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LOS ANGELES (CN) — A former Los Angeles Times investigative reporter sued LA County on Tuesday, claiming she was unlawfully investigated and referred to the state’s attorney general’s office for criminal prosecution, because she wrote a series of articles about problem deputies at the LA County Sheriff’s Department.
The AG’s office last year declined to prosecute Maya Lau, she says in a complaint filed in federal court in LA.
In 2017, Lau and two of her colleagues at the newspaper wrote a story about the so-called Brady List the sheriff’s department maintained with the names of about 300 deputies with histories of dishonesty or other misconduct that made them open to impeachment as trial witnesses.
The story was published at a time when, Lau says, California had excessively strict privacy laws that were so protective of officer personnel files that even prosecutors could not access the Brady List.
“At a time of widespread debate around police misconduct, Ms. Lau’s coverage of the Brady List provided evidence that LASD continued to employ and even reward officers with histories of misconduct,” Lau says in the complaint. “Her work provided an example of the type of critical information about deputies that was not being handed over to prosecutors or defense counsel in cases in which the deputies would testify — an apparent violation of defendants’ constitutional rights.”
Shortly after the LA Times ran the story and a series of follow-up articles, the sheriff’s department opened a criminal investigation into her and how she had obtained the Brady List, which she says did not yield any evidence of wrongdoing.
However, after Alex Villanueva was elected sheriff in 2018, the department opened a second investigation into her and recommended in 2021 that she should be prosecuted for conspiracy, theft of government property, unlawful access of a computer, burglary, and receiving stolen property.
The sheriff’s department hadn’t been officially served with Lau’s lawsuit, it said in a statement late Tuesday.
“While these allegations stem from a prior administration, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department under Sheriff Robert G. Luna is firmly committed to upholding the Constitution, including the First Amendment,” the statement said. “We respect the vital role journalists play in holding agencies accountable and believe in the public’s right to a free and independent press.”
Villanueva, who was voted out of office in 2022, has previously been accused of investigating his perceived political enemies and others he deemed critical of his running of the sheriff’s department. Former LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl notoriously had her home searched by sheriff deputies over what were later found to be unsubstantiated claims of wrongdoing.
The former sheriff had a long series of 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.
Lau claims retaliation and conspiracy to deprive her of her constitutional rights, and she seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
She is represented by Megan Pierce of Loevy & Loevy in Chicago among other attorneys.
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