Ex-deputy enters plea deal

Officer also involved in Guardado killing will admit to violating skateboarder’s rights.

A former Los Angeles County sheriff ’s deputy has agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to violate the civil rights of a skateboarder in April 2020 by forcing him into the back of a patrol car and then trying to cover it up with a falsified report.

Christopher Hernandez — who was also involved in the highly publicized June 2020 killing of 18-year-old Andres Guardado — and his former partner Miguel Vega were charged in federal court earlier this year on a five-count indictment alleging conspiracy, witness tampering, falsification of records and deprivation of rights in the skateboarder’s case.

Both men pleaded not guilty in April. But on Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department announced that Hernandez, 37, had agreed to a deal in which he’ll admit guilt to the felony conspiracy charge.

The plea agreement filed in court this week echoes allegations detailed in a Times investigation into the incident two years ago. Hernandez is expected to admit to many of those allegations when he formally pleads guilty. Vega’s case is scheduled for trial in October.

Both former deputies were relieved of duty several months later in connection with the incident. A lawyer for Hernandez did not respond to a request for comment this week. Vega's attorney declined to comment.

On Thursday evening, the Sheriff’s Department said it had assisted federal agencies in the investigation that led to the indictments, adding that the department was “committed to holding employees accountable for their actions and expects them to exhibit the highest moral and ethical standards.”

News of the plea comes less than a week after an internal county email revealed that the California Department of Justice is reviewing Guardado’s fatal shooting. The email confirmed that state prosecutors had “accepted” the case, but did not say whether it was a criminal probe or a civil rights investigation.

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On the afternoon of April 13, 2020, Vega and Hernandez pulled up next to a group of young Black men outside a skate park in Compton. The deputies got out of their cruiser and ordered the men to lift their shirts, according to court filings.

From inside the skate park, Jesus Alegria, 23, yelled at the deputies to stop harassing the kids. According to prosecutors, Vega started arguing with Alegria, then challenged the skateboarder to a fight.

The deputy allegedly grabbed Alegria, pulled him through an opening in a fence, and shoved him into the back of the cruiser as Hernandez watched.

Alegria later told The Times that the deputies didn’t handcuff him or ask his name. Instead, he said, they taunted him.

“We’re gonna get you set up right now,” one of the deputies said, according to Alegria. The deputy threatened to kick him out of the car in a gang-controlled neighborhood and tell people on the street that he belonged to a rival gang, Alegria said.

According to Hernandez’s plea deal, it was Vega who made those threats while driving, as Hernandez, sitting in the passenger seat, chimed in that he would beat up Alegria.

Court filings say Vega also told Alegria the deputies would lie and say he was on drugs to justify picking him up. Hernandez admitted that he did nothing to interfere even though he didn’t believe Alegria was on drugs.

After a few minutes, the deputies spotted a group of young teenagers on bikes, and Vega started to chase them by car down an alley. Hernandez jumped out to follow on foot, focusing on one who’d appeared to grab his waistband.

As Vega tried to drive down the alley, he crashed into a concrete wall and a parked BMW.

Alegria estimated that the car was going 55 to 60 mph at the time of the crash. Vega reported that he was driving 30 to 35 mph. After the wreck, Vega climbed out the cruiser’s window and told Alegria to leave.

“Get the f— out of here,” he said, according to Alegria. As Alegria walked away, he realized blood was dripping down his face from a gash on his eyebrow.

According to court filings, Vega then reported over police radio that a man was fleeing with a gun in clothing described much like what Alegria was wearing. Other deputies picked him up and drove him to a hospital, where Alegria says they pressured him to sign a citation to appear in court for being under the inf luence of methamphetamine.

“I didn’t wanna sign it because I know my truth: I’ve never even touched that drug in my life,” he told The Times in 2021.

In his plea deal, Hernandez admitted that he’d told another deputy to issue the drug citation even though he knew it wasn’t true. Then he and Vega allegedly wrote up false reports to cover up what had happened.

The first report said that Alegria looked like he was on drugs and that he’d threatened to harm people at the skate park. It also said a crowd of people were moving toward the cruiser when the deputies decided to drive away with Alegria in back.

A second report said the deputies had safely transferred him to another car after the crash, which the plea agreement says both deputies knew was not true.

In early 2021, Alegria filed a lawsuit accusing Vega and Hernandez of fabricating the drug charge and arrest reports to justify their reckless behavior. Last year, the county agreed to settle with Alegria for $450,000.

By then, Vega and Hernandez were under scrutiny for their role in Guardado’s killing in June 2020.

Two months after the Alegria incident, the deputies came upon Guardado talking with someone outside an auto body shop. The Sheriff’s Department said that Guardado brandished a gun and ran into an alley, and that Vega and Hernandez chased him. An autopsy showed that Vega shot the teen five times in the back. Vega’s lawyer said Guardado had reached for a gun.

Coming shortly after the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Guardado’s death prompted weeks of protests and increased scrutiny of the Compton sheriff’s station, which has been roiled by allegations of a violent deputy gang known as the Executioners.

After Guardado’s fatal shooting, a whistleblower claimed Vega and Hernandez were prospective members of the gang. Their attorneys denied the allegation.

Guardado’s family filed a lawsuit that the county settled last year for $8 million. But in April, local prosecutors said they would not pursue criminal charges against the deputies — a move that’s prompted criticism from oversight officials and local activists.

At a meeting of the sheriff ’s Civilian Oversight Commission this week, Sean Kennedy, a law professor who chairs the panel that oversees the department, reiterated his dismay at the district attorney’s handling of the case. He raised concerns about why officials hadn’t done more to investigate the deputies’ alleged links to the Executioners.

“Those folks were not asked if they were in a deputy gang,” he said. “To this day I guess we just don’t have an answer.”