LOS ANGELES COUNTY (KNX) — Court documents filed in Los Angeles County Thursday by a previously high-ranking sheriff's official provide a firsthand report of Sheriff Alex Villanueva's alleged lying about his involvement in and knowledge of a department cover-up, the L.A. Times first reported.
Former Assistant Sheriff Robin Limon claims she provided a DVD of a deputy kneeling on a handcuffed person's neck to the sheriff and watched it with him and several others just days after it happened. It contradicts Villanueva's statements alleging he didn't know about the March 2021 incident until late fall.
Limon's latest court filings accuse the sheriff of demanding her resignation after the Times first report of a cover-up last month.
"The reasons for the Sheriff's misconduct were twofold," her complaint details. "To retaliate against the Complainant for being a whistleblower on several instances of illegal and other wrongful conduct and to further his cover up of an excessive use of force incident."
Attorney Vincent Miller, representing the former assistant sheriff, accuses the sheriff of trying to frame his client.
The footage shows a deputy walking beside an inmate who punches the officer multiple times. Deputies tackled the man and handcuffed him, and one kept his knee on the inmate's head for at least three minutes.
Limon's complaint also alleges that the sheriff's wife, a now-retired deputy, often had the latitude to approve or deny promotions for department staff and that the sheriff's campaign staff regularly interfered in contract negotiations.
Villanueva has not responded.
He faces a tough reelection campaign beginning with a primary election in early June.
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