Ex-LASD deputy gets 2 years in fed prison for violating civil rights

By Fred Shuster

A former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy was sentenced Monday to two years in federal prison for violating the civil rights of a man at a Compton skate park by improperly detaining him and then acting to cover up his actions.

Miguel Vega, 33, of Corona, was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term and pay a $5,000 fine due immediately. U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson set a self-surrender date of Feb. 29.

“You violated your solemn oath to uphold the law and in doing so abused the public trust,” the judge told Vega in downtown Los Angeles. “What is so galling is that you knew what you did was illegal — but it simply didn’t matter.”

Vega pleaded guilty in September to one count of deprivation of rights under color of law, a crime that carries a sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison. He admitted to having falsely imprisoned the 23-year-old skateboarder in his patrol car, which crashed during a subsequent chase, leaving the man injured. He also admitted filing false reports to cover up his and his partner’s unlawful conduct.

In a statement to the court, Vega described his conduct as “atrocious” and apologized to the victim, who declined to come to court.

“I was a monster and it took a lot of soul-searching to understand that,” Vega told the judge.

Vega’s former partner, Christopher Hernandez, 37, pleaded guilty in July to one count of conspiracy. A sentencing hearing is set in Los Angeles federal court for Jan. 8, at which time he will face up to five years in federal prison.

According to the indictment, the man identified as J.A. was in an enclosed skate park at Wilson Park in Compton on April 13, 2020, when the deputies arrived and contacted two young Black males outside the park. Vega said he believed one of the males was on probation.

After J.A. yelled at the deputies to stop bothering the youths, Vega got into an argument with him and challenged J.A. to a fight, according to his plea agreement. Vega then pulled J.A. through an opening in the park fence and placed him in the back of the deputies’ patrol SUV.

The skateboarder was not handcuffed, was not told he was under arrest and was not restrained by a seatbelt in the back seat of the SUV, Vega admitted.

Prosecutors said Vega again challenged J.A. to a fight after the deputies had driven away from the park. Vega and Hernandez both “taunted” the man, suggesting they were going to set him up by dropping him off in gang territory.

Vega also made comments saying the deputies were going to “fabricate and falsely allege that (J.A.) exhibited symptoms of being under the influence of a stimulant as a pretext to justify their false imprisonment” of him, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

As Vega was driving the SUV with J.A. still in the back seat, he began pursuing a group of young males on bicycles. Hernandez jumped out of the SUV to pursue one suspect on foot, while Vega drove into an alley, where he crashed into a wall and another vehicle, causing J.A. to hit his face and head and sustain a cut over his right eye, according to the indictment.

After the crash, Vega took J.A. out of the patrol SUV and told him to leave, then reported over the sheriff’s radio that a suspect with a gun had run through an alley, and he described the suspect as wearing clothing similar to those worn by J.A. Neither Vega nor Hernandez initially disclosed that they had detained J.A. or that he was in the SUV when the crash occurred, federal prosecutors said.

J.A. was subsequently detained by another deputy nearby, and it was only then that Vega admitted to a supervisor that the man had been in the back of the SUV. While J.A. was being treated at a hospital for his injuries, Hernandez told another deputy to cite him for being under the influence of methamphetamine, despite knowing it was a false accusation, prosecutors said.

In reports filed later that day, Hernandez and Vega “intentionally included false, misleading, and ambiguous information in the reports to justify and legitimize, and ultimately cover up, their unlawful conduct,” including that J.A. was under the influence of a stimulant and that he had threatened the deputies and other people at the skate park, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

J.A. reached a confidential settlement with the county over the incident, prosecutors said.

Vega and Hernandez were also involved in the June 2020 killing of 18- year-old Andrés Guardado, who was shot five times in the back by Vega as the deputies pursued him in Gardena after he allegedly displayed a handgun, according to court records.

The shooting led to widespread protests, and a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Guardado’s family against the county was settled last year for $8 million.

No criminal charges were filed in that case.

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