Distraction frees inmate

Deputy viewing adult sites led to prisoner's escape
Patricia Farrell Aidem
Los Angeles Daily News, CA

VALENCIA - A sheriff's deputy was viewing porn on a hospital computer when an injured inmate escaped his guard last year and fled into a Valencia neighborhood where he beat an elderly man, according to an annual report issued this week by the county Office of Independent Review.

The deputy, who was not named, was fired following the October 2004 incident at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital.

"Investigators subsequently performed an analysis of the computer's activity for the day and found that the timing and content of the activity suggested a distracted, preoccupied officer who was still logged on when the escape occurred in spite of his assertions to the contrary," according to the report.

The investigation further showed the deputy had been on computer sites with sexual content, prohibited by Sheriff's Department policy. A separate investigation found the same deputy had downloaded porn on his department computer.