The 11-count felony case brought by Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón’s chief ethics officer alleging police misconduct stems from the drunken arrest of one of his most trusted aides, who was recorded clashing with officers and obstructing the investigation, court documents say.
California Attorney General Robert Bonta announced the charges against Diana Teran in April.
The case against her stems from an investigation surrounding the December 2021 arrest of Joseph Iniguez, who was Gascón’s chief of staff at the time and has since been promoted to chief district attorney, according to the affidavit obtained by Fox News Digital and Fox News.
Video shows LA DA George Gascon’s right hand man being arrested for DUI: “I pulled over the wrong person.”
Diana Teran, former head of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Ethics and Integrity Unit, is shown in an arrest warrant photo taken in April after her arrest on 11 felony counts of allegedly obtaining and/or misusing data of sheriff’s deputies without authorization. (Los Angeles County)
Azusa police took Iniguez to jail after he pulled over his then-fiancee in December 2021 for a traffic violation and suspected DUI. Earlier this week, Fox News Digital obtained video of the arrest, which shows Iniguez telling the officer, “You pulled over the wrong person.”
According to a police report on the incident, Iniguez threatened to put the arresting officer on the “Brady List,” though that exchange was not captured on video.
The list is a database of officers accused of misconduct that can be used by lawyers in court to discredit officers.
read Affidavit
In the cellphone video, Iniguez urges the officer to check his license plate, which could indicate he works for the police force. Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. He admitted to drinking alcohol at the wedding and repeatedly interrupted officers who were trying to question the driver. He also strongly encouraged his fiancée not to talk to the officers during the conversation, which may be a violation of District Attorney’s Office policy and state law.
Iniguez sued Azusa on federal civil rights grounds over his arrest and last year received a $10,000 settlement that critics described as a “nuisance payment.”
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón speaks with the media at Grand Park in Los Angeles on March 5, 2024. (Myung Chun/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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The Azusa Police Department said in a statement Tuesday that its officers were in full compliance with state law and internal policies.
“The City of Azusa and Chief [Rocky] Wenrick firmly supports its employees and the decisions they make. [Iniguez’s] “An arrest has been made,” police announced.
But while investigating Iniguez’s alleged threats against Brady, investigators say they found evidence against Teran.
A police officer in Asuza, California, escorts George Gascón’s right-hand man, Joseph Iniguez, into custody after he was stopped for public intoxication in 2021. (Aso Police Station)
“The investigation began when a LADA employee overseeing the database threatened to place the officer in LADA’s Brady database following the officer’s arrest in December 2021 for interfering with a traffic stop investigation of his fiance,” the affidavit states. “The investigation into the employee led to the actions of LADA Special Counsel Diana Maria Teran, who has constructive responsibility for LADA’s Brady and ORWITS databases.”
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by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Brady materials include criminal convictions, false statements, and administrative investigations of misconduct or “serious misconduct” against law enforcement officers.The Officer and Recurrent Witness Information Tracking System (ORWITS) is another similar but less vetted database.
Joseph Iniguez sits next to his boss, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, during the Los Angeles Prison Reform Summit + Day Party: Mental Health Issues on November 9, 2019 in Pasadena, California. (Jesse Grant/Getty Images, courtesy of Patrice Cullors)
Prior to joining Gascón’s office, Teran served as a supervisor at the sheriff’s office, where he had access to more than 1,600 classified files on law enforcement personnel and documents related to internal investigations.
She left the sheriff’s office in 2018 but allegedly continued to use material from those files after joining Gascón’s office in 2021 and is now accused of unlawfully taking and accessing them.
“Teran repeatedly used data from LASD personnel files, internal emails and documents in covert attempts to add officers’ names to LADA’s Brady and ORWITS databases.”
Teran’s attorney said he believes she will defeat the state charges.
Iniguez has not been accused or charged with any wrongdoing in connection with the lawsuit against Teran.
A still image taken from a jail surveillance camera shows Los Angeles Chief Deputy District Attorney Joseph Iniguez making a phone call from jail after his 2021 arrest on a public indecency charge. (Aso Police Station)
“No one is above the law,” Bonta, a Democrat, said in a press release announcing the charges against Teran. “Public servants are called to serve the people and the state of California with integrity and honesty. California As the Department of Justice, we will continue to fight for Californians and hold those who break the law accountable.”
Gascón has previously defended the Brady policy and said he would cooperate with state investigators.
“When I took office, we Constitutional Obligations “The Brady Act requires potentially exculpatory evidence, including past police misconduct, to be turned over to the defense while also complying with state and federal privacy laws,” he said. “I will uphold this rule.”
His office referred questions about the Iniguez case to his personal lawyer.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón is running for re-election amid harsh criticism and concerns about crime. (Hans Gutknecht/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)
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Iniguez’s fiance, who had been driving the car before the stop, was handcuffed but not charged, and authorities later dropped the public intoxication charge against Iniguez.
He has also come under fire in recent weeks for the DA’s announcement that it would remove two lead prosecutors from a child murder trial before the trial was handed down, citing apparent conflicts of interest involving Teran. He later backtracked and the two remained on the case after the case was transferred to a department with no ties to Teran.
