Local News in Brief : Ex-Sheriff’s Deputy Gets Jail in Sex Case

A former Los Angeles County sheriff’s sergeant was sentenced Tuesday to 60 days in County Jail for persuading a woman motorist to have sex with him in return for not writing her traffic tickets.

Sgt. Patrick Brown, 41, an 18-year veteran of the department, was also placed on five years’ probation and ordered to pay restitution to the victim for any psychological counseling that she may have obtained as a result of the February incident. A charge of soliciting a bribe was filed in June after a 25-year-old waitress at a Rowland Heights bar complained that she was stopped on three occasions by Brown, who “granted her leniency on traffic violations in return for sexual favors,” a sheriff’s spokeswoman said.

“I have chosen to impose County Jail time (because) the obligations of public servants are such that a message must be sent to the community of law enforcement and other people on the street that they have to pay for the crimes they commit,” Superior Court Judge Judith Chirlin said in imposing the sentence.

Chirlin allowed Brown to remain free until Jan. 5 so that his lawyer could try to make arrangements for him to serve his sentence in a local city jail rather than the County Jail.