$2-Million Bail Remains for Sheriff’s Sergeant, Former Councilman

PALMDALE —  A Municipal Court judge refused Friday to lower the $2-million bail of Kevin Wright Carney, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s sergeant and former Palmdale councilman charged with 17 felony counts of child molestation.

Carney’s wife, Kathleen, and the couple’s three adult children, Carleen, Travis and Clinton, made emotional pleas to have the bail reduced, saying Carney was innocent and would not pose a flight risk.

Kathleen Carney told Judge Sam Ohta she would “do anything to get my husband home.”

Milton Grimes, Carney’s attorney, argued that the $2-million bail was unfair and excessive because Carney had already posted a $100,000 bond when he was arrested Oct. 29.

But Ohta, citing evidence on the charges, did not reduce the amount.

A 23-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Carney, 48, has been held in Men’s Central Jail since Jan. 6, when he turned himself in to authorities.

He pleaded not guilty to the 17 felony charges and one misdemeanor charge of possession of child pornography.

Carney quit his council seat a week ago. He wrote his resignation letter from his County Jail cell, the same one once used by O.J. Simpson.

Carney won a seat on the Palmdale City Council in November, just four days after his October arrest, when a 14-year-old girl told deputies he had molested her. Officials said the alleged sexual incidents began in 1990.

The charges against Carney include child molestation, sexual abuse and oral copulation. The alleged victims were all from the Antelope Valley and under 14 at the time of the alleged incidents.

Carney is a former president of the Antelope Valley Union High School board and once supervised the sheriff’s child-abuse unit for the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys.

He was investigated in 1997 for allegedly inappropriately touching two young neighborhood girls who visited the turtle farm at his home, but the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office did not file charges.

The longtime Palmdale resident lost a bid for mayor that year and said the girls’ allegations were politically motivated and had damaged his campaign.

Carney will retire next month from the Sheriff’s Department, where he had been on paid administrative leave until his Jan. 6 arrest.

A preliminary hearing has been rescheduled for Jan. 27.