Failure to Give Cases to D.A. Defended by Deputy Police Chief

The No. 2 man in the Torrance Police Department denied Friday that the department neglected its duty when it did not pursue criminal investigations against a veteran police lieutenant who allegedly molested his daughter and against a Police Department juvenile counselor accused of keeping child pornography in his apartment and using drugs with one of his clients.

Deputy Chief Jim Popp testified in Los Angeles Superior Court that the Police Department did not turn the accusations against the two former employees over to the district attorney’s office because the allegations were reported after the statutes of limitations had expired.

Fired in 1984

Popp told jurors that Tom Heitmann, who supervised the Police Department’s counseling program for troubled teens, was fired in 1984 as a result of the allegations. The police lieutenant accused of molesting his daughter retired in 1987, just days after he was confronted with the allegation, Popp said.

Popp’s testimony came Friday in the trial of a lawsuit that accuses the Torrance Police Department of whitewashing misconduct by its employees. The lawsuit was filed in 1984 by John and Geraldine Rastello of San Pedro, after their 19-year-old son Kelly was killed in a traffic collision with off-duty Torrance Police Sgt. Rollo Green. The lawsuit claims that Green caused the collision by driving while drunk and turning illegally in front of Rastello and that fellow officers covered up for Green as part of a pattern of concealing misconduct.

Popp took the witness stand to say that the Police Department thoroughly reviews misconduct allegations and metes out discipline when necessary. But on cross-examination, Brian Panish, an attorney for the Rastellos, turned Popp’s appearance into a wide-ranging discussion of alleged misconduct that previously had not been discussed in the 4-week-old trial.

The deputy chief also defended the internal investigations, and discipline, in two other cases. Popp testified that the department stands by the 10-day suspension given to an officer in 1980 after he fired 22 shots and wounded two men whom he mistakenly believed were robbery suspects. And he said he has no regrets about offering a choice of a three-day suspension or entry into an alcohol rehabilitation program to another off-duty officer who sexually assaulted another policeman’s wife in 1981.

After his testimony, Popp said the discussion about the Juvenile Diversion Program had been “very hurtful,” because the program has been a subject of pride inside the Police Department.

Popp said the diversion program was designed to provide counseling and rehabilitation for teen-agers who have relatively minor police records. Heitmann was a civilian employee who coordinated the program.

It was in September, 1984, that a young man who had left the diversion program several years earlier came forward with the allegations against Heitmann, Popp testified. The man said that when he was still in the program he had seen “kiddie porn” in Heitmann’s apartment and had taken drugs with Heitmann, Popp testified.

Officers searched Heitmann’s apartment as part of an internal affairs investigation and found “pornographic material,” Popp testified, although he gave no further description.

Heitmann could not be reached for comment.

Exerted Maximum Punishment

Popp said outside the courtroom that the Police Department exerted the maximum punishment in firing Heitmann. The department did not take the information to the district attorney’s office because the three-year statute of limitations had expired, Popp had told the jury.

In the post-testimony interview, Popp said that Heitmann’s accuser came to the department “four or five years” after the alleged misconduct.

Panish pressed Popp as to why the information from the search of Heitmann’s apartment, which was not subject to the statute of limitations, had not been taken to the district attorney’s office.

Popp said he would have to review the reports of the incident to answer the question, but outside of court he speculated that the pornographic pictures might not have been illegal because they might not have included minors.

Court recessed for the weekend before Panish finished questioning Popp. The 30-year police veteran is expected to return to the stand on Monday.

In the incident involving the veteran police lieutenant, Popp testified that the man’s wife complained to the department in 1987 that the couple’s teen-age daughter had been molested for several years.

The lieutenant’s name is not being published in order to protect his daughter’s privacy.

The lieutenant was notified on a Friday that the department had begun an internal investigation, Popp testified. “We said, ‘We’re going to interview you,’ ” Popp said. “And then he came in over the weekend and cleared out his desk.”

The molestations had ended when the girl was 16 years old and the Police Department did not learn about them until five years later, Popp told the jury. “She told her dad it would have to stop,” Popp said. “And it did at that point.”

The three-year statute of limitations again had passed, so the department could not have pressed for criminal charges, Popp testified. The deputy chief said he spoke to several legal authorities, although he could not recall their names, who told him that the alleged sexual abuse was too dated to file criminal charges.

At Panish’s insistence, Popp read from a memo on the subject sent to him by Torrance City Prosecutor J. D. Lord and dated July 10, 1987.

Popp read parts of the memo, which said:

“I am typing this myself to avoid any unnecessary information leakage while still giving you a written record of my opinion.

“I am unaware of any legal requirement that the case be presented to the district attorney’s office if the statute of limitations prevents a criminal filing.

“It is my opinion that any decision to present the case to the D.A.’s office would be left to the sound discretion of the Police Department.”

Fired Retroactively

The Police Department completed its internal investigation after the lieutenant’s retirement and retroactively fired him, Popp said outside of court. But without a criminal conviction, the department could do nothing to prevent the 20-year veteran from receiving his full retirement benefits, Popp said.

When he took the stand in the morning, Popp defended the 10-day suspension issued to Officer Kevin Berman in 1980 after he shot two men while he was off-duty.

Berman and Officer William Ferrell went out drinking after work and left Don Jose’s bar in Torrance at 2 a.m. after “one or two drinks,” Popp told the jury.

Berman was driving his own car, and Ferrell was at the wheel of an undercover police car when Ferrell was sideswiped by a third car carrying two men. The men sped off and Ferrell gave chase, yelling out his window to Berman that the two men had just hit him, Popp testified.

Ferrell lost the two men when his car spun out less than 10 blocks into the chase, but Berman continued his pursuit with conviction, apparently thinking that his fellow officer had called out that the two men were robbery suspects, Popp told the jury.

Shots Hit Both Men

Berman fired several shots during the chase, which finally ended in the city of Carson, the deputy chief testified. Berman fired again, and hit both men, after they left the car and made threatening movements, Popp testified.

The state attorney general’s office investigated the incident and declined to file charges against Berman, Popp said. The department determined that Berman’s actions were not malicious because he believed the men were robbers. But he was suspended from the force for 10 days for firing shots from a moving vehicle and for giving pursuit in his private car, both violations of department policy, Popp testified.

Ferrell was given a written reprimand for taking the department car to a bar while off duty, violating regulations, Popp said.

On cross-examination, Panish asked if the officers were drunk and if Berman shot one of the men in the back. Popp answered “no” to both questions.

Then Panish asked how many shots Berman fired from the beginning of the chase. When Popp answered, “He fired 22 total shots,” several jurors rolled their eyes or shook their heads.

Popp also testified that the alleged sexual assault by an officer against another Torrance policeman’s wife was a simple case. Popp told the jury that Officer Dean Dunson admitted the allegations in 1981, but that criminal charges were not pursued because the victim did not want to go to court.

Dunson retired recently and could not be reached for comment.

The department believed that the root of Dunson’s problem was alcohol, so he was given a choice between an alcohol recovery program and a three-day suspension, Popp said. Popp did not say which alternative Dunson chose.