Sheriff’s Offer of File Called ‘Courtesy’ : Ex-Anaheim Chief Tells His Reaction to Records on Gates’ Foe

LOS ANGELES —  When a top sheriff’s aide delivered to Anaheim police the file of a case that his investigators had built against a critic of Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates, the aide was only extending “professional courtesy,” according to former Anaheim Police Chief Jimmie D. Kennedy.

But attorneys for the critic, private investigator Preston Guillory, are trying to show that the investigation by Gates’ intelligence unit was intended to harass their client. Guillory is suing Gates and Anaheim officials in federal court, seeking $5 million in damages for an alleged conspiracy to deprive him of his civil rights.

At issue are criminal charges against Guillory stemming from his serving court papers on a defendant in another case that alleged spying and political harassment by Gates. He eventually was charged with impersonating a law officer and illegally carrying a concealed weapon, along with related charges, but was acquitted of all charges in 1985.

Told of Order

The case had been investigated by the sheriff’s elite intelligence unit. Undersheriff Raul Ramos had already testified that Gates ordered him to take the investigation file to then-chief Kennedy in Anaheim and that he had never before been ordered to make such a delivery.

Kennedy, now interim police chief of Claremont, testified Tuesday in U. S. District Court that sheriff’s investigators had taken the case to the district attorney, who referred them to the Anaheim city attorney. In Anaheim, where the alleged crimes took place, the city attorney prosecutes misdemeanor cases.

Kennedy said Ramos’ main purpose for the meeting was to ask Kennedy’s permission to take the case to the city attorney.

“I didn’t feel they needed my permission. I felt it was a matter of professional courtesy,” Kennedy testified. He said he had never experienced a similar situation, but he realized that it was “a sensitive case.” If such a case were turned over to his department by another agency, he would expect that agency to notify either himself or a high-ranking subordinate, he said.

Called Ramos

Kennedy said that after the city attorney’s office filed charges, he called Ramos to report the action. Ramos had not asked him to do so, Kennedy testified. “I considered it an extension of the professional courtesy he had extended.”

Kennedy conceded that he was “uncomfortable” about the situation but complied when the city prosecutor asked for a new investigation by Anaheim officers.

He said he forwarded the case to a captain with orders that there be nothing special done in the investigation. Under questioning by Guillory’s attorneys, Kennedy said it would have been inappropriate for his intelligence investigators to handle the case.