Sheriff Alex Villanueva outdid even himself at a Tuesday news conference when he said he had launched a criminal investigation targeting Los Angeles Times reporter Alene Tchekmedyian, who has steadfastly reported on the sheriff’s volatile and erratic leadership of the L.A. County law enforcement agency. After being roundly criticized by First Amendment advocates, the sheriff the same afternoon denied that he had said any such thing, despite his recorded and widely reported earlier statements to the contrary.
The ostensible reason for the criminal probe is the alleged leak of footage showing a sheriff’s deputy kneeling on a handcuffed inmate’s head for three minutes inside a lock-up facility at the San Fernando Courthouse on March 10, 2021. The Times has reported allegations that Villanueva knew about the incident but covered it up to avoid bad publicity.
At the news conference, Villanueva displayed the reporter’s photo alongside pictures of retired Cmdr. Eli Vera, who is running against him in the June 7 election, and Inspector General Max Huntsman, with arrows leading to Tchekmedyian. The sheriff implied that they may have had a role in leaking the video to Tchekmedyian, who wrote the story, but did not produce any evidence supporting those assertions.
