A former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy will spend the next two years behind bars for violating a young man's civil rights and attempting to mask his misconduct, a federal judge ruled yesterday, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office. Miguel Angel Vega, 33, of Corona, California, was slapped with a $5,000 fine in addition to his prison sentence; his actions were denounced as disgracing the badge worn by law enforcement officers committed to public safety.
Judge Percy Anderson, who presided over the case, remarked that Vega's behavior embarrassed the entire Sheriff's Department, stating,"every man and woman that puts on a badge every day and puts their lives at risk," to maintain law and order while voicing a strong message that police officers abusing their position will face stern consequences. Vega admitted guilt on September 6 to a single charge of deprivation of rights under color of law, his partner Christopher Blair Hernandez is set for sentencing on January 8, 2024, following a guilty plea for conspiracy on July 24.
The severity of the punishment echoes the denouncement of power abuse by United States Attorney Martin Estrada, who was quoted saying, "When law enforcement officers abuse their power, they tear at our social fabric by undermining public trust in the equal application of the law." The official stance is clear: breach of a sworn oath to uphold the law cannot stand in a society valuing integrity, particularly among the individuals whose very role is to embody it for the collective good. Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, Donald Alway, highlighted the agency's commitment to protecting the public against illegal accusations by those in power while maintaining trust in the honest majority policing the community.
The misconduct unfolded on April 13, 2020, when Vega, along with Hernandez, targeted two young black males in Wilson Park, Compton, falsely using the pretext of a search for firearms to detain and terrorize victim J.A., whose demands for decency were met with illegal confinement and threats. The fate of the young man, handcuffed and improperly secured in a patrol vehicle, took a turn for the worse during a subsequent chase that ended in a crash, leaving J.A. injured and directed to flee the scene to facilitate Vega’s coverup of the unlawful arrest, leading to J.A. being wrongly accused of drug influence as part of the deceit.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna expressed that the department initiated criminal and administrative investigations upon learning of Vega's actions and assisted federal agencies leading to the indictment this dedication to accountability reflects the high standards expected from law enforcement when serving the community. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys J. Jamari Buxton and Brian R. Faerstein of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section with the FBI’s investigation significantly supported by the LASD’s Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau and Internal Affairs Bureau.
