LOS ANGELES (CN) — California closed a criminal investigation of now-former Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl that the LA County Sheriff's Department launched three years ago during a period of open feuding between the then-sheriff and the board of supervisors.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Wednesday that there was insufficient evidence to charge Kuehl or Patricia Giggans, the director of Peace Over Violence, with criminal wrongdoing related to a sole-source contract the nonprofit received to provide a sexual assault and harassment hotline for LA County's Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Neither was there sufficient evidence to support criminal charges related to campaign donations Kuehl received from people connected to Peace Over Violence, or in connection to purported advance warnings Kuehl and Giggans received of the search warrants sheriff deputies executed of their homes in September 2022, according to the attorney general.
After the headline-grabbing searches, Bonta's office took over the investigation from the local law enforcement agency, which under former Sheriff Alex Villanueva had been embroiled in a long-running conflict with the board, as well as with the sheriff's civilian oversight commission that the board created in 2016 to improve public transparency and accountability of the department.
Kuehl appointed Giggans to the commission when it was created. Both women lambasted Villanueva at the time, saying that he was trying to intimidate two outspoken critics, and Giggans' attorney told The Los Angeles Times that "these are Third World tactics. Vladimir Putin would be impressed.”
Sheriff's officials said the searches were part of a long investigation into a series of contracts, worth more than $800,000, given by Metro to Peace Over Violence to operate a hotline for people to report sexual harassment while riding trains and buses.
A 2020 story by local Fox TV affiliate found the hotline was only receiving a handful of legitimate phone calls every year. The story, which relied heavily on a former Metro employee, suggested there was a corrupt arrangement between longtime friends Kuehl and Giggans.
In November 2020, a divided Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to look into options for removing Villanueva as head of the sheriff's department, which was fraught with misconduct and police gang scandals.
Since elected in 2018, Villanueva sparked feuds with county leaders over budget issues, over his decision to rehire officers previously fired for misconduct and for impeding oversight of his department’s investigations of fatal shootings by its officers.
The board’s vote came one month after the civilian oversight commission voted unanimously to demand Villanueva’s resignation.
Members of the commission claimed the sheriff’s obstruction of accountability and reform efforts, and his inability to rid the department of deputy gangs, had impeded standard oversight. Earlier that year, Villanueva refused to personally update the commission on measures to protect the county jail population from Covid-19, and he subsequently ignored the commission's subpoena.
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