge to

declare a mistrial. The Orange County district attorney refiled the

case Tuesday.

The incident in question occurred on Oct. 26 when Greg Haidl was

stopped by sheriff’s deputies while skateboarding with friends in a

“No Skateboarding” area in San Clemente. A subsequent search of the

teens’ car reportedly revealed marijuana and drug paraphernalia on

the rear floorboard next to Haidl’s seat and near Haidl’s keys,

cigarettes and a bottle of tea.

A 16-year-old boy, who was with Haidl, said the marijuana belonged

to him. In a tape that has been publicized on television and radio,

sheriff’s officials decided they would not put the incident on the

log because “the press would be all over” it and that the matter

would remain “our little secret.”

A lieutenant then instructed the field sergeant to release the

teenagers without filing a report and then asked a field deputy to

drive Greg Haidl home. The sergeant then took the marijuana back to

the office and locked it in his file cabinet, the grand jury report

said. Another official then edited information from the deputy’s

report that Haidl’s belongings were grouped with the marijuana, it

said.

In an eight-page report titled “A Tempest in a Teapot or a

Violation of Public Trust?” released Thursday, members of the grand

jury who participated in a seven-month investigation said the

incident seemed very much like a cover-up, but there is no evidence

of a criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice.

The grand jury report was being withheld until the completion of

Haidl’s jury trial.

The district attorney’s office, which took over the investigation

from the sheriff, has concluded there was no evidence to support

criminal charges.

But the grand jury report points out “interference by the higher

levels of the Sheriff’s Department that gave the appearance of a

cover-up.”

“This behavior continued to snowball, resulting in several

misleading reports and public pronouncements,” the report said.

A recorded telephone conversation also showed “a concerted effort

to suppress information and keep the matter from the press and

public,” the report said.

On the other hand, it is customary for field officers to let

people off with a warning and not give them a citation and for police

officers to be intimated if their children had a brush with the law,

the report said.

Officials were probably too eager to guard a fellow officer’s son

from adverse publicity, the report said.

The grand jury recommended that the sheriff use an outside law

enforcement agency to conduct an independent investigation.

Orange County Sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino could not be

reached for comment on Thursday.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Schroeder said the report “stands on its

own.”

“The district attorney’s office agrees with the grand jury’s

findings,” she said. “I’m legally unable to talk about other matters

until the investigation is over.”

Greg Haidl’s attorney, Pete Scalisi, said he had not looked at the

report yet, but the marijuana incident was insignificant because no

charges were filed against his client.

He said he wasn’t surprised that the grand jury didn’t find

criminal culpability on the part of the Sheriff’s Department.

“There’s no surprise there,” Scalisi said. “It was expected.”

Don Haidl said he “wasn’t paying much attention” to the grand jury

investigation.

“I want to stay away from it,” the assistant sheriff said. “I want

to let the Sheriff’s Department deal with it.”

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath @latimes.com.