Sheriff’s Department weighs demoting whistleblower for spreading ‘gossip’

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is poised to demote a sergeant, saying she “spread rumors and/or gossip” when she shared copies of a grievance she filed in 2021 accusing higher-ranking department officials of discrimination.

Sgt. Rosa Gonzalez — who successfully sued the county for whistleblower retaliation in 2015 — says she was transferred to a less prestigious position after her grievance accused Personal Administration Bureau leaders of discrimination against women, a whistleblower and a person they thought could have autism.

She first went public with her allegations two years ago in a lawsuit, which is still pending. Those claims have come to the fore again as the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department considers whether to demote her.

Her case has sparked controversy within the ranks. Though the department seeks to discipline dozens of deputies each quarter, a review of disciplinary data posted online show demotions are not common. Over the last three calendar years, data show the department only sought to demote five sergeants.

Gonzalez deferred to her attorney, Vincent Miller, for comment. Miller framed the move to demote his client as a disheartening sign of problems carried over from past administrations.

“The county can no longer blame a rogue sheriff for its unconstitutional policing practices,” Miller said. “Retaliation against whistleblowers was happening before [Alex] Villanueva became sheriff and it’s happening after he was voted out.”

In an emailed statement, the Sheriff’s Department said it investigates all allegations of discrimination and misconduct.

“The department is devoted to cultivating an equitable and productive environment for all employees, including ensuring that whistleblowers are protected under the law, and that their allegations are fully investigated,” the statement said. “The Department has established policies in place that prevent and protect individuals from any form of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and inappropriate conduct.”

A few years after joining the Sheriff’s Department in the mid-2000s, Gonzalez became a patrol deputy at the East L.A. station. That station has since become notorious as the home of a so-called deputy gang known as the Banditos. Its members bear sequentially numbered tattoos, each featuring a skeleton outfitted with a sombrero, bandolier and pistol.

In 2015, Gonzalez filed a lawsuit claiming the Banditos had an undue influence at the station and that they’d created a culture of misogyny there. She said in the suit that she’d suffered retaliation after making a gender discrimination complaint, and alleged that tattooed Banditos had withheld backup on dangerous calls.

The county denied her allegations, but in 2019 settled the case for $1 million. She kept working for the department and the following year was promoted to sergeant.

Then in the summer of 2021, Gonzalez was assigned to the Personnel Administration Bureau, which deals with hiring, promotions and transfers in the department.

Gonzalez says she soon spotted potential problems with how the bureau was run. In one instance, her suit alleged, bureau leaders forced a woman to transfer because they said she was “not young.” In other instances, they allegedly hired an applicant because he was attractive and male and later refused to hire another applicant because he was “possibly autistic,” the suit says. In yet another instance, the suit accuses bureau leaders of refusing to promote a deputy because he was suing the department over the 2018 Kennedy Hall incident.

Aside from the hiring concerns, Gonzalez also accused the bureau’s leaders of committing time card fraud, misusing donated money and conspiring to allow cheating on a promotional exam.

In October 2021, she filed a lengthy grievance accusing the bureau’s leaders of illegal hiring practices, retaliation and several other problems.

After consulting with her union representative, Gonzalez sent copies of the grievance to the alleged victims mentioned in it. Afterward, a commander verbally admonished her for doing that. Several weeks later, Gonzalez learned she was under investigation by the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau. In early 2022, she filed suit.

Captain Yvonne O’Brien — who was in charge of the personnel bureau at the time — declined to comment, citing pending litigation and the fact that she is still with the department. But former Sgt. Carmen Arballo, who was O’Brien’s number two at the time, has since retired.

Arballo told The Times that hiring and permanent promotional decisions weren’t up to the sole discretion of the personnel bureau. And in the end, Arballo said, the department decided the allegations Gonzalez raised — both about her and O’Brien — were unfounded.

“The department discovered that they were not true,” Arballo told The Times. “It is extremely disheartening and frustrating that this is resurfacing every six to eight months.”

In January, department officials sent Gonzalez a six-page letter saying they intended to demote her because she’d “spread rumors and/or gossip” and “brought discredit” on the department when she shared her grievance containing “personal information” and “factors not related to unfair hiring practices.”

In doing so, the department said, she’d failed to properly report discrimination, and instead violated a number of policies relating to harassment, inappropriate conduct and general behavior.

Last week in an email to The Times, Sheriff’s Department officials pointed out that they send potential Policy of Equity violations — typically allegations involving discrimination or harassment — to an independent panel for review. The panel recommends a course of action and, in this case, the department accepted it and moved forward with the demotion.

But Miller, Gonzalez’s attorney, scoffed at the idea that the outside panel would be able to return an informed recommendation.

“They can only make a decision based on what the department chooses to send them,” he said, alleging the department never fully investigated Gonzalez’s grievance in the first place. “Instead, LASD demoted Sgt. Gonzalez based on the LASD lie that all whistleblowing is gossip,” he continued. “They will use that on every whistleblower moving forward.”

At a hearing last month Gonzalez made an argument for why she should not be demoted. As of Monday, she was still waiting to hear the outcome.