Criminal charges have been filed against one of L.A. County District Attorney George Gascón’s top advisors, who supervises high-profile and sensitive cases including police misconduct, fraud and public corruption, the Los Angeles Times reports. The California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced 11 felony counts against Assistant DA Diana Teran in a press statement on Wednesday. He accused her of improperly downloading confidential records of police officers in 2018 while she was working for the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. Teran then “impermissibly used that data” after joining Gascón’s office three years later, Bonta said. The announcement of criminal charges against one of Gascón’s top advisors — particularly one so closely tied to his agenda of law enforcement accountability and criminal justice reform — sent shock waves across the state’s legal community and was expected to have a far-reaching impact on active and future criminal cases handled by Gascón’s office.
“No one is above the law,” said Bonta, a fellow Democrat and police reform advocate, in a statement issued by his press office. “Public officials are called to serve the people and the State of California with integrity and honesty. At the California Department of Justice, we will continue to fight for the people of California and hold those who break the law accountable.” Teran referred questions to her attorney, James Spertus, who called the case “dead on arrival” and said he was stunned to see the charges, since his client had been cooperating with a criminal investigation into the allegations. Though the complaint is vague, Spertus said he believed state prosecutors were erroneously trying to charge Teran for uploading public documents to the district attorney’s “Brady List” — a list of officers who have been accused or convicted of misconduct. He said that the investigation into his client was sparked by a complaint from former LA Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who routinely clashed with those who attempted to provide oversight of his department.