LAPD OFFICER'S ARREST TRIGGERS CORRUPTION PROBE

LAPD: Broader Investigation Focuses On Tips From Informants Who Say
Police Stole Drugs And Money From Dealers.

The criminal investigation into a Los Angeles police officer accused
of stealing six pounds of cocaine has broadened into a wider
corruption probe, with detectives acting on tips from informants and
narcotics dealers who say the nine-year veteran and other officers
stole drugs and money from street dealers.

Some drug dealers allege that they were robbed by Officer Rafael
Antonio Perez and one or more other officers, a police official close
to the investigation said.

The source said detectives are "focusing on several" officers who
worked with Perez at the LAPD's Rampart station. Since Perez's arrest,
detectives have fanned out through the community, interviewing
informants and drug dealers as well as former and recent partners of
the 31-year-old officer in an effort to determine whether there are
other "dirty cops" on the force, several sources said.

According to one knowledgeable police source, informants and people
involved in the illicit drug trade allege that Perez and other
officers would "shake down" dealers under the guise of arresting them.
Then, the officers allegedly confiscated the drugs and money and
released the drug dealers, knowing that the victims would be unlikely
to report them.

The source acknowledged, however, that some of the people who have
come forward with information "don't always make the best witnesses"
because of their criminal backgrounds.

Perez, a former Marine, worked undercover narcotics and anti-gang
assignments as well as patrol, police said. Detectives are looking
into the personal contacts he made within and outside the department
during all his assignments, sources said.

Details of the widening probe into other officers comes one day after
prosecutors revealed that a pound of cocaine was discovered missing
from the Rampart station in February. Prosecutors also accused Perez
of criminal activity beyond the March 2 theft of the six pounds of
cocaine from an LAPD property room.

In addition to the charges stemming from the property room theft,
prosecutors allege that Perez tried to sell a kilogram of cocaine
"through a confidential informant" in December. Prosecutors further
allege that Perez "obtained leniency" in the sentencing of two
convicted drug dealers who, police now believe, helped him distribute
the cocaine. Veronica Quesada, one of the two suspects for whom Perez
allegedly sought leniency, is his girlfriend, prosecutors say. The
other alleged associate was her brother, Carlos Antonio Romero, whom
Perez once arrested on a drug charge.

Prosecutors, however, have only charged Perez with the theft of drugs
from the property room. Perez, who is married and has a young
daughter, faces eight years and four months in prison if he is
convicted. Earlier this week, he pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Attorney Winston McKesson, who represents Perez, said his client is
innocent and is "shattered" by the accusations. McKesson said the
district attorney's case against Perez is weak and is not based on any
eyewitness account or fingerprints linking the officer to the crime.

Investigators, however, contend that they have solid evidence against
Perez, including handwriting samples they say match the signature used
to check out the cocaine from the property room. Police allege that
Perez impersonated another officer with the same last name to obtain
the drugs.

According to a search warrant affidavit, which was made public Friday
at The Times' request, witnesses place Perez at the LAPD property room
on the day of the theft.

The property room clerk remembered that Perez was "rude and
condescending" when she handled a transaction for him, but she did not
recall if it involved the three individually wrapped kilograms of
powder cocaine, which is equivalent to 6.6 pounds.

One LAPD colleague also helped investigators focus on Perez when he
was interviewed about Rampart's missing pound of cocaine.
Investigators questioned the colleague, a former Rampart officer,
because he was initially under suspicion for checking out the drug
from a property room, the affidavit shows.

Officer Armando Coronado convinced investigators that he had nothing
to do with the missing pound of cocaine, the records show. However,
during the interview, he revealed to investigators that he left
Rampart's anti-gang unit and was transferred to another division
because of personality problems with some of the officers, including
Perez. Coronado said he complained to a supervisor that Perez "was
conducting narcotics searches without concern for proper LAPD
procedures or tactics . . [and] without appropriately documenting his
findings," according to court documents. After his complaint, Perez
and his partner gave Coronado "the cold shoulder," according to a
statement he made to investigators.

Coronado also told investigators that a paid LAPD informant told him
that Perez "had tried to convince the informant to work exclusively
for Perez" because "he could pay him immediately for the cases they
worked together and that the informant would not have to wait until
the [department] paperwork was completed to get paid," the affidavit
states.

The informant said Perez offered him "some of the dope and some of the
money" if they worked together, according to the court documents.
Coronado said he initially discounted the informant's story because
the person "B.S.'d a lot," the court documents show.

Investigators interviewed the informant, who confirmed to them that
Perez wanted to get involved in "large cases involving 10-20 kilos of
narcotics," court records show.

"Perez offered to pay the [informant] out of his own bank account so
that [the informant] would not have to wait," according to the affidavit.

In December, the documents contend, Perez said he would pay the
informant $1,000 from his own pocket if the informant could find a
buyer for a kilogram of cocaine.

Sting operations involving undercover drug buys are routinely
documented by officers and must meet department approval. But
investigators said Perez did not have formal approval for the
transactions he was allegedly arranging. Suspecting that Perez was
involved in the theft, investigators started following him in April,
the search warrant affidavit says. During this surveillance, Perez was
spotted driving in an "erratic manner," which investigators believed
was intended to lose the officers who were following him, the
documents state. A couple of times, Perez drove erratically while he
was accompanied by another LAPD officer.

On April 15, Perez told his supervisor that he believed he was being
tailed by FBI investigators because of his friendship with another
LAPD officer, David A. Mack, who was charged with robbing a bank in
December. Moreover, Perez had reported that he believed gang members
wanted to kill him, the affidavit shows.

The court documents also allege that Perez frequently used telephones
and pagers in a manner characteristic of drug dealers. The documents
also allege that Perez made calls to and received calls from numbers
listed under the names of suspected drug dealers.

As part of the investigation into Perez, detectives interviewed
Quesada and Romero. During that interview, according to court records,
investigators discovered that Romero was carrying a "plastic baggy
which contained what appeared to be powder cocaine . . . [that]
appeared to have been broken off from a larger brick." A subsequent
search of the siblings' apartment turned up a photo of Perez "in plain
clothes apparently giving a gang hand gesture," and his pager number,
the documents state.

The searches of Perez's LAPD locker, cars and home did not yield any
drugs, according to court records.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry