Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva is asking federal prosecutors to pursue the case against four suspected cop killers.
Villanueva reportedly doesn’t trust the George Soros-backed district attorney to vigorously go after the alleged killers, according to Newsmax.
The decision stems from the murder of Los Angeles Police Department officer Fernando Arroyos.
On Jan. 10, Arroyos and his girlfriend were house-shopping near the Watts area of Los Angeles when they were confronted by armed robbers.
Arroyos fought back, and the suspects shot him. Three of the suspects are allegedly members of the Florencia 13 gang. The fourth is an 18-year-old woman. Federal prosecutors charged all four last week with murder and racketeering charges.
Villanueva, a Democrat, told local media that he opted for the feds after a conversation with prosecutors in the office of District Attorney George Gascón.
“We definitely had a conversation with the local DAs and their response was not satisfactory to the gravity of this situation,” Villanueva said.
“They were consistent with the special orders from the District Attorney … and I believe their plan was just prosecute a simple murder with no gun enhancements, no gang enhancements, nothing. And that did not really cover the depravity of this crime.”
Readers of The Free Press may recall our reporting on Gascón last April.
Elected in 2020, he implemented policies that prohibited his staff from bringing death-penalty cases, mandated that his prosecutors bypass sentencing “enhancements” and aggravating circumstances, and ended cash bail for defendants.
In one example of how these changes worked, Gascón refused to try a murder suspect just two weeks shy of turning 18 as an adult, and he ended up getting just six years in prison.
Local media also noted that Gascón blocked his prosecutors from seeking tougher penalties for cases involving gang members and crooks who used guns.
Just three months into his term, the city councils in Beverly Hills and Santa Clarita issued votes of “no confidence” in Gascón.
A month after that story, The Free Press had an article about Gascón rejecting a possible death penalty for Heather Maxine Barron and Kareem Ernesto Leiva, who were charged with torturing Barron’s 10-year-old son, Anthony Avalos, to death in 2018.
Anthony had allegedly suffered repeated abuse from the couple, including being whipped with a belt and a looped cord, having hot sauce poured on his face and mouth, and being dropped on his head multiple times.
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Sheriff Villanueva is the best sheriff that LA County has had in the last 50 years..