An L.A. County deputy faked evidence. Here's how his misconduct was kept secret in court for years
LOS ANGELES - They were at the tail end of their overnight shift when they spotted Gerald Simmons near a vacant lot in Inglewood.
The two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies said they saw the 43-year-old toss a plastic baggie of rock cocaine to the ground.
Their testimony would become the backbone of the 2009 criminal case against Simmons.
After a six-day trial, the verdict was swift. Guilty.
But jurors made their decision without knowing a crucial detail.
Jose Ovalle, one of the deputies who also booked the evidence, had been suspended five years earlier for pouring taco sauce on a shirt to mimic blood in a criminal case. He nearly lost his job.
Ovalle's past was kept secret for years from prosecutors, judges, defendants and jurors, even though he was a potential witness in hundreds of criminal cases that relied on his credibility, according to a Los Angeles Times investigation.
The deputy took the stand in 31 cases before the district attorney's office found out about his misconduct. Once his credibility came into question, prosecutors offered some career criminals generous plea deals in pending cases or dropped charges altogether. Some went on to commit serious crimes.
Ovalle is not an isolated example. Misconduct by law enforcement officers who testify in court is routinely kept hidden by California's police privacy laws.
The U.S. Supreme
