Detective Accused of Affair With Second Informant; Firing Urged

An internal-affairs investigation has uncovered evidence that a veteran San Diego police detective had a sexual relationship with a second police informant, which has resulted in the recommendation that he be fired, according to two sources familiar with the probe.

Police administrators have recommended that Sgt. Harold E. Goudarzi, 43, be dismissed because of alleged intimate relationships he had with two women, both of whom were providing information to the task force.

Until now, information has surfaced only about Denise Loche, 36, of Mira Mesa, who told police that she had a four-month romantic relationship with Goudarzi beginning in mid-June.

Loche said she had attempted to provide the task force with clues about who might have been leaking task force and Grand Jury information to newspapers reporters and others. She also told police that Goudarzi had drugged her.

But internal affairs investigators also have determined that Goudarzi had a relationship with a second woman, with whom he shared office space, according to two sources close to the investigation. The woman has helped police with past criminal investigations, the sources said.

“The official charges against (Goudarzi) are that he had personal relationships with two informants,” said one source, who requested anonymity because the investigation is confidential. “There are no other charges. Not that he used drugs. Not that he drugged someone else. Nothing else.”

Contacted Thursday by The Times, the woman said she knew nothing about the investigation and would not comment about Goudarzi, except to say that he leased space in the same office building.

“I’ve been out of town and have not kept up with any of this,” she said. “I’m not in a position to comment. I don’t know what is happening.”

She declined to comment on whether she had been contacted either by internal affairs investigators or by members of the Metropolitan Homicide Task Force.

The Times has chosen not to identify the woman or her occupation because she is not accused of a crime. But the internal affairs report, which was released to Goudarzi a week ago, contains the woman’s name and details of her alleged relationship with Goudarzi, two sources said.

The report said she has provided confidential information to the Police Deparment and task force over the years and that Goudarzi recruited her to work on several investigations, including the murders of five women in the Clairemont and University City areas, a source said.

Goudarzi was off-duty Thursday and did not return a telephone call left at his office. He will remain on the force, in the missing persons bureau, until his case can be heard before the city’s Civil Service Commission. Such a hearing may not take place for a year, because of the backlog of cases, officials said.

One of nine original investigators probing the murders of dozens of prostitutes since 1985, Goudarzi also worked in the Police Department’s robbery and homicide divisions. He also worked in the Eastern Division, where officers came in contact with prostitutes along El Cajon Boulevard.

The department has a strict policy on dealing with a confidential informant, who is described as a person “under the direction of a specific investigator, furnishes information or performs other lawful service for the Police Department, generally with the expectation of compensation or favor.”

One law enforcement source, who asked not to be named, said Goudarzi violated task force procedures when he got involved with the informants.

“Some of these people who give information are looking for a favor for past conduct or are looking for money or both,” the source said. “Their information is inherently suspect. If you develop a relationship that is anything other than professional, it compromises their information because they tell you what you want to hear just to maintain the relationship.”

Some in the law enforcement community have questioned whether either woman fits the department’s definition of a police informant. “The true informant has access to varying groups or persons engages in criminal activity,” the department’s policy says. “It is because of these associations that the informant is able to furnish detail, on a continuing basis, on crimes being planned or already committed.”

Loche said she tried to find out who was leaking information from the county grand jury or the task force to reporters. She said she was paid $200 for her information but never given a code name or number, which are required by department policy.

The second woman had no known access to people or groups who were involved in criminal activity, two sources said. Both expressed surprise that Goudarzi is being punished for a possible relationship with the woman, because she did not fit the department’s definition of a confidential informant.