Several deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department have been relieved of duty in connection with a federal investigation, authorities said Tuesday night.
The Sheriff’s Department confirmed the move was linked to a probe “involving the U.S. Attorney’s Office” but declined to provide information about the exact number of deputies or the nature of the investigation.
Federal prosecutors declined to comment late Tuesday. An FBI spokesperson said the agency does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations “as a matter of longstanding policy.”
Multiple sources within the department — all of whom requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record — said one of the deputies who’d been relieved of duty had worked in the Aero Bureau, while two others were detectives. One of the detectives had worked in the Operation Safe Streets Bureau, which investigates street gangs, the sources said.
The department said it was cooperating with the investigation, which is ongoing.