4 Oakland cops face 60 charges in probe triggered by trainee

"This is a sad day," District Attorney Tom Orloff said as he announced the charges against officers Matthew Hornung, 28, Frank Vazquez, 43, Clarence Mabanag, 35, and Jude Siapno, 32.

In total, the officers face 48 felony and 12 misdemeanor charges that include conspiracy to obstruct justice, kidnapping, assault, filing false police reports, filing false documents which were later used in court, and arresting without legal authority.

"In the public's mind, this action may unjustly reflect the vast majority of men and women in the Oakland Police Department who are professional, ethical and dedicated public servants," Orloff said.

He praised the police department for a prompt investigation when the charges came to light this summer.

"The department clearly demonstrated that this conduct within the department will not be tolerated and will be dealt with appropriately," Orloff said.

Police Chief Richard Word said his department assisted in the district attorney's investigation and supports his decision to file criminal charges.

"It's very difficult for his staff and it's very difficult for the members of my department and it's difficult for the community," Word said. "But when you have allegations of this sort, you have to take some severe and strong actions both administratively and criminally."

Mike Rains, an attorney for one of the officers, denied the charges Thursday.

"I think there will be a different side to this story when these officers have their opportunity to talk, and they will," Rains said. "I hope that the public will not react in a hysterical fashion to this because I do believe there will be defenses to most of these charges if not all of them."

Rookie blew whistle

They were scheduled to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

The investigation began several weeks ago after a rookie officer blew the whistle on four officers who worked the graveyard shift in West Oakland.

The rookie officer, who has not been named by authorities, has since left the department.

The alleged incidents span from June 13 to July 2, involving seven to eight victims, Orloff said.

Those events happened during unsupervised informal drug operations, a police source said.

During that time, at least one of the officers was involved in falsely arresting people, illegally detaining people and even taking one of the alleged suspects to a separate location to beat him, according to the prosecutor's complaint.

Trainee admonished

Four days later, Mabanag also told the same trainee officer to "disregard all police training learned in the police academy, disregard probable cause and arrest suspects on contact without lawful reason," the document said.

The arrest cases involving alleged illegal actions by the four officers have been either dropped or dismissed, Orloff said.

Investigators are continuing to look at dozens of other cases the officers were involved with in the months prior to this summer, he said.

The officers' suspensions caused police officials to clamp down on narcotics-related arrest operations that would involve more than a couple of officers. Word has begun requiring supervisor approval of written operation strategies before any such action is taken.

The police department will continue with its own internal investigation on the officers, police spokesman George Phillips said.

Department under pressure

The panel will decide what punishments, if any, the department would enforce on the officers, which would include up to termination and possible additional criminal charges, Phillips said.

The police department, which has already been pressured by Mayor Jerry Brown to cut crime, has seen added pressure this year mainly due to increased homicides.

At one point during the summer, the city reported a string of a dozen unrelated slayings in two weeks, prompting Word to crack down on street-level crimes like drug dealing and prostitution.

Phillips said the allegations against the four officers are isolated incidents.

"It's not widespread," he said. "But the allegations are still pretty serious, and the effect that it has on our public image, I think that's most damaging. We had built up a certain level of trust from the community."