LOOKEE WHERE ONE OF LA SHERIFF LEE ‘PEPE LEPEW’ BACA’S BADGES ENDED UP

Woman brandishing two guns in a nightclub proudly showed off sheriff’s badge on her ample cleavage

Lee ‘Pepe LePew’ Baca, the sheriff to the Hollywood stars, has a long history of showing favoritism to his friends and political contributors. Baca is a disgrace to the law enforcement profession!

JUST HOW DID SCANTILY-CLAD WOMAN TOTING TWO GUNS END UP WITH AN LA SHERIFFBADGE? (AND SHE’S NOT THE ONLY ONE)
Badge had been given to Cudahy city councilman Oswaldo Conde; LASO has been handing out badges to politicians since 1986

Mail Online
July 11, 2012

Brandishing two handguns in a California nightclub, a scantily-clad woman shows off her new acquisition - an official sheriff's badge proudly displayed on her cleavage. [A photo of that scene was released by federal prosecutors handling the case of three Cudahy officials charged with bribery.]

The image has caused an uproar as the badge belongs to a Cudahy councilman at the center of an FBI corruption probe who had been given the credentials by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Sheriff Lee Baca has now decided to recall some 200 badges his department has handed out to local politicians just two weeks after the picture was released by the U.S. attorney's office in support of bribery charges against three city officials.

The sheriff's department has long faced criticism for dishing out badges to civilians with no law-enforcement duties because of fears it could lead to abuse.

With the same six-pointed star design, they are very similar to the ones worn by deputies, although they read 'City Official Los Angeles County' instead of 'deputy sheriff'.

The department said the badges were handed out so civilians can pass through sheriff command posts during emergencies, but some believe they are issued as rewards for political contributions.

The gun-toting woman was pictured in the El Potrero nightclub in Cudahy wearing the badge given to Councilman Osvaldo Conde, one of three officials accused of taking a total of $17,000 in bribes from the owner of a medical marijuana dispensary who wanted to open a store in the city.

Sheriff spokesman Steve Whitmore insisted the timing of the recall was coincidence and had actually been prompted by a warning by the state attorney general in 2007.

The AG's opinion was that the badges had to potential for civilians to falsely pose as police officers.

But when questioned by the Los Angeles Times about why it had taken more than four years to take action, he replied: 'That's a good question.'

Whitmore admitted the picture was a 'vulgar display', but said he was not aware of any other incident when a badge had been misused.

The LA Times reports, however, that it had been a problem in the past.

One of the most notable was the case of the 'Hillside Strangler' Kenneth Bianchi who had used a county emblem to pose as a police officer when luring his victims in the 1980s.

One political contributor revealed previously how they used their honorary badge to gain access to a secure area of Bob Hope Airport in Burbank.