L.A. Sheriff's Department Shake-up? Rumors That Sheriff Lee Baca Has Demoted Paul Tanaka, Sketchy Undersheriff

By Simone Wilson Thu., Feb. 9 2012 at 12:45 PM

David Markland

Is Baca taking desperate measures?

Could L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca finally be turning the Sheriff's Department on its head, in an effort to save whatever scraps of reputation he has left after a year of beaten inmates, ACLU lawsuits, deputies gone rogue and a horrendously botched probe into Miramonte Elementary's alleged sex monster?

Sources familiar with the inside politics of the department tell us that Baca recently overhauled his defamed executive cabinet.

They say that Undersheriff Paul Tanaka, who has been serving as a sort of "shadow leader" to Baca during this PR nightmare...

... has been demoted to a less powerful position, yet is receiving the same salary as before. There are rumors that Tanaka will be replaced by Chief William McSweeney, a hard-boiled detective and gentle, respected leader who has shown more nuanced concern, in the past, for the public's perception of the department.

(Unlike Tanaka, who seems to sugar-coat everything and spoon-feed it to Sheriff Baca for public delivery, avoiding any real address of the department's rotten core. Denial, denial, denial.)

Our sources have also gotten word that Assistant Sheriff Cecil Rhambo is being demoted, and that Assistant Sheriff Marvin Cavanaugh will be retiring. If the rumors are true, this will mean that Baca's entire three-person executive staff will be replaced.

Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore denies the allegations in full.

Undersheriff Paul Tanaka.

"No, [Tanaka] hasn't been demoted," says Whitmore, sounding more furious than usual. He says there are "no plans to change" Baca's executive lineup.

When we ask the spokesman if there's a possibility he just doesn't know about the decision yet, he gets madder still. "I know everything!" he says.

"I know what you're asking," Whitmore adds. "Is Paul Tanaka in any way hurt?" And the answer to that is "No."

Insiders at the department, however, claim Tanaka has been out of the office recently, as a result of an ongoing argument between him and Baca.

Tanaka was promoted to undersheriff in June 2011 (a strange pick and complete conflict-of-interest, seeing as he's also the mayor of Gardena), directly after the LA Weekly broke a huge scandal about inmates and jail visitors being beaten bloody by gangs of sheriff's guards. From the beginning, Baca has feigned complete ingnorance in response to horrific anecdotes from behind cell walls. (We've nicknamed him the Teflon Sheriff, because bad news never seems to stick).

While Baca does the politicking, Tanaka oversees day-to-day operations at the jails. If rumors of a rift between them are true, booting Tenaka from the position of undersheriff would indicate that Baca's finally desperate for a clean slate.

One more sign the Teflon Sheriff might be trying for a makeover: Whitmore, his spokesman, confirms that Ray Leyva has been promoted to commander.

"That's significant because Ray ran against [Baca] in 2006," says Whitmore.

Leyva is the exact opposite of the current regime. He's a real cop's cop, with hard principles -- not a dodgy PR guy. When he ran for sheriff, his campaign slogan was "Back to Basics," and he promised to "restore the department's image and operational fairness to again attract deputy applicants." [Update: WitnessLA adds that Leyva "was one of the supervisors who attempted reform in Men's Central Jail, but whose efforts were blocked and/or undone by Paul Tanaka."]

Far cry from the culture of corruption that has festered under Baca-Tanaka's Band-Aid approach. A quick refresher course from the LA Weekly archives:

Update: In addition to the Leyva promotion, WitnessLA (who follows Sheriff's Department operations like a hawk) has laid out a number of subtle yet telling command shifts by Baca. The sheriff "really doesn't know who he can trust right now," one source tells the online paper. Read the full report for more insider baseball.

[@simone_electra / swilson@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

Tags:

deputies, inmate abuse, inmate beatings, L.A. County Sheriff's Department, Lee Baca, Paul Tanaka

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grateful

Paul only helped, if anything. He opened up so many new opportunities for people, and whats more, is that he even had to put all the blame on him, when he clearly had the smallest-if any- part in the "scandal" the SHERIFF needs to take the blame for this, not his undersheriff! Tanaka has done his job correctly, and nothing more should've been asked of him. People don't realize how much assuming they're all doing-do you all know the story? I commend Tanaka, he left so that the real blame will be issued to the right people.

grateful

Angelonamisson

The sheriff Force should be disbanded. They are becoming a public liability for their Nazi thug attitude and tactics on the citizens, which they have no respect for. That why cities and counties are going bankrupt due to paying millions out on lawsuits for sheriff's mishaps on the street and in their jails... Enuff is Enuff I!!! It time to do something now or you will be their next victim.

gina

what is happening now regarding the investigation and shutting down the jail.

San Antonio

Might also try and look into how Baca has strived to take over any and all other law enforcement agencies during his reign: County Marshalls; County Police; Metro Transit Police... I would also advise you to look into how they "disposed" of Metro Transit's Deputy Executive Officer (DEO) for Safety, Security and Law Enforcement (who was hired to get the LASD contract under control). He tried to reform the LASD contract and for his efforts and the recovery of nearly $5 mil in inappropriate contract charges: His security staffed were hounded and harassed and improperly investigated; they misappropriated federal transit security grant funds from Metro; they "judge-shopped" attempting to get someone...anyone to prosecute Metro security officers; when the new CEO arrived, Baca had 4 meetings with the CEO and as fellow Trojan buddies, got the DEO's job was deleted. It was a Transit Deputy who hit that Special Needs woman.

dragon

No, you are wrong it was not a Transit Deputy. You would know about the DEO posiition because it was you that you may be right about.

Hope

Wow!, what ever happened to the oath these men took, to serve and protect. Obviously, they only serve themselves,and protect themselves. This reminds me of a movie that I believe in, you might have heard of it. "A Few Good Men" Its time to put loyal, honest, and men with integrity in positions who truly are leaders. Good men set examples for their troops and have the respect by all who know them.

Lycanman2243

Maybe the LA Weekly should explore it's own article that it did soon after Baca was elected to Sherriff "Debacale". It started in the begining but no one would listen then and look now. Should we be really surprised!!!!!

beyonddisgustedwithlasd

Lowering the hiring standards for deputy applicants has finally come full circle and there are criminals wearing the badge instead of an inmate jumpsuit.

beyonddisgustedwithlasd

I'd like to partially retract my previous comment. Not ALL deputies are criminals just the ones that got hired even though they had previous gang affiliations, used illegal drugs and had misdemeanors on record. The number of hired deputy sheriff trainees must have been impressive while trying to compete with LAPD for applicants. Hope it was worth it, look at the mess you 've made of this agency.

OnceProudToo

Lycanman, right on! This was all predestined the instant the old man hit his head on the bath tub. The good ship LASD started heading for the rocks at that point. The amazing thing is that it took 14 years to run aground - especially with the string of incompetents who have occupied the top three seats under Baca's "leadership."

I did a LA Witness search for "Sheriff Debacle" and came up empty. But if they wrote such an article, they should be tooting their own horn because they would have had it spot-on. Baca is a joke, always has been, always will be.

Ojai

Why has there been no effort to identify the LASD from Lakewood, Badge No. 7099, who punched the special needs woman in the face?

Ndinsocal

Wrong badge number. I promise you.

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