2 LA County Sheriff's Deputies Charged With Filing False Report
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Authorities have charged two Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputies with filing a false report.
The District Attorney's Justice System Integrity Division also has charged the two deputies with conspiracy to file a false report.
Robert G. Lindsey, 31, and Charles G. Rodriguez, 38, were arrested on Thursday. If convicted on all charges, both face a maximum sentence of three years in county jail.
The case stems from two arrests the two made on June 3, 2011 outside the Durango Bar in Huntington Park.
The deputies' account of the events differ from what prosecutors allege actually happened. Why the men fabricated parts of the report is unclear.
The discrepancies in the incident and what the deputies said happened -- during a reported drug bust -- were allegedly uncovered after a defense attorney provided the DA's office with surveillance video from a bar security camera aimed at the parking lot during the time of the arrest.
Sheriff's spokesperson Steve Whitmore said Lindsey and Rodriguez have both been relieved of duty, without pay.
Whitmore told KCAL9's Tom Wait that the deputies turned themselves in after the videotape came to light. "They were arrested yesterday afternoon and released on their own recognizance."
The deputies are scheduled to be arraigned on May 13, 2013.
