EXCLUSIVE: LA County Assistant DA Over Ethics and Integrity Stole Thousands of LA Sheriff Personnel Files

  

One of LA County District Attorney George Gascon’s top employees, Assistant District Attorney of Ethics and Integrity Operations Diana Teran, has been arrested on 11 felony charges related to the “unauthorized use of data from confidential, statutorily-protected peace officer files.” According to a press release from California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Teran “accessed computer data including numerous confidential peace officer files in 2018, while working as a Constitutional Policing Advisor at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and, after joining the LADA in January 2021, impermissibly used that data at the LADA.”

Sources familiar with the events described in the warrant and the investigation have given RedState additional details. The sources requested anonymity since they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Starting in June 2018, when Alex Villanueva made a good showing in the primary election for LA County Sheriff against his former boss, then-incumbent Sheriff Jim McDonnell, Teran improperly accessed and downloaded the personnel files of Villanueva and other LASD employees who supported his campaign. Sources say this was done at the direction of county Inspector General Max Huntsman, who is also currently under investigation by AG Bonta.

Teran’s actions ramped up in November 2018 when underdog Villanueva unseated McDonnell, marking the first time an incumbent Sheriff lost re-election in 104 years. The weekend before Villanueva was sworn in, according to sources, Huntsman sent Teran into the Sheriff’s office with an external hard drive and instructions to gather additional personnel files.

About a month after Villanueva took office he got wind of what had happened and alerted the California AG’s office and the FBI. The FBI told Villanueva’s office they’d provide technical assistance but there was nothing they could really do, and the AG’s office gave Villanueva’s office the go-ahead to investigate themselves. 

Villanueva then tasked a deputy who was an IT expert with investigating the breach. Sources say that expert found that Teran had improperly accessed and copied thousands of personnel files, which accounts were used to access the system, and found emails instructing which files to obtain and when.

That information was turned over to the AG’s office “several years ago,” according to the source, eventually leading to today’s arrest.

Sources speaking to RedState say they cannot share specific examples of how Teran impermissibly used the data once she was in Gascon’s office at this time.

After Villanueva took office, Teran went to work at the Office of the Inspector General with Huntsman.

Regarding the arrest of his employee, Gascon told Fox News:

“When I took office, we developed a protocol that ensured we complied with our constitutional obligations under Brady – which requires us to turn over potentially exculpatory evidence to the defense, a category that includes law enforcement’s prior misconduct – while simultaneously complying with state and federal law around privacy. I stand by that protocol.

While we cannot comment on specific personnel matters, we will comply with any investigation from the Attorney General’s Office. I remain committed to upholding transparency and ensuring police accountability within Los Angeles County. These principles are paramount to the integrity of our work and the trust of the community we serve. We will address this matter with the utmost seriousness and diligence to uphold the values of justice and fairness.”

There are questions about the impartiality of Teran’s conduct even within the scope of her duties with Gascon’s office. A 2023 whistleblower lawsuit filed by Assistant Head Deputy DA Amy Pentz alleges that Teran intentionally delayed making public her decision to not file charges against LASD deputies accused of using excessive force until after the 2022 election so those open cases could still harm Villanueva’s re-election chances. According to Pentz, Gascon and at least one of his top advisers were involved in the decision-making.

Pentz said Diana Teran, who oversees the district attorney’s office unit that handles prosecutions of police officers, “wanted the declination held back until after the sheriff’s election because Sheriff Villanueva had made public statements about the [Johnson] case,” according to her lawsuit. The suit does not explain why Villanueva’s public comments were an issue.

Both Gascón and his chief of staff, Joseph Iniguez, were present for the meeting and approved of her decision, according to the suit.

Immediately prior to working for Gascon, Teran worked as a Law Enforcement Accountability Advisor for the LA County Public Defender’s office. According to her LinkedIn she started working for Gascon in January 2021, but was still being paid through the Public Defender’s office as of August 2021, raising conflict-of-interest concerns:

Documents obtained through a public records request show Deputy District Attorney Diana Teran remains employed with the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office, where she is paid $218,042 annually while she is on loan to the District Attorney’s Office, attorney Kathleen Cady said in motion filed last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

An internal document provided to RedState reveals that Teran has been temporarily replaced.

ALADS, the union representing LA County Sheriffs deputies, is asking for a broader investigation into their colleague’s actions.

Knowing that there’s an external hard drive out there with all of this information, and alleged emails between Huntsman and Teran and possibly others giving direction on how to improperly obtain these files, what happened when then-LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl’s home and office were raided by the FBI and LASD related to pay-for-play allegations takes on a new significance. According to text messages found on Kuehl’s phone, Max Huntsman learned that a search warrant was going to be executed and tipped Kuehl off the night before. Villanueva’s office initiated an investigation into this apparent obstruction of justice, but AG Bonta stepped in and took over that investigation. Since the time Bonta’s office took over the investigation, there haven’t been any updates.

So, why is Bonta suddenly so interested in pursuing charges against a fellow Democrat? It could very well be that Bonta knows that if Donald Trump wins the White House he could be under investigation by the Department of Justice and he wants it to seem that he’s not playing politics when it comes to sweeping investigations under the rug.