REPORT: LAPD PROBE ALLEGES EX-DEPUTY CHIEF LAUNDERED DRUG MONEY

LOS ANGELES -(AP)- A confidential police department report has found that a
retired deputy chief for several years helped launder money from his son's
sprawling cocaine ring, a newspaper reported Friday.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the police department probe found that
Deputy Chief Maurice Moore, who retired earlier this year, allegedly
retrieved, delivered, stored and laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars
in illicit profits. Moore allegedly acted on behalf of his son, who ran the
drug operation from federal prison, according to the LAPD's internal
investigation.

"His misconduct represents the worst in public corruption," said the report,
which was obtained by the Times.

Moore, 67, denied any wrongdoing through his attorney.

Investigators based their findings on real estate and escrow documents,
court bond papers, city financial disclosure forms, statements from FBI
informants and interviews with people connected with the drug ring, the
police report said.

Interim Police Chief Martin Pomeroy has requested more analysis before
deciding whether to uphold six internal department allegations against
Moore, a police spokesman said.

The allegations include money laundering and a violation of police
department rules known as maintaining improper relationships with people
involved in "an ongoing criminal enterprise."

Some of the allegations in the report, if true, would constitute crimes, but
the statute of limitations for many of them has passed.

The only practical effect of the LAPD recommendations, if sustained by
Pomeroy, would be to retroactively reprimand the retired deputy chief.

Moore's alleged criminal misconduct first came to the attention of
investigators in the mid-1990s when federal agents were investigating his
son, Kevin Moore. Despite serving a 13-year sentence for cocaine trafficking
in federal prison, Kevin Moore continued running a major drug network, which
led to a conviction.

Suspicions about the elder Moore were aroused when federal agents searched
the house of Kevin Moore's wife and found a photograph of a smiling Maurice
Moore behind the wheel of his son's antique Mercedes-Benz Gullwing, which
can sell for more than $200,000.

An informant also told federal agents that Maurice Moore picked up and
dropped off drug money.

The FBI in December 1999 sent a letter to then-Chief Bernard C. Parks
telling him about their agents' suspicions that Maurice Moore was involved
in a major drug ring.

Chief Parks received the report in the midst of the Rampart corruption
scandal, which was sparked by a rogue police officer who told of unjustified
shootings, beatings, evidence planting and drug dealing by other officers.

Despite the FBI's concerns, Parks allowed the deputy to help direct the
department's official inquiry into the Rampart scandal. Parks was denied a
second term as police chief earlier this year and is now a City Council
candidate.

Former LAPD Cmdr. Thomas Lorenzen, who wrote the department's internal
report on Maurice Moore, said the deputy chief should have been immediately
relieved of duty based on the FBI information.

"I don't understand why this was managed the way it was," said Lorenzen, who
is now chief of police in Taos, N.M. "If it would have been your average
police officer, it would have been utterly different."

Police Commission President Rick Caruso declined to discuss the report in
detail. He did say that he was "really disturbed" by the allegations against
Moore and the way the case was handled by the FBI and LAPD.

Caruso said he plans to introduce a motion at next week's commission meeting
in which he'll seek to have the case turned over to the department's
inspector general.

Parks, who promoted Moore to the deputy chief position, did not return calls
from the Times seeking comment.

Anna Moore, one of Kevin Moore's ex-wives, told federal agents that Maurice
Moore collected about $1.9 million in illegal drug money from customers who
owed Kevin Moore, according to a letter from the FBI to the LAPD.

Along with collecting the money, the LAPD report alleges that Maurice Moore
helped launder drug money by investing in legitimate real estate
enterprises.

Cmdr. Lorenzen said in the report that he was concerned that no action was
taken against Maurice Moore several years ago, thus allowing him to serve as
deputy chief for several years before his retirement.

"Unfortunately for the department, we may never know if Deputy Chief Moore's
association with his son tainted his on-duty activities," Lorenzen stated.
"We certainly know now that the case was managed poorly from the beginning.
Better decisions could have been made regarding this case."