Prosecutors fear LAPD gang unit scandal could jeopardize over 300 cases, sources say

LOS ANGELES — With criminal charges looming against the officers at the center of the Los Angeles Police Department’s latest corruption scandal, county prosecutors have started a broad review of hundreds of cases that rely on testimony or evidence from at least two members of a gang squad suspected of making illegal stops and stealing items from suspects, according to multiple law enforcement sources.

The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss deliberations within the Los Angeles district attorney’s office, said as many as 350 criminal cases have been identified as potentially compromised.

Prosecutors will have to weigh whether they have enough evidence to proceed with pending cases, while also potentially revisiting prior convictions or guilty pleas that hinged on the testimony of officers tainted by the scandal.

District attorney spokeswoman Tiffiny Blacknell confirmed that the LAPD has sent the results of its investigation into two Mission gang unit officers to the district attorney’s office, which will decide whether to file charges.

The LAPD has said at least 15 officers are involved in the still-unfolding investigation, but the department has declined to name them, citing confidentiality around personnel matters. Two officers have been sent to face a disciplinary panel called a board of rights, indicating the department is seeking to terminate them, although it’s unclear whether these are the same two officers facing potential criminal charges.

The remaining officers from the unit have been assigned home or placed on restrictive duties that take them off the streets, according to the department.

Depending on how many of those 15 are eventually swept up in the scandal, the fallout could be significant. Thousands of existing criminal cases — including some involving suspected gang members facing serious charges — could be jeopardized, according to two law enforcement sources who could not speak freely because the probe remains ongoing.

Legal experts say prosecutors may have trouble obtaining convictions in cases that rely too heavily on officers who are accused of criminal conduct, including theft. Those cases would likely fall apart, experts said, unless the underlying investigations include evidence beyond the testimony of officers whose credibility is now being called into question.

It was not immediately clear whether defendants in the cases under review have been notified. In past instances in which officers have been accused of wrongdoing, the district attorney’s office sent letters to defendants whose cases listed one or more of the accused officers as potential witnesses, urging a response if they felt their involvement was prejudicial or merited further review.

In the Mission case, the department announced previously that a months-long internal affairs investigation uncovered evidence that members of the division’s gang enforcement detail illegally stopped people and stole from them, while routinely turning off their body cameras to avoid being caught. The FBI is also investigating the unit for potential constitutional violations.