Top commander of elite L.A. County sheriff's unit leaves job amid dishonesty probe

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Set us as preferred A commander of an elite Los Angeles County sheriff’s unit ignored evidence that cleared a subordinate of wrongdoing and went after him anyway — and then provided “false or misleading” statements about it under oath, an internal investigation found.Top brass recommended that Cmdr.Oscar Barragan, who oversaw the agency’s special enforcement bureau, be discharged for violating the department’s policies on dishonesty and obstructing an investigation, according to an internal July 14 memo reviewed by The Times.

A sheriff’s spokesperson said Barragan “separated” from the department two weeks before the memo was issued.She declined to elaborate further.

Barragan did not respond to a request for comment.In an internal interview with sheriff’s investigators, he blamed his bad memory and denied intentionally providing false or misleading testimony.The special enforcement bureau, which handles high-risk tactical operations like barricaded suspects and hostage situations, has been at the center of several recent controversies.

Last year, a grenade exploded at a training facility, killing three bomb squad detectives.The incident prompted multiple investigations — one into the deputies’ deaths, another into the disappearance of a second grenade and a third into the alleged distribution of graphic crime scene photos of the detectives’ bodies.

A state investigation, meanwhile, found a series of safety violations, including failure to provide effective training.California California workplace safety investigators fined the L.A.

County Sheriff’s Department more than $350,000 over a deadly blast last year as attorneys for the state said in court filings that key records in the probe were still being withheld.In another case involving the bureau, a black Labrador named Spike who was trained to ...