Retired LA County Sheriff's Captain Makes Plea Deal In Federal Corruption Probe

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A retired Los Angeles County sheriff's captain charged with obstructing a federal probe into corruption in the county jails pleaded guilty Wednesday to a lesser charge.

William "Tom" Carey pleaded guilty to lying on the witness stand while testifying in the trial of former Deputy James Sextofn, according to a plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court. Sexton was convicted and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for trying to obstruct the federal probe.

In exchange for his plea and cooperation, Carey faces up to five years in federal prison when he is sentenced.

Carey and former Undersheriff Paul Tanaka were charged in May with obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Carey was also charged with two counts of lying on the witness stand last year during the trials of co-conspirators.

Carey was head of the department's Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau, tasked to "root out the very corruption" charged in the federal probe, then-acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie Yonekura said in May.

Tanaka, who, like Carey, testified for the defense at three trials stemming from the federal probe, "ran the day-to-day operations" of the sheriff's department, she said.

Tanaka and Carey were the eighth and ninth sheriff's department officials to face criminal charges connected to actions taken in August 2011, when inmate-turned-FBI informant Anthony Brown was hidden from his FBI handlers. Brown was booked and re-booked under a series of false names and eventually told the FBI had abandoned him, prosecutors said.

A half-dozen former department officials -- two lieutenants, two sergeants and two deputies -- were convicted in 2014 for their roles in the cover-up and received federal prison sentences ranging from 21 to 41 months.

The FBI was investigating claims of excessive force against inmates by sheriff's department jailers and had intended to have Brown testify before a grand jury.

Brown is suing Los Angeles County, former Sheriff Lee Baca, Tanaka, Carey and the deputies convicted last year on obstruction of justice charges.

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