Macario M Duran

A federal judge refused Monday to dismiss convictions of five Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies involved in a drug and money-skimming scandal with two other narcotics officers. U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie rejected defense claims that there was insufficient evidence to convict the deputies last month on 11 criminal counts ranging from conspiracy and theft to money laundering and tax evasion.

A federal judge Thursday dismissed more than two dozen criminal charges against seven Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies already convicted of stealing seized drug money and laundering cash. At the request of prosecutors, U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie dropped 26 remaining charges against the narcotics officers who were convicted Dec. 10 in one of the department's worst corruption scandals.

In the end, the key was the murky black-and-white images on an undercover videotape shot by FBI agents in the penthouse suite of a Sherman Oaks hotel. Jurors sitting in judgment on seven sheriff's deputies charged with stealing money seized in drug raids had been bombarded for seven weeks with testimony from more than 200 witnesses and more than 1,000 pieces of physical evidence.

Six Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies were convicted Monday of conspiring to steal cash seized from drug traffickers and money launderers, the first prosecutorial victory in a widening corruption investigation that has touched dozens of narcotics officers. The veteran deputies, who worked on an elite team investigating major drug cases, were found guilty by a federal court jury of 24 criminal charges, including conspiracy, theft, money-laundering, racketeering and tax evasion.

Seven Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies, accused of skimming more than $1.4 million during narcotics raids, were portrayed by a prosecutor Tuesday as corrupt officers who "turned the war on drugs into their own personal piggy banks" and used stolen drug cash for spending sprees. The officers--who worked together on an elite narcotics investigation team--stole huge sums of money from drug traffickers and money launderers to finance cars, boats, vacation homes and other luxuries, Assistant U.

Folded in a plain envelope and postmarked from Long Beach, the typewritten letter arrived in October, 1988, on the desks of Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block and several of his top aides. "I have come to the point where I have to tell someone what I know," the anonymous author began. "I am worried about my husband and my children and I am tired of living like a Mafia wife. The money doesn't make up for this living hell."

A Culver City man found shot to death last month in an apparent drug-related slaying was among the defendants whose narcotics charges have been dismissed in the wake of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department money-skimming scandal.

A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted 10 Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department narcotics officers--including all nine members of an elite team--on charges of stealing more than $1.4 million in seized drug cash and using much of that money to buy homes, luxury cars, jewelry and stocks. The 10 veteran officers were also accused of conspiring to take money from suspected drug dealers during narcotics raids over the last two years.

All but one of the sheriff's officers indicted Thursday had worked under a hard-charging narcotics sergeant who has been identified as both a principal suspect and an important prosecution witness. Sgt. Robert R. Sobel, who dubbed himself "El Diablo," or "the Devil," was indicted along with the other eight members of his drug squad on charges of stealing a total of $1.4 million in drug money. Before its members were suspended last Sept.