Investigation continues into LA County sheriff's captain for suspected gangland ties

Jan. 30, 2012 | KPCC & wires
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The investigation continues into a Los Angeles County sheriff's captain placed on leave during a probe of her connection to an alleged drug trafficker.

Carson station commander Bernice Abram is under investigation by both the sheriff's department and the FBI, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Deputy Michael Haggerty filed a complaint with the county last year, alleging that Abram targeted him for transfer out of neighboring Compton after he arrested Dion Grim in 2010. Grim is a suspected drug-runner for the Front Hood Crips.

Haggerty says Abram sprung Grim and an FBI agent told him the two were wiretapped plotting to discredit him. The deputy was transferred after a barrage of citizen complaints from alleged gang members.

"It's pretty disheartening," Haggerty told the Times. "You're playing by the rules, you're doing what you're supposed to be doing, and someone creates their own rules to the game."

Abram was put on leave in April, shortly after Haggerty was transferred. Grim has since been arrested by federal authorities.

Abram told the Times that she didn't know Grim, but Grim's attorney, Marilyn Bednarski, said her client did in fact know the captain although there was "nothing to suggest the relationship was improper."

"I had no reason to suspect that anything was other than on the up and up," Assistant Sheriff Cecil Rhambo told the Times, adding that she had seen Abram bring Grim to department functions. "She's in law enforcement. She's a friend. I still don't even know what's going on with this; of course I'm shocked."

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