A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department employee sued Los Angeles County Monday, alleging she suffered a backlash for speaking out against alleged misconduct by an ally of Sheriff Alex Villanueva, causing the plaintiff to be wrongfully relieved of duty.
Cynthia Maluto’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges whistleblower retaliation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Villanueva and Capt. Yvonne O’Brien also are defendants in the suit, which seeks at least $5 million in damages.
An LASD representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Maluto started at the county’s Community and Senior Services department and worked various positions for 26 years, the suit states. She was promoted several times as senior employee services representative in the Sheriff’s Department, head department personnel technician at the Probation Department and ultimately to the LASD’s assistant director of operations.
Maluto’s career was going well until she allegedly found that O’Brien was involved in questionable conduct, including approving pay for employees for hours they did not actually work, the suit states.
The LASD should have opened up a criminal investigation into O’Brien, but Villanueva “obstructed justice and blocked a proper criminal investigation into this member of his inner circle,” the suit states. Although the sheriff...
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