LA Prosecutors Accuse Four Officers of Inputting False Information in LAPD Gang Files
The four new officers, who remain under investigation, brings the total number of LAPD officers accused of falsifying information to ten.
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At least four more Los Angeles police officers are suspected by prosecutors of putting false gang information on field interview cards, bringing the total number of Metropolitan Division officers suspected of inputting false information on such cards to 10, reports the Los Angeles Times. The six others who were criminally charged in the case last year have each pleaded not guilty, but it is unclear whether the additional four officers, who remain under investigation, would also face charges.
Three of the four officers have been identified by their last names: Fernandez, McGinley and Walker. The fourth officer was identified as “Officer Samantha Stauber (Fielder),” though her attorney identified her as Samantha Fiedler. Prosecutors allege Fiedler entered false gang information on four different field interview cards, that an Officer McGinley entered false information on one card, and that an Officer Fernandez and an Officer Walker appeared to do the same. Amid uproar over the alleged misconduct, the LAPD stopped submitting gang information to the state’s shared CalGang database, and state officials barred other agencies in the state from using files that were input into the system by the LAPD. Prosecutors also began dropping felony cases that stemmed from work conducted by the charged officers.
