Retired LAPD Sergeant Pleads No Contest In Domestic Violence Case
WEST HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA) — A retired Los Angeles police sergeant will serve probation for threatening his husband and holding off deputies in a standoff, according to a plea deal announced Friday.
Mitchell Gareth Grobeson, 59, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of criminal threats Thursday and was immediately sentenced to 36 months of probation and ordered to surrender all his weapons for 10 years, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. He was also ordered to continue mental health counseling.
Grobeson, who was the LAPD's first openly gay police officer, had been charged with assault with a firearm and criminal threats after allegedly threatening his husband and forcing him to leave their West Hollywood home on March 4, 2016, according to prosecutors.
His husband had called the sheriff's department to get help getting some of his belongings from the home, but when deputies arrived, Grobeson barricaded himself inside the house for more than three hours before surrendering.
Grobeson sued the city of Los Angeles in 1998, alleging discrimination by the LAPD against gay and lesbian employees, a case that took 25 years to play out.