L.A. POLICE SCANDAL BEFORE GRAND JURY

LOS ANGELES -- A federal grand jury has begun hearing testimony about
a 1996 shooting that may have been the first in a string of corrupt
actions by Rampart Division police officers, it was reported Thursday.

At least two LAPD officers have testified before the grand jury in
recent weeks about their knowledge of the shooting and wrongful
incarceration of Javier Francisco Ovando by disgraced former officers
Rafael Perez and Nino Durden, the Los Angeles Times reported, quoting
attorneys and law enforcement sources familiar with the case.

Perez was released last month from state prison, after serving fewer
than three years for stealing cocaine from an evidence locker. Durden
pleaded guilty earlier this year to several crimes stemming from the
shooting and is expected to serve about eight years in prison.

The scandal involves allegations that anti-gang officers at the
department's Rampart station near downtown robbed, beat, framed and
shot suspects over a period of several years in the mid-to late 1990s.

Officers Mario Rios and Michael Montoya were working with Perez and
Durden on Oct. 12, 1996, but were not present when the Ovando shooting
occurred, according to police documents. Rios and Montoya have denied
any wrongdoing. The officers, however, face disciplinary hearings.
They are suspected of falsifying information about their roles in the
shooting.

The U.S. attorney's office has tapped a team of prosecutors and FBI
agents investigating alleged civil rights violations by the Police
Department.

The secret grand jury proceedings, which could result in indictments,
come as investigations by the LAPD and district attorney are completed.

Perez and Durden have admitted shooting Ovando, planting a gun on him
and then falsely testifying that he shot at them. Perez implicated
himself and Durden in the shooting as part of a plea bargain to lessen
his prison sentence.

Although county prosecutors gave Perez immunity for certain crimes in
which he implicated himself, federal prosecutors have not given him
that protection, the Times reported.

After the shooting, Ovando, a reputed gang member, was falsely
convicted of assaulting Perez and Durden and sentenced to 23 years in
prison. He was released from custody in September 1999, three years
into his sentence, as a result of Perez's admission.

Neither Montoya nor Rios was aware a gun was planted on Ovando,
according to Perez. However, Perez told investigators that the
officers, and their superior, Sgt. Edward Ortiz, lied about an element
of the case to make it appear more tactically sound to their
supervisors.

Although police reports state Montoya and Rios were waiting in a chase
car, the officers were never near the shooting location, Perez says.

Rios and Montoya, according to their attorneys, maintain the initial
police reports are correct. Ortiz could not be reached for comment.

Perez's attorney, Winston Kevin McKesson, declined to comment on the
grand jury investigation.