Los Angeles, March 10 - Following long delays, and thanks to assistance by Los Angeles County Ombudsman Stephanie Maxberry and the Honorable Michael Antonovich, Supervisor, the Sheriff's Department of Los Angeles County finally provided partial acknowledgement of complaints filed regarding alleged abuses related to the false hospitalization of Richard Fine and others. In parallel - unconfirmed news was received that the false hospitalization and solitary confinement of Richard Fine came to an end and he was moved to the GP (general population) section of the Men's Central Jail.

The March 10, 2010 fax received by Los Angeles County resident Dr Joseph Zernik from the Sheriff's Department [1] must be deemed partial and unreasonable response, [2] yet it was the first acknowledgement by the Sheriff's Department of complaints pertaining to the false arrest and hospitalization of Richard Fine and others, and various corrupt and abusive practices of the Los Angeles justice system - including the Superior Court and the Sheriff's Department. The Sheriff's fax response aggregated four (4) specific complaints out of a total of nine (9) submitted, into one complaint, and issued on such aggregate two conflicting complaint numbers.

The four complaints acknowledged so far were the following:

1) Complaint #1 - False arrest and booking data for the falsely hospitalized Attorney Richard Fine, which the Sheriffs Department refused to correct.

Through over half a year of communications with the Sheriff's Department, the Sheriff insisted on continuing the online publication of false records - stating that Richard Fine was arrested and booked by the non-existent Municipal Court of San Pedro. In fact, Richard Fine was falsely arrested on March 4, 2009 in the downtown courthouse, City of Los Angeles, with no warrant at all.

The Sheriff's Deputy at the Annex of the Superior Court at San Pedro denied that a booking terminal existed there. He further denied that Richard Fine or anybody else was ever booked there. The Sheriff's Department, even after intervention by Michael Antonovich, denied access the actual Warrant or LA County Booking Record of Richard Fine, claiming that it was not required by California Public Records Act to provide records which did not exist.

The plausible conclusion regarding the facts in the matter was that somewhere in San Pedro the Sheriff's Department kept operating an illegal booking terminal, registered under the no longer existent Municipal Court of San Pedro, from a decade ago - the time that a Municipal Court did exist in San Pedro. Furthermore, on March 4, 2009 the Sheriff's Warrant Detail used such illegally operated booking terminal to conduct the illegal bookings of Richard Fine, since no valid records existed to provide the legal foundation for the arrest and booking. However, since the Sheriff's Department recognized that it was an illegally operated booking terminal, it conveniently considered it as if such records did not exist at all, and denied access to the LA County Booking Record of Richard Fine, in disregard of the California Public Records Act.

2) Complaint #2 - False or Missing Information Regarding Arrest and Booking of Numerous Inmates Held by the Sheriffs Department

The details described above, pertaining to Richard Fine, regarding the publication of false records in the online Inmate Information Center, while denying access to California Public Records, which were arrest and booking records of Los Angeles Inmates, were alleged as a large scale practice by the Sheriff's Department, associated with large-scale false arrests and jailing. [3] Such corrupt and abusive practices by the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, and the Sheriff's Department were alleged as a direct extension of the Rampart scandal, whose victims, the Rampart-FIPs (Falsely Imprisoned Persons) are yet to be released.[4]

3) Complaint #3: False Hospitalizations With No Probable Medical Cause, Appearing As Cover Up For False Imprisonments.

Complaint was filed specifically against John Clark, Chief Medical Officer of the Sheriff's Department, for abusive medical practices, in allowing the false, coerced hospitalizations, including psychiatric hospitalizations, of individuals who complained about the corrupt Los Angeles justice system, including, but not limited to Attorney Richard Fine, Attorney Ronald Gottschalk, and others. It was alleged that such practices were employed to cover up false arrests and jailings and as retaliation against political dissidents.

4) Complaint #4: Alleged widespread corruption in bail/bond operations

Among the false records routinely published by the Sheriff's Department in its online Inmate Information Center, particular complaint was filed regarding the routine publication of bail/bond amounts as $0.00, in disregard of the true bail/bond sums that were paid. In parallel, neither the Sheriff's Department nor bail/bond agents would provide any records of the true financial transactions involved. It was alleged that such practices were inconsistent with honest financial administration, and upon discovery/investigation were likely to reveal large-scale corruption of bail/bond operations, and embezzlement of funds.

It remained to be seen how the Sheriff's Department would address such complaints. Repeat requests were forwarded to Los Angeles County Ombudsman Stephanie Maxberry and the Honorable Michael Antonovich, Supervisor, requesting honest, valid, and effectual issuance of individual complaint numbers of each of the complaints above, as well as the remaining five (5) complaints.

Linked:

[1] March 10, 2010 fax response from the Sheriff's Department
http://www.scribd.com/doc/28198624/10-03-10-Fax-by-Los-Angeles-Sheriff-s-Department-to-Dr-Joseph-Zernik-including-partial-response-on-request-for-complaint-numbers-Service-Comment-Rep

[2] March 10, 2010 request by Dr Zernik for further assistance by Ombudsman Maxberry and Supervisor Antonovich re: refusal of the Sheriff's Department to issue complaint numbers.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/28197598/10-03-10-Richard-Fine-Partial-Response-From-Sheriff-Dept-re-Request-for-issuance-of-complaint-numbers

[3] Survey showing the false data routinely entered by the Sheriff's Department as the legal foundation for arrests and jailings:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/24809956/10-01-04-Los-Angeles-Sheriff-Department-Inmate-information-Center-data-survey-Jose-Martinez-s

[4] The Rampart FIP (Falsely Imprisoned Persons) a short review
http://www.scribd.com/doc/24729660/09-12-17-Rampart-FIPs-Falsely-Imprisoned-Persons-Review