PASADENA - Officer Kevin Okamoto has agreed to go on paid leave after the Pasadena Police and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's departments launched separate investigations into alleged misconduct by the former detective.
Okamoto and top department officials agreed it would be best if the officer accused of sitting on evidence in a criminal case agreed to take paid leave for an undetermined amount of time, Deputy Chief Darryl Qualls said Thursday.
Okamoto failed to provide audio recordings and witness contact information to attorneys involved in the criminal charges brought against Edward Damas for a 2009 bar fight.
Much of the evidence was considered exculpatory by Damas' lawyer Michael Kraut, who said the investigators need to give a hard look at the current and prior allegations made against Okamoto.
"I am hoping while Okamoto is out on leave, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the Pasadena Police Department will go through his file, and go through the many complaints concerning false statements and make an honest determination whether this cop should remain a peace officer or face criminal prosecution himself," Kraut said.
Qualls said the department couldn't "say with 100 percent" certainty whether Okamoto's leave will extend to the end of the investigations.
During a discovery hearing at Pasadena Superior Court on May 16, Judge Teri Schwartz ordered Okamoto to turn over any outstanding evidence in the Damas case. The judge acknowledged the officer failed to do so in the initial criminal case against Damas, which ended in a hung jury.
Damas is expected to be retried later this year.
The Pasadena Police Department launched an internal probe into Okamoto on April 5, after Kraut filed a complaint. Pasadena police turned information from their probe over to the Sheriff's Department in early May.
Meanwhile, a separate inquiry into the actions of Pasadena police Det. Keith Gomez could expand beyond the internal probe by the city's police department.
"(Gomez) is still under investigation; in all likelihood the investigation may go to the Sheriff's Department as well," Qualls said.
The Pasadena Police Department has not determined a timetable for completing either investigation.
Both Okamoto and Gomez investigated the 2007 Jamaul Harvey murder case. Harvey was ultimately exonerated.
In a signed declaration, an alternate juror in the Harvey case wrote that she believed Gomez "invented evidence" during the trial to assure a conviction.
In a separate complaint, Harvey alleges Gomez threatened to kill him during a 2007 interview.
According to a signed statement by Harvey, Gomez said: "I could kill you right now and get away with it because I know you have a gun."
Harvey also claims Okamoto has systematically harassed him during the last five years. The latest incident involved a traffic stop in which Okamoto and an unnamed partner failed to explain why Harvey was pulled over to the side of the road.
Okamoto was reassigned to patrol in February as part of what Pasadena police Chief Phillip Sanchez described as a routine rotation.
Gomez conducted much of the initial investigation into the Kendrec McDade shooting. In the lawsuit filed by the McDade family, lawyer Caree Harper wrote that Gomez's role in the investigation leads her to believe the department is engaged in a "cover-up."
In light of the allegations made against Gomez and Okamoto, Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard asked the community for patience, much like he did in the wake of the McDade shooting.
"One set of allegations dates from five years ago," Bogaard said. "To me, it really means we should pause instead of jumping to some conclusions."
Okamoto marks the third police officer placed on administrative leave in the last three months. Officers Jeffrey Newlen and Mathew Griffin were placed on leave after gunning down the 19-year-old McDade on a poorly lit Pasadena street in March. They have since returned to work.
The black Citrus College student's death sparked outrage in the city and led to a civil rights lawsuit filed by the family against the city of Pasadena, Newlen, Griffin, Sanchez and Pasadena police Lt. Phlunte Riddle.
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