A Los Angeles legal professional filed a petition this week asking the state to “decertify” Undersheriff April Tardy for allegedly committing perjury when she testified in courtroom final 12 months as a witness in a civil lawsuit a few deputy gang referred to as the Executioners.
Throughout sworn testimony to the Civilian Oversight Fee in 2022 — earlier than she turned the undersheriff — Tardy stated she’d transferred a “shotcaller” in a deputy group after confirming he’d ordered a piece slowdown on the Compton station.
She walked again these statements throughout a civil trial a 12 months later, when she testified as a witness, denying gang exercise on the Compton station and saying that there had by no means been a piece slowdown.
Within the petition despatched to the state’s Fee on Peace Officer Requirements and Coaching this week, legal professional Alan Romero — who known as on Tardy to testify within the 2023 civil lawsuit — stated the inconsistent testimony confirmed such dishonesty that the state ought to completely take away her peace officer certification.
“The hope is that the decertification petition — if granted — will preclude Undersheriff Tardy from ever working in legislation enforcement once more, and can defend future victims of any such cover-up and dishonesty beneath oath,” Romero advised The Instances on Wednesday. “It’s develop into clear that this division is incapable of regulating itself, so sadly we’ve needed to look to outdoors businesses.”
Final 12 months in courtroom, Tardy chalked the obvious discrepancies as much as poor phrase selection.
“The knowledge that I had relating to the work slowdown was all allegations,” she stated throughout trial final 12 months, talking about her earlier testimony to the oversight fee. “Once I testified, I simply didn’t say the phrase ‘allegations.’”
On Wednesday, the undersheriff didn’t immediately handle the allegations however stated in an emailed assertion that she is “sure the reality might be revealed because the investigation strikes ahead.”
The Sheriff’s Division backed up its second-in-command.
“Out of respect for the method, the sheriff will chorus from commenting on the precise allegations of the petition whereas the executive course of runs its course,” the division stated within the assertion. “However he reiterates his confidence within the skill and character of Undersheriff Tardy.”
Fewer than three dozen Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies have had their certifications suspended or revoked by the state — partly as a result of that wasn’t an choice till not too long ago. The 2021 legislation that first created a mechanism for the state to decertify police and deputies solely took impact final 12 months.
A lot of the decertification actions which have occurred since then are nonetheless thought of non permanent and data present just a few have resulted in everlasting revocations.
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When Tardy was appointed undersheriff in late 2022, she made historical past as the primary lady to serve in that position. On the time, Sean Kennedy, who chairs the Civilian Oversight Fee, lauded her choice. He stated she was “one of many few [sheriff’s department] managers who really complied with the COC’s subpoena to testify at an oversight committee listening to on deputy gangs.”
The listening to was one in every of a number of held as a part of the fee’s prolonged investigation into violent deputy gangs which have plagued the Sheriff’s Division for 5 a long time, controlling sure stations and flooring of the jail. It was throughout that sworn testimony that Tardy was requested about suspected gang exercise — together with a gang-led work slowdown — on the Compton sheriff’s station.
Within the months main as much as the alleged slowdown, Deputy Jaime Juarez had a coveted spot managing the coaching and trip schedules for the station. In early 2019, he approached the performing station captain — Lt. Larry Waldie — with an inventory of different potential deputies he needed to take over the scheduling place.
However, as he later testified in courtroom, Waldie believed Juarez was a tattooed member of the deputy gang referred to as the Executioners, and Waldie needed a brand new scheduling deputy who was not within the group. So he refused the request, as an alternative giving the place to somebody who didn’t have any gang tattoo.
Lt. Larry Waldie testifies on the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Fee listening to investigating the Sheriff’s Division’s “deputy gangs” in 2022.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Instances)
In response, Waldie alleged afterward, Juarez retaliated by initiating a piece slowdown on the Compton station.
Throughout her testimony to the Civilian Oversight Fee in July 2022, Tardy — who’d been a chief on the time — stated she had moved Juarez to a special station “due to the data that I had obtained concerning the work slowdown.”
She went on to testify that she’d confirmed Juarez had initiated the work slowdown in response to Waldie’s refusal to select the scheduling deputy Juarez needed, and that she had transferred Juarez afterward.
4 months after testifying to the oversight fee, Tardy was deposed in a lawsuit Waldie filed claiming he’d been denied a promotion to station captain in retaliation for opposing the so-called Executioners.
She stated then that she had not confirmed a piece slowdown and was “not sure” what she meant earlier than when she stated she had. When she testified at trial in 2023, she reiterated that and stated she had solely transferred Juarez to a different task, to not one other station.
“Did you hear your self say that you simply confirmed the work slowdown had taken place? You used the phrase ‘confirmed,’” Romero requested her, after taking part in her earlier testimony.
“Sure, I heard that,” Tardy replied.
Romero continued: “What did you do to verify that that had taken place?”
“It had not been confirmed,” Tardy stated. “The allegation had not been confirmed.”
Although Waldie misplaced his lawsuit in June, this month his legal professional despatched a 483-page petition to POST, outlining his considerations about Tardy’s testimony. In keeping with an electronic mail Romero shared with The Instances, the fee confirmed receipt on Wednesday and forwarded the criticism to the Sheriff’s Division.
As soon as the division finishes investigating, the e-mail stated, the fee will conduct its personal evaluate — if the allegations are thought of grounds for decertification. That may embrace all the things from bodily abuse or sexual assault to participation in a legislation enforcement gang, abuse of energy or dishonesty.
