Mitrice Richardson Family Expresses Outrage over OIR ‘Whitewash’

BY ANNE SOBLE

Critics of the Office of Independent Review, which is supposed to act as a watchdog over the operations of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, say the panel is muzzled by the very agency it is supposed to monitor.

The sheriff’s department issued copies of the 57-page OIR report last Thursday, the same day as the LASD press conference to announce that human remains found in the Malibu area mountains were those of Mitrice Richardson, the 24-year-old Los Angeles woman arrested on two field-citable charges, who disappeared after being released from the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station just after midnight last Sept. 17.

The confidential report, which exonerates the LASD of any wrongdoing in the Richardson case, is addressed to the county Board of Supervisors and dated July 9. No reason is given for the delay in its release, which followed repeated demands for a copy by the Malibu Surfside News.

A possible reason for the delay might have been the LASD’s elation at the prospect that Richardson had allegedly just been spotted in Las Vegas a few weeks earlier by an acquaintance from her teens. Her biological father, Michael Richardson, had reported a similar sighting in January.

If the woman—from whom there has been no contact since she disappeared and who had not accessed a bank account with several thousand dollars—was alive, the report clearing the agency would have confirmed that its actions were all proper and by the book.

With the announcement the Cal State Fullerton honors graduate was dead, release of the report on the  day of Sheriff Lee Baca’s press conference might have been an effort to blunt criticism that her death was attributable to the LASD, or cloud perception of LASD negligence, as her parents allege in separate lawsuits against the department and Los Angeles County.

Richardson’s mother, Latice Sutton, never accepted the validity of the Las Vegas sightings. In addition, The News reported that the man who thought he saw the 24-year-old in the Hotel Rio casino had second thoughts about it being a case of mistaken identity and shared them with his father.

Sutton repeatedly voiced concern that the LASD did not move quickly enough when her daughter first was reported missing, and that the focus of search efforts should have been where she was last seen in Monte Nido. A number of residents of that community have provided input and possible leads to the family that they say Lost Hills deputies did not adequately follow up.

These include that when Richardson’s footprints ended on Cold Canyon Road—some of these prints indicated that at times she was running—and her scent could not be picked up by tracker dogs—not far from the Monte Nido residence where she is believed to have been sighted several hours earlier, this information was downplayed.

The OIR report indicates that deputies were at the scene within 20 minutes of a telephone call reporting a woman on foot matching Richardson’s description, but this is being questioned by family members, as are assertions that deputies began to check out the Monte Nido area immediately.

Family members say the first comprehensive search of that area was not until two days later, on Sept. 19, and it apparently did not include the former marijuana farm in Dark Canyon where Richardson’s remains were found. It’s not clear how thoroughly homes on Cold Canyon were searched, or their residents questioned. The same applies to the homes overlooking Dark Canyon.

The OIR report focuses less on possible shortcomings of Lost Hills personnel than it does the backdrop of some of the most comprehensive and expensive missing person searches in county history. There is an underlying tone that the extent and cost of the searches mitigates prior issues related to booking and release.

The report occasionally engages in circular reasoning, such as “[Since] Richardson had no safe transportation away from the restaurant, the deputies’ decision to take her into custody and transport her to the station was reasonable and prudent.” It then states she had no transportation because “the deputies decision to impound her car was also reasonable.”

The report indicates three deputies were dispatched to Geoffrey’s, which some view as a sizable contingent for nonpayment of a restaurant bill of $89, but only one arresting officer’s name is unredacted on the arrest report, and two names mentioned in the report.

OIR reiterates that the hour of Richardson’s release—just after midnight with no transportation, cell phone, purse or jacket on a cold night—“was within department policy.” OIR regards the jailer’s offer that the woman could remain in a locked cell—all inhabited cells must be locked, according to department policy—until daylight or the arrival of transportation, as an indication the station exceeded its obligations.

Sutton contends that she repeatedly encountered indifference or apathy, as well as received misinformation, from Lost Hills deputies during three phone calls to check on her daughter. OIR acknowledges that deputies had “limited information” but does not appear to think deputies should have tried to obtain more information while the mother was on the line.

OIR states, “Each time Ms. Sutton spoke with someone from the station, it was a different department member who was uninformed about the circumstances of Ms. Richardson’s arrest or release from custody.”

In a station as small as Lost Hills, with as few arrests as are the norm, OIR accepted that deputies at the front desk wouldn’t know what was going on elsewhere in the station.

The second deputy assured Sutton she would be called before her daughter was released. There is no indication that this information was relayed to the jailer, and the mother never received a call.

Sutton said her third call—after Richardson had been released—was also marked by deputy disconnect from the rest of station. This deputy assured Sutton that “nothing dire” would happen to her daughter and suggested she might have caught a bus, even though there is no overnight bus service in the area, which deputies on assignment there might be expected to know.

Regarding the lack of exterior video footage showing Richardson actually left Lost Hills; the report acknowledges that video surveillance equipment at Lost Hills is “antiquated.”

In addition, calls made on the booking telephone line are not recorded, so there is no way of knowing whether calls Richardson tried to place to her great-grandmother, Mildred Harris, went through. Harris has indicated she never received a call from Lost Hills. Also, a previously denied video of Richardson in the booking cage is perceived by her mother as showing frustration with getting the phone to work or complete a call.

On this videotape, Richardson’s behavior is described as “normal” in the OIR report, but family members who have seen the footage say she looks anxious, clutches at the wire mesh, rocks back and forth, pulls at her hair, and curls up into a fetal position.

Requests by the family for a copy of the tape, as well as requests by the Malibu Surfside News to review it, have been denied.

The OIR report reinforces and may be the basis for Sheriff Baca’s attempt to shift the onus for Richardson’s fate to Geoffrey’s restaurant for initiating her arrest and to her mother for not heading to Lost Hills as soon as she was contacted. 

In what may be the cruelest of ironies, the OIR stance appears to be that no parent should ever assume that a family member is safe in the custody of sheriff’s deputies, and they should pick them up immediately, or accept the consequences.

Sutton has said she will forever regret that she had confidence in law enforcement to, in the words of the LASD motto, “protect and serve.” She told one of the deputies that she was not worried about her daughter while she was in custody, and didn’t think “release in the morning” might mean minutes after midnight.

The report takes pains to debunk concerns expressed by family members who saw the videotape—the existence of which was first denied—that when Richardson is leaving the station, a deputy is seen exiting a nearby door. OIR notes this officer “later” transported a DUI suspect to a hospital for a blood alcohol test and returned them, then, within an hour, he and his partner conducted a traffic stop near the intersection of Calabasas Road and Mulholland.

On the explosive issue of whether station personnel abducted Richardson after her release, OIR states there “is no evidence” of that, and cites the 6:30 a.m. sighting at 507 Cold Canyon Road and a sighting on Malibu Canyon Road at 7:30 a.m. as proof that “Richardson made it through the night.”

A third sighting, also believed to be Richardson, has her on foot on Piuma Road, headed away from Malibu Canyon Road, at about 1:30 p.m. She was going in the direction of Dark Canyon where her remains were ultimately found.

Despite the blanket absolution of the LASD in the Richardson case, OIR does make some recommendations directed specifically at Lost Hills Station.

Among them are that all calls made by arrestees from jail should be made on a recorded line; if an arrestee has a cell phone, it should be maintained with the arrestee’s possessions and returned at the time of release; and that all telephone calls regarding release should be directed to the station jailer.

OIR further recommends that if release is to take place between sunset and sunrise, an arrestee should be allowed “to remain in jail voluntarily”—locked in a cell—until daylight, or transportation has arrived.

OIR further recommends that sheriff stations should be equipped with video surveillance equipment outside the station to record activities on station property and, if possible, extend surveillance to adjacent areas.

FEEDBACK

Ronda Hampton, a clinical psychologist who often speaks for Richardson’s mother and other members of her support team, emailed criticism of the OIR report to Benjamin Jones, the panel’s deputy chief attorney, a signatory and principal author of the report.

Hampton said the family was denied a copy of the report that was available to the press, and, “From what I hear, your report is full of lies and inconsistencies. I plan on reading the report line for line and pointing out every lie, and I will expose you for what you are—a liar and a sheriff sympathizer.”

She said, “I saw how familiar you were with the deputies on the day of the drone search, and your explanation of why you were there was insulting to me. I may not be a lawyer, but I am not an idiot, and the relationship that you displayed that day was telling.”

Hampton wrote Jones, “You should be ashamed of yourself for playing semantic games in your report. The next person who needs to be reviewed is you. I do not know how you sleep at night.”

Jones did not respond to an MSN request for comment on Hampton’s statements.

Congressmember Maxine Waters, who spearheaded an attempt to bring the Federal Bureau of Investigation in on the case, but the FBI said its hands were tied because the sheriff’s department would not request its aid, has not commented yet on the OIR report.

Waters issued a statement on the finding of Richardson’s remains last week: “While this grim discovery concludes one chapter, lingering questions remain regarding the manner in which Mitrice was released from the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station, and the quality of the investigation that took place following her disappearance.”

The representative added, “Notwithstanding today’s announcement, the family will not have absolute closure until they know all the facts concerning Mitrice’s detention and release. I remain committed to ensuring that the local authorities followed proper procedures, and that no federal statutes were violated during the course of this tragic case.”

This week, Hampton disclosed receipt of an unsubstantiated communication from someone who wrote:

“It’s sad the way police treat women today. I too was recently arrested for driving on a suspended license, I was released at 4 a.m., Century Detention Center in Lynwood, and I live in Lancaster one hour and a half away. When they impounded my car, my purse was left inside because they wouldn’t let me take it. I had no cash, ATM, ID or anything. I asked to use their phone, and they said no. I was so scared, I had to walk two miles down the road alone on the streets of Los. Angeles projects. I begged for money for a train ticket until an older woman let me use her phone. I called my father, and he came and got me. I wish Mitrice was as lucky. May she rest in peace.”