Detective accused of giving Nazi-like salute resigns from South Pasadena Police Department

A veteran detective who as soon as landed in sizzling water for disguising himself as a deputy and sneaking into Males’s Central Jail has resigned from the South Pasadena Police Department amid current allegations that he repeatedly gave a Nazi-like salute final 12 months throughout a coaching lecture hosted by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division, in response to a information launch and inside data.

Metropolis police officers introduced Mark Lillienfeld’s resolution to step down on Wednesday, hours after The Times first reported on the Sheriff’s Department’s probe into the 2023 allegations that in the end saddled him with a “Do Not Rehire” designation.

As documented in a 40-page internal affairs report launched by the Sheriff’s Division earlier this month, the probe discovered Lillienfeld had violated an equality coverage whereas delivering a lecture at a Might 2023 murder investigator coaching session. The report stated one of many officers who attended — a Black girl from the Los Angeles Police Division — accused Lillienfeld of constructing a number of inappropriate feedback, as soon as referring to Asian officers as “Chinamen” and later saying that she and one other Black officer within the class can be the more than likely suspects if anybody jumped him within the car parking zone afterward.

On the time of the lecture, Lillienfeld had already retired from the Sheriff’s Division and was working as an outdoor vendor. State data present he started working as a detective for South Pasadena earlier this 12 months.

“The Metropolis of South Pasadena and its Police Division takes this report significantly, and under no circumstances does the division condone one of these conduct from any officer in its division,” the South Pasadena information launch stated final week. “The officer in query submitted his resignation, which Police Chief Brian Solinsky accepted.”

Additionally final week, the Sheriff’s Division stated it might not rent Lillienfeld as an teacher for future courses. In the meantime, the California Fee on Peace Officers Requirements and Coaching — which oversees legislation enforcement coaching requirements statewide — stated in an announcement that it had solely lately realized of the allegations and that it at the moment approves instructors primarily based on info submitted by native companies, however doesn’t have a method to take away them.

“The Fee met final week and mentioned this regulatory matter and are planning to make modifications in order that sooner or later we do have the flexibility to take away instructors resembling this,” the assertion stated.

Although Lillienfeld didn’t reply to a request for touch upon Saturday, his legal professional, Tom Yu, stated final week that the allegations have been “fully baseless.” He stated that as a result of Lillienfeld had already retired, he had “no standing to enchantment or grieve the one-sided investigation.”

In 2008, internal affairs records show Lillienfeld was reprimanded for referring to a girl as a “broad” and repeatedly utilizing profanity throughout a unique coaching lecture. Following his retirement in 2016, he started working as an investigator for the Los Angeles County district legal professional’s workplace, the place he was later caught on camera posing as a deputy as a way to sneak contraband quick meals to an inmate at Males’s Central Jail.

Afterward, he was quickly banned from the county jails. In 2019, he returned to the Sheriff’s Division to hitch then-Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s controversial public corruption squad, a shadowy unit accused of focusing on the sheriff’s critics — together with oversight officers, county leaders and a former Instances reporter who had received a leaked list of problem deputies.

Lillienfeld left the division once more in January 2023 after Villanueva misplaced reelection and has since said the incident at Men’s Central Jail was a part of a plan to overturn a wrongful conviction by successful the belief of the actual killer.

The criticism that led to the “Do Not Rehire” designation stemmed from a two-week murder investigator course that attracted about 30 officers and deputies from departments throughout Southern California. The Sheriff’s Division redacted all of their names in its 40-page report, in addition to the identify of the Los Angeles police officer whose considerations spurred the investigation.

“All through the whole lecture, Topic Lillienfeld was impolite, condescending, unprofessional, and made inappropriate feedback to a number of college students within the class,” investigators wrote in a abstract of their interview with the Los Angeles officer.

They stated the officer instructed them she believed Lillienfeld focused Asian and Black college students with off-color jokes, as soon as calling the one two Asian college students “Chinamen” and repeatedly making enjoyable of a girl’s identify. The officer additionally instructed investigators Lillienfeld talked numerous “crap” in regards to the Los Angeles Police Division and the way its investigations have been “tousled.”

Through the lecture, the report says, “Lillienfeld additionally clicked his heels collectively and prolonged one in all his arms out like Hitler,” whereas saying one thing that seemed like “hike” or “peak.”

The Los Angeles police officer stated she thought Lillienfeld might need been doing it as a joke however that it appeared inappropriate as a result of it “regarded like one thing white supremacist teams do,” in response to the report.

On the finish of the category, she alleged, Lillienfeld apologized to her and the opposite Black girl — a Menifee Police Division officer — and thanked them for letting him make enjoyable of them. Then, she instructed investigators, Lillienfeld allegedly instructed class members that in the event that they noticed him exterior within the car parking zone with two bullets behind his head, they need to look to the 2 Black ladies because the suspects.

The Menifee police officer instructed investigators that she remembered Lillienfeld was humorous, however that she didn’t really feel singled out by his jokes. Although she instructed investigators she remembered listening to Lillienfeld’s feedback in regards to the Black ladies “leaping him,” she stated she wasn’t offended. She additionally stated she didn’t keep in mind seeing him give a Nazi salute.

When inside affairs investigators interviewed the opposite officers and deputies within the class, most stated they didn’t recall seeing something inappropriate. Some stated Lillienfeld was humorous or spoke extremely of his lecture. One — a La Verne police officer whose identify was additionally redacted — stated Lillienfeld repeatedly did a “bizarre factor” throughout class through which he would click on his heels collectively and throw up his arm in a manner the officer described as a “Nazi salute.” At one level, Lillienfeld stated “Sieg Heil” as he made the gesture, in response to what the officer instructed investigators.

The officer stated he thought Lillienfeld did the Nazi-like salute whereas attempting to make some extent concerning one of many investigations he taught, however he couldn’t keep in mind the specifics.

After the category ended, the Los Angeles police officer detailed her considerations in her class analysis, which sparked the interior investigation.

When investigators tried to interview Lillienfeld in April, the file says, he requested a number of questions in regards to the case earlier than refusing to do the interview. This 12 months, after the interior affairs investigation concluded, the division confirmed that it positioned a “Do Not Rehire” designation in Lillienfeld’s file.

Hours after The Instances’ story printed on Wednesday, Hans Johnson — a member of the county’s Sheriff Civilian Oversight Fee — despatched an electronic mail to South Pasadena officers expressing his considerations.

“Why is somebody with such purple flags of disqualifying misconduct now on workers with the South Pas. Police Division?” Johnson wrote, in response to a duplicate of his electronic mail shared with The Instances. “Is South Pasadena P.D. so strapped for workers that it fails to totally assessment the background of detectives it hires, or worse, detects such purple flags however ignores them?”

It’s not clear what number of others reached out with related considerations, however in its information launch final week the South Pasadena Police Division stated it had acquired “many calls and messages” in regards to the matter.

“I wish to clarify that our police division doesn’t tolerate racism or unacceptable epithets of any sort from any member of our group,” Solinsky wrote within the launch. “Such acts are usually not in step with our values and the expectations that our Metropolis Council and our residents have from members of our police power.”