Sheriff Baca Says Department Handled Mitrice Richardson by the Book

• 24-Year-Old Who Has Been Missing for Almost Nine Weeks Has a Nov. 16 Court Date

BY ANNE SOBLE

Sheriff Lee Baca reported to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Monday that although the Mitrice Richardson missing person’s case is in his words “unusual and unfortunate...the [sheriff’s] department’s release policy and procedures are consistent with state law, and our investigation revealed all applicable laws, policies and procedures were followed.”

Richardson mysteriously disappeared after release from the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station on Sept. 17 and has not been heard from for close to nine weeks, despite extensive field searches and a concerted effort by her family to keep the missing 24-year-old’s story in the public eye.

Baca’s four-page report was requested by the board last month when the supervisors announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to Richardson’s whereabouts. He concludes that “the department did not identify any areas requiring modification.”

The head of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said the LASD processes approximately 180,000 prisoners each year for release and “over-detention [carries] tremendous liability, as well as risk to the public’s safety and a deprivation of civil rights.”

His report includes a cursory outline of the department’s assessment of the circumstances under which the Cal State Fullerton honors graduate was placed under citizen’s arrest by the manager of Geoffrey’s restaurant for allegedly being unable to pay an $89.51 dinner tab and possessing less than an ounce of marijuana in her vehicle, then transported by deputies to Lost Hills for booking on two misdemeanor counts related to the allegations.

As Baca describes it, after Richardson’s 92-year-old great grandmother, the matriarch on her mother’s side, was unable to drive to the restaurant to pay the bill, her mother Latice Sutton spoke to the manager and she “opted not to assist her daughter with the payment.”

Although Geoffrey’s staffers had described the young woman’s behavior as “crazy,” she reportedly passed a field sobriety test and  Baca said “her interaction with the deputies was coherent and rational” and “deputies described her as cooperative and polite.”

He said Richardson signed an Arrestee Medical Screening Form stating she has no medical issues or psychological problems.

Richardson, who was garbed in a T-shirt and jeans, and whose only possessions reportedly were a hat, a belt and her California driver license, left the station through a side entrance at 12:25 a.m. with no money, cell phone, or means of transportation; and ostensibly without making her plans known to anyone. Telephone calls to the great-grandmother are listed on the booking report, but no further information about them has been made available.

Regarding the timing of Richardson’s release, Baca said, “It is the policy of the department to release misdemeanor prisoners as soon as such persons may be reasonably and safely released.”

Baca said this policy “is no different than any other time of day,” adding that the procedures emphasize “prompt and safe release once there is no justification to deprive the arrestee of their freedom.” He said “it is not practical or legal for the department to hold people until someone is available to pick them up” and “altering this procedure would subject the department to potential litigation.”

The sheriff reiterated that Richardson was offered the option of being placed in a cell and being “free to leave at any time.” Baca stressed that there was “no  legal basis to hold Ms. Richardson and she was released on her written promise to appear in Malibu Court on Nov. 16. Following her release from the station’s jail area, her movements were no longer monitored.”

PARENTS’ REACTION

Richardson’s mother Latice Sutton said she is “very upset by the report” and told the Malibu Surfside News: “It is unfortunate that the LASD deemed releasing anyone from their facility knowing that they had no transportation, form of communication or money as ‘prudent, reasonable and safe,’ particularly someone who they knew was behaving in a manner that warranted an evaluation by a qualified professional. Further the amount of time and manpower that it took to generate their erroneous report takes away valuable time in the search for my daughter.”

Richardson’s father, who maintains his own website concerning his missing daughter, as does the mother, (the couple separated when their daughter was very young), posted a similar comment to the mother’s statement on that site, adding:

“This is ridiculous and my daughter is still missing and really it’s the sheriff's who were the last verified people to see her. If I follow the sheriff’s department’s own logic, it’s clear they acted inappropriately. The initial call regarding my daughter from Geoffrey’s to the sheriff’s was that she was “acting crazy.” Crazy. Crazy as in mental problems, as in you don’t release her on her own in the middle of the night without money, her cell phone, or transportation. You call her parents and or hold her overnight.”

Michael Richardson added, “Now I'm no rocket scientist, but if a woman says she’s from Mars and is here to avenge Michael Jackson's death...chances are she’s in need of some help. My question is, who did they call or who was on duty that night that had the training and background to make the assessment on whether Mitrice Richardson was stable or not?

“If the sheriff’s handling my daughter would have used a little common sense or even put themselves in our shoes as parents and thought twice before just letting Mitrice out into the middle of the night, my daughter would not be missing. But because they didn’t, she is and they refuse to accept responsibility or even act as though they played a role in her disappearance or that they even care.”

The father concludes, “We are tired [of] being lied to and misled by the sheriff's department. I believe that someone at the Malibu-Lost Hills sheriff’s department had something to do with my daughter’s disappearance and this report only confirms it for me.”

Richardson’s last statement is being echoed on dozens of blog posts related to the missing woman on websites across Southern California, as well as blogs in other parts of the country.

OIR REVIEW

Lost Hills personnel’s position that the matter has already been reviewed notwithstanding, the Los Angeles Office of Independent Review indicates that it is still looking at the Richardson matter.

Deputy Chief Attorney Benjamin Jones told The News on Monday, “The Office of Independent Review has not completed its monitoring of the department’s review of the Malibu Station personnel’s conduct in their interactions with Ms. Richardson.” This stance was subsequently reiterated by OIR Chief Attorney Michael Gennaco.

The OIR is a civilian oversight group that was created by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in 2001 to “monitor the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and provide legal advice to ensure that allegations of officer misconduct involving the LASD are investigated in thorough, fair, and effective ways.”

OIR consists of six attorneys with backgrounds in criminal law and civil rights issues who “work with LASD, but not for LASD.” OIR contends that it “has the freedom to arrive at its own conclusions and, if necessary, to challenge the department with regard to specific practices or incidents.”

LAPD STATUS

Repeated efforts to obtain updates from the Los Angeles Police Department detectives assigned to the Richardson case have been unsuccessful.

The LAPD is the lead agency because the missing woman resided in Los Angeles with her great-grandmother. There have no formal briefings on whether there have been any recent sightings or exactly what is now being done by the LAPD to try to locate Richardson. Family members have expressed interest in trying to take up the case with new LAPD Chief Charlie Beck.

FEDS PETITION

 An online activist group whose concerns include criminal justice—change.org—has collected 2022 signatures toward its goal of 5000 signatures on a petition urging state and federal elected and appointed officials to initiate a federal investigation of the Mitrice Richardson case.

In addition to an effort to “help find Richardson,” the group wants “to ensure that this does not happen to additional persons.” The petition is at the group’s website: www.change.org

PRAYER SERVICE

Family and friends gathered last Saturday for a prayer service to “pray for the safe return of Mitrice Richardson” at the New Testament Church in Los Angeles, a church where the missing woman has worshiped in the past.