ACCUSER OF RAMPART EX-OFFICER RECANTS

Reportedly Denies Killings Occurred

LOS ANGELES -- A former lover of the ex-police officer at the center of a
massive police corruption investigation has recanted her allegations that
he and another former officer killed three people and buried their bodies
in Tijuana, law enforcement sources said yesterday.

The recantation comes as some news agencies reported that jurors in the
first trial stemming from the scandal centered in the Los Angeles Police
Department's Rampart division reached a partial verdict in the trial of
four officers.

The allegations that sparked the trial came from former Los Angeles police
officer Rafael Perez. His credibility has consistently been under scrutiny,
but it was severely damaged last month when it was revealed that his former
girlfriend, Sonia Flores, 23, told investigators he was involved in three
slayings.

But sources said that on Thursday Flores told investigators she had
fabricated her detailed account of the slayings of a Los Angeles man and a
woman by Perez and his then-partner David Mack.

"She was administered a polygraph examination and she did not do very
well," said a law enforcement source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"She then recanted her statement and stated that the reason for fabrication
was to essentially get back at Perez, who had previously jilted her."

Flores is facing the possibility of federal criminal charges for the phony
story.

"It's a felony offense to lie to a federal agency," the source said.

During the investigation, sources reported that investigators were
skeptical of her account, but that her story couldn't be corroborated nor
disproved. A source said polygraph tests are typically given late in such
investigations.

Investigators were clearly annoyed by the development. Her story caused
U.S. officials to negotiate with Mexican authorities for a lengthy search
for bodies in a garbage-filled hillside in Colonia Altamira, a hillside
neighborhood overlooking the Tijuana tourist strip of Avenida Revolucion.
Officials from the Mexican federal attorney general's office said no human
remains were discovered.

Her tale also threw the entire Rampart investigation and its first trial
into question.

Flores' lawyer, Marshall Bitkower, didn't return telephone messages. He
told the Los Angeles Times, "She's a woman scorned. She had everyone fooled."

Perez's lawyer Winston Kevin McKesson had contended from the time Flores'
account became public that the story was "a fantasy" and that she was
merely seeking attention. Mack, who is serving a prison sentence for bank
robbery, has also denied the charges, according to his lawyer.

Officials with the FBI and in Mexico had no immediate comment about the
recantation.

Flores told investigators that in the mid-1990s, Perez and Mack shot and
killed a man and his mother during a drug deal. Two months after the
alleged killings, she said she joined Perez and Mack as they drove to
Tijuana. She said that during that trip the men disposed of another
victim's body and that Perez showed her the site where he disposed of the
bodies of the man and woman from the killing she witnessed.

The story cast Perez in a harsher light. The former anti-gang enforcement
officer had pleaded guilty to stealing 6 pounds of cocaine from a police
evidence locker and began telling authorities about frame-ups and other
misconduct in the department in exchange for a light sentence.

Perez's revelations have led to the reversal of more than 100 convictions,
put about 70 officers under investigation and spurred a federal decree that
will lead to a court-appointed monitor overseeing the Los Angeles Police
Department. Scandal-related lawsuits are expected to cost the city at least
$125 million.

Flores' allegations became public just as the first Rampart-related trial
began. Perez was listed as a witness who would testify against four of his
former colleagues accused of framing gang members on firearms and assault
charges.

During statements made to prospective jurors in the case, defense lawyer
Harland Braun gave a graphic retelling of Flores' allegations, causing some
jury prospects to gasp. But prosecutors revealed Perez would cite his Fifth
Amendment right against self-incrimination if he were asked about the three
alleged slayings. The government lawyers never called him to the stand and
barely referred to him during the 31/2-week trial.

Trial watchers said the timing of the story could cause prosecutors to
claim the phony account denied them the ability to call their best witness.
But Braun, who represents accused Officer Michael Buchanan, said even
without the murder allegations, Perez's credibility would have been attacked.

"The last thing they wanted to do was call Perez," Braun said.

A spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office declined to comment.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press, quoting unnamed sources, reported
yesterday that the Rampart trial jurors submitted a partial verdict to
Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Connor in a sealed envelope at the end of
their first full day of deliberations.

Defense attorneys weren't notified about the verdicts and Braun said he
doesn't "believe it was a big deal."

Jurors did not meet yesterday because the courts were closed for Veterans
Day. The panel is expected to reconvene Monday morning.