Sheriff's department tried to frame lieutenant with false allegation, report alleges

A new report claims that powerful members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department may have tried to set up one of the department's own lieutenants as an act of political retribution.

Lt. Joseph Garrido was accused of taking his department-issued vehicle on a trip to Arizona in 2022, "an offense that, if true, could have gotten him disciplined or even prosecuted," the Los Angeles Times reports.

However, despite evidence that Garrido's LASD vehicle could not have made the trip — and evidence that Garrido's personal vehicle did — then-Sheriff Alex Villanueva and other higher-ups pushed a criminal investigation into the matter, the Times reports.

Furthermore, the source of the original claim has been difficult to pin down, with many of those in leadership saying they heard it from other leaders or could not remember where it came from.

Garrido has claimed the investigation was politically motivated, as he donated to one of Villanueva's political rivals.

"Garrido also has claimed he was targeted for helping expose a scheme by sheriff’s officials to withhold bonus pay and for calling attention to the death of a police dog who overheated in a sergeant’s car in 2020," the Times added.

Those named in the Times story either declined to comment or did not respond to the newspaper's request for comment.