Judge rejects ex-LA County Sheriff Lee Baca's plea deal

A federal judge rejected former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca’s plea agreement with prosecutors on Monday, saying it was not tough enough.

U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson ordered Baca and his attoeys to retu to court on Aug. 1, where the judge will either hand down his own sentence or let the former sheriff plead guilty, which could lead to a new trial.

• PHOTOS: Judge rejects ex-L.A. Sheriff Lee Baca’s plea bargain, wants more prison time

The rejected plea agreement had called for up to six months in prison, although Baca could have faced a maximum sentence of up to five years imprisonment.

Baca admitted he lied to investigators in an April 2013 interview, while he was sheriff, when he said he did not know that Sheriff’s Department officials plaed to approach an FBI special agent, who was investigating abuses in county jails.

Prosecutors said Baca ordered an inmate, once it was discovered the inmate was an FBI informant, to be isolated and called for LASD officials to investigate how that inmate received a cellphone in jail, according to the plea agreement. Baca put his undersheriff, Paul Tanaka in charge of this. Prosecutors also said that Baca “further stated that the LASD should do everything but put handcuffs on” the FBI special agent.

Tanaka was sentenced last month to five years in prison while nine other Sheriff’s Department officials who have pleaded guilty or have been convicted in the same corruption scandal,received sentences of 18 to 41 months.

Baca was elected Los Angeles County’s 30th sheriff in 1998. He retired in 2014.