HOLLYWOOD COP IN MOONVES DRAMA
Former LAPD captain scrutinized after prosecutors say he leaked police report
LOS ANGELES — As the former captain in charge of the Hollywood Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, Cory Palka was a star himself.
The towering cop with a telegenic smile hobnobbed with celebrities getting stars on the Walk of Fame, ran security for the Oscars awards show and even landed a bit part playing himself on the television drama “Bosch” about a talented but troubled maverick LAPD detective.
But Palka’s ties to the entertainment industry and his allegiances were under scrutiny last week after prosecutors said he leaked a sexual assault victim’s confidential police report to the accused, former CBS leader Les Moonves, for whom Palka served as a private bodyguard for years.
The LAPD said it was conducting an internal affairs investigation into Palka’s conduct and the state attorney general was probing any criminal elements after a report said he conspired with CBS to conceal sexual assault allegations against Moonves.
The report, which didn’t name Palka, was part of a settlement announced Wednesday by New York Attorney General Letitia James in which CBS and Moonves, its former president, agreed to pay $30.5 million. About $6 million is going to sexual assault and harassment programs. The rest will go to shareholders kept in the dark while executives tried to prevent allegations from becoming public and at least one benefited by unloading shares before news broke.
Weeks after the #MeToo movement erupted with sex abuse allegations against film mogul Harvey Weinstein in 2017, Phyllis Golden-Gottlieb reported to police in the Hollywood Division that she had been sexually assaulted by Moonves in 1986 and 1988 when they worked together at Lorimar Productions, the studio behind “Dallas” and “Knots Landing.”
A law enforcement official briefed on the matter confirmed that Golden-Gottlieb, who died this summer, was the woman involved in the leak by Palka. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and did so on condition of anonymity.
Jim Gottlieb said in an email to The Associated Press that he was “shocked and very disappointed” that his mother’s report was leaked to CBS. He said his mother was never looking for money, she just didn’t want Moonves to “get away with what he did” and was satisfied that her report contributed to his downfall.
“We would like to think the police are looking out for us, the victims, and not the perpetrators,” Gottlieb said. “This sounds just like what you hear about certain police departments being in cahoots with organized crime.”
Attorney Gloria Allred, who represented Golden-Gottlieb, said in nearly a half-century of legal practice, she had never heard of police tipping off a suspect to an investigation and said it could have a chilling effect on other women coming forward to report abuse.
“It’s very, very disturbing,” Allred said. “It’s really outrageous if they did that. And I have to ask, what were their motives if that, in fact occurred? Why were they, for example, trying to curry favor with CBS? Did they receive anything in return?”
Golden-Gottlieb went public with her accusations at the time Ronan Farrow reported on allegations against Moonves in The New Yorker in September 2018. Within hours of that publication, Moonves quit.
Nearly a year earlier, the ink was just drying on her police report — which was marked “confidential” in three places — when Palka tipped off CBS, the report said. Palka then met personally with Moonves and another CBS executive.
The New York AG’s report said the complainant had requested confidentiality.
The captain told CBS that he instructed police officers investigating the complaint to “admonish” the woman not to go to the media with her allegations. He also put CBS officials in touch with the lead investigator.
When the allegations ultimately became public, Palka sent a note to a CBS contact saying, “We worked so hard to try to avoid this day.” He sent Moonves a note saying he was sorry and, “I will always stand with, by and pledge my allegiance to you.”
From 2008 to 2014, Palka had provided private security for Moonves at the Grammy Awards, which CBS produced.
Palka was a frequent fixture on red carpets and at Walk of Fame ceremonies, posing with celebrities like Lynda Carter, Jack Black and Stacy Keach. He was personally thanked during Mark Hamill’s star ceremony and posed with Hamill, Harrison Ford and George Lucas.
The Hollywood Chamber Community Foundation honored him in 2019 as one of the “Heroes of Hollywood.”
Palka did not return requests for comment, nor did an attorney for Moonves and CBS.
Moonves acknowledged having relations with three of his accusers, but said they were consensual. The Los Angeles County district attorney declined to file criminal charges against Moonves in 2018, saying the statute of limitations from Golden-Gottlieb’s allegations had expired.