COSTA MESA A Costa Mesa officer with a list of citizen complaints against him planted what looked like cocaine on a probationer, leading to a plea bargain and a conviction in an Orange County courtroom, according to a federal lawsuit.
But months after his conviction, a former Costa Mesa resident learned the white substance was not cocaine, and that laboratory results on the substance had been completed weeks before he struck a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to the charge.
In a federal suit filed this week, 51-year-old Timothy Slappy claims a Costa Mesa police officer planted the evidence on him, and prosecutors kept hidden the laboratory results while they pushed through with a plea deal.
District Attorney’s Office officials declined to speak on specifics of the case but said laboratory results are often not made available until cases proceed to trial.
But the Costa Mesa man said he took a plea deal when he saw he could face jail time, assuming he would not be able to prove the evidence was planted.
Since the March 2009 arrest, Slappy has successfully petitioned to have the conviction sealed and destroyed from his criminal record. His suit seeks more than $1 million for what it calls false imprisonment, violation of his civil rights and emotional distress.
The lawsuit is the latest in a series of hurdles that have recently hit the Costa Mesa Police Department.
This year, police Chief Christopher Shawkey and Capt. Ron Smith resigned. On Monday, a former police officer pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of planting a department GPS unit on the car of a woman he had been romantically involved with.
According to Slappy’s suit, he was in the driveway of his home with a woman on March 21, 2009, when he was stopped by former police officer Robert Harris. When the officer pulled up, he said there had been a complaint of noise. Slappy was on probation for a 2008 conviction of being under the influence of a controlled substance, and Harris began to search him.
“He came to me, he stood me up and patted me down,” Slappy said.
According to the lawsuit, Harris told Slappy to sit on the curb and take out everything from his pockets. After moving in front of him, Harris then aimed his flashlight on a white substance on the ground.
Speaking at his attorney’s office in Fountain Valley, Slappy said he didn’t know what the substance was but knew it wasn’t his.
Messages left for city officials, including the city’s attorney, were not returned for comment.
‘I THINK YOU’RE CROOKED’
“He asked me, ‘What do you think, I’m a new cop?'” Slappy said. “I told him, ‘No, I think you’re crooked.’ ”
The 51-year-old man, who works in sales, was booked on suspicion of possession. When he was bailed out, he told an officer he believed he had evidence planted on him, and he was given a complaint form. But with a number of convictions in his past and the fact he continued to live in Costa Mesa, Slappy said he feared the complaint would become known to the officer and he would become a target for other officers.
According to court records, Slappy has had a series of drug convictions. He pleaded guilty to a 1996 charge of being in possession of a controlled substance. In 1998, he pleaded guilty to being under the influence of a controlled substance. He received probation in 2005, 2006 and 2008 for charges of being under the influence of a controlled substance.
Being unable to prove the substance was not his and facing a possible sentence of three years in prison, Slappy spoke with his attorney, Bruce Bridgman, and decided to plead guilty and accept a plea bargain. The sentence was reduced to enrollment in a drug-treatment program.
It wasn’t until spring 2010 that Slappy learned that the evidence had been planted, the lawsuit reads. Slappy was subpoenaed for a hearing in Harbor Court in Newport Beach, regarding Harris and 27 citizen complaints that had been filed against him.
Slappy ended up not testifying at the hearing, but he said he was approached by Costa Mesa detectives who wanted him to cooperate with an internal investigation of Harris.
NOT ROCK COCAINE
The detectives told Slappy they were looking into several allegations and told Slappy that the evidence that was found on him was not rock cocaine, according to the lawsuit.
“I didn’t even know what to say,” Slappy said. “I felt a lot of anger.”
Attorneys representing Slappy say that the lab report of the substance was dated April 15, 2009, about three weeks before he was arraigned and agreed to plead guilty to the charge.
“Even if they didn’t get it then, they let this guy go through months in the program,” said Adam Krolikowski, who is also representing Slappy in the federal suit. “They’ve got an ethical duty.”
Officials at the District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on specifics of the Slappy’s drug case because the case has been sealed and is now in litigation.
But regarding drug-related cases, Senior Deputy District Attorney Dan Hess said prosecutors look at specific details surrounding a criminal case, field testing of drugs and the criminal background of defendants before filing charges.
Substances believed to be drugs are then sent to the Orange County Sheriff Department’s laboratory for testing, but arraignments are often completed before results are in.
“Often defendants can appear in court prior to the District Attorney’s Office receiving the results from the lab,” Hess said.
Even if the results are completed before an arraignment hearing, they are usually not requested by prosecutors or defense attorneys until the discovery process of the trial, Hess said.
Slappy’s drug charge never reached that stage.
In October, Slappy’s attorney filed a petition to seal and destroy the arrest records, Bridgman said. Court records show the petition was approved.
“I would hope someone has gone through every single one of (Harris’) cases,” said Bridgman.
Contact the writer: shernandez@ocregister.com or 949-454-7361
