OC Sheriff Takes On Jailhouse Snitch Scandal

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes has decided not to wait any longer for the state Attorney General's Office to conclude a 4-year- old criminal investigation before launching an administrative probe into whether deputies committed perjury while testifying about jailhouse informants, it was reported Tuesday.

In a letter dated Jan. 23, the newly elected sheriff told Attorney General Xavier Becerra that the Sheriff's Department has repeatedly asked the state for the status of its investigation into Deputies William Grover, Ben Garcia and Seth Tunstall -- to no avail.

"I believe, at this time and after three years, that I am obligated to proceed and bring our investigation to closure, for the interests of the parties involved, the integrity of this department and the public we serve," Barnes wrote, the Orange County Register reported.

The Sheriff's Department was expected to begin questioning the three deputies Monday morning. Attorneys for the deputies declined comment.

Former Attorney General Kamala Harris launched the criminal investigation in March 2015 after an Orange County Superior Court judge said in separate rulings that Garcia and Tunstall, and possibly Grover, "either intentionally lied or willfully withheld evidence from this court" while testifying in the case of mass killer Scott Dekraai. The testimony hinged on whether prosecutors and deputies misused jailhouse informants to obtain incriminating evidence against Dekraai and many others.

Former Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals, who now sits on the state appellate court, ultimately booted the District Attorney's Office off the penalty phase of Dekraai's trial, and blocked the confessed killer from getting the death penalty for fatally shooting eight people at a Seal Beach salon in 2011. Goethals took the action because he didn't believe local prosecutors and deputies could assure a fair hearing.

Largely because of the informant backlash, then-District Attorney Tony Rackauckas was voted out of office in November after 20 years.

Critics have accused Harris and her successor, Becerra, of dragging their feet on the criminal investigation into the deputies. The federal government also is conducting a civil rights probe, launched in June 2016, into the use of informants at Orange County Jail, known as the "snitch scandal."

Criticism of the state's perjury investigation has grown since the three-year statute of limitations on criminal charges has passed, or is about to pass, depending on what legal argument is used. Grover, Garcia and Tunstall have been on paid leave since late 2016, earning about $200,000 each in yearly salary and benefits, according to Transparent California, a website devoted to public employee pay and benefits.

In October 2015, all three deputies began invoking their right not to testify in court for fear of self-incrimination, causing at least one murder conviction to be reversed.

Lawrence Rosenthal, a professor at the Dale E. Fowler School of Law at Chapman University, said the Attorney General's Office may have de facto ruled in the case by delaying the investigation beyond the opportunity to file criminal charges, the Register reported.

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