Almost a year after opening a criminal investigation into the way the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department handled the 2009 disappearance of Mitrice Richardson, the California Attorney General’s Office concluded there was no evidence to prosecute the deputies for their actions.
The decision was sent last week to Michael Richardson, the woman’s father. Along with family friends, Richardson requested that then Attorney General Kamala Harris’s office review documents, telephone records, a videotape and reports held by the Sheriff’s Department surrounding the disappearance and eventual death of his 24-year-old daughter.
• PHOTOS: Mitrice Richardson went missing after release from Malibu sheriff’s station, her remains were found 11 months later
Based on the investigation, there was “insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution for destruction, alternation or concealment of evidence,” said Lance Winters, senior assistant attorney general in a letter to her family.
In addition, Winters said even if there were evidence found, the statute of limitations precludes prosecution, a statement that angered Ronda Hampton, a family friend who once mentored Mitrice Richardson and who submitted a 500-page request in 2015 to the state for the investigation. She said she was never told about a 2014 deadline.
“What is most disconcerting is not only the fact that there was insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution, but that even if criminal behavior was found, there was never going to be a prosecution due to the fact that the statute of limitations ran out in 2014,” Hampton said. “Had I known a year ago that the statute of limitations had passed, I would have certainly directed my efforts and energies in more productive activities as it is related to Mitrice.”
Hampton and Michael Richardson said they believe Mitrice Richardson’s case was reviewed by the Department of Justice to help raise then Attorney General Harris’ profile in her bid for a U.S. Senate seat.
“My thoughts upon receiving (the state’s response) was I already knew it was unfavorable based on how all the other investigations have been going involving African-Americans and law enforcement,” Richardson said in an email response.
“My plans are to reach out to the media and raise concerns,” he added. “Was this a plot from Kamala Harris to not receive negative publicity during her campaign?”
• RELATED STORY: 5 years after Mitrice Richardson’s remains were found in Malibu her death still raises questions
Mitrice Richardson’s story reached broad interest because of the questions raised surrounding her disappearance, then death. She had dined at Geoffrey’s restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway on Sept. 16, 2009, then was briefly detained by deputies for not paying her bill. A few hours later, before her mother, Latice Sutton, could come and pick her up, Richardson was released just after midnight by deputies from the Malibu/Lost Hills sheriff’s station. Her car, which included her purse and cellphone, had been impounded. She had no transportation as she headed out into the darkness of Agoura Road.
Except for a brief appearance on the front lawn of a nearby residence, Richardson was never seen or heard from alive again. Search parties formed. Family and friends became worried. The Sheriff’s Department met with criticism and anger for letting the young woman walk alone into the night after she may have had a mental health breakdown hours before.
Eleven months after she disappeared, Richardson’s remains were discovered about seven miles from the station. Park rangers who were patrolling the area to check for illegal marijuana farms found the remains near a creek bed where few traveled. Deputies arrived and removed the bones, and once again met with Dinamobet criticism, this time from the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.
In the years that followed, Hampton continued to ask questions, particularly about a videotape recording of Richardson while she was in custody. Hampton said the tape was deliberately withheld from the family and that the young woman’s skeletal remains were removed without consent by the coroner’s office.
The state Department of Justice disagreed, saying that while former LASD station Capt. Tom Martin did not immediately produce the videotape to the family, it was preserved and eventually disclosed.
“We cannot conclude there was criminal intent to suppress or conceal the videotape evidence because its existence was always known to Los Angeles Police Department investigators who were handling the missing person case in the wake of Mitrice’s disappearance,” according to Winters’ response. “We also were unable to find any indication that the videotape had been altered or tampered with nor did we find any evidence suggesting officer misconduct on the videotape.”
• RELATED STORY: California attorney general opens criminal investigation into Sheriff’s Department over Mitrice Richardson case
Winters also said that the station log showed Mitrice Richardson made four outgoing calls to her great-grandmother from the Lost Hills Station. But AT&T records reflect no calls, according to the state investigation.
“This suggests that, although the calls could have been made, those calls were either not picked up or not made at all,” Winters wrote. “We found no evidence that any phone records had been altered or concealed.”
Also at question was why deputies removed Mitrice Richardson’s skeletal remains. Winters said while it was unclear if the Los Angeles County coroner’s office gave them permission to move the body, there was still enough evidence and photographs of the remains.
“There is no indication that any part of the discovered remains were destroyed or concealed,” Winters wrote. “Ample photographs were taken of the skeletal remains at the site before and after they were unearthed so that the whole recovery process was well documented.”
A request made by this news organization to the state Department of Justice regarding the statute of limitations as well as additional questions about the findings went unanswered Tuesday.
But Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell said he agrees with the state’s findings.
“The Mitrice Richardson case has been exhaustively reviewed internally by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and externally reviewed by the Los Angeles County Office of Independent Review (OIR) and the Office of Inspector General (OIG) which reports to the Board of Supervisors,” he said in a statement. “Each inquiry has produced the same results. There is no evidence of concealment, tampering of evidence or criminal wrongdoing.”
Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, who led the department then, had long defended the way deputies from the Malibu/Lost Hills station had handled Richardson’s case, even amid criticism.
Baca had told reporters he believed his officers followed procedures and that deputies had asked her to stay in jail until her mother arrived, but Richardson refused. The Office of Independent Review, which oversees the Sheriff’s Department, agreed with him. In the meantime, Richardson’s parents, who are not married to each other, filed separate wrongful death suits and in 2011 were awarded $450,000 each by Los Angeles County.
The state’s response comes just as Baca, who retired in 2014, is about to be retried in federal court this month (February) on three counts relating to an inmate abuse scandal at Men’s Central Jail. Those charges include obstruction, conspiracy to obstruct, and making false statements to federal investigators. His undersheriff, Paul Tanaka was sentenced and is serving five years in federal prison on similar charges to Baca’s.
Michael Richardson said even if Baca and Tanaka had nothing directly to do with his daughter’s death, justice will be served.
“If all else fails Lee Baca and Paul Tanaka are receiving their fate,” Richardson said. “It may not be directly associated with Mitrice Richardson but they are receiving their fate for their negative seeds they planted in this world.”
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