Two former Torrance police officers pleaded guilty on Thursday with the accusations of having painted a swine cross inside a car in 2020, an incident of vandalism which revealed that the police were part of a larger text thread in which the city cops used racist and homophobic insults and joked about killing black men.
Cody Weldin, 31, and Christopher Tomsic, 32, pleaded guilty to a crime chief of vandalism. They will spend two years in probation and will have to abandon their right to serve as police officers in California, under the terms of the plea. Tomsic and Weldin must also abandon their firearms, perform 100 hours of community service and 15 hours of anti-racism training and attend a visit to the tolerance museum in West Los Angeles.
In 2021, the two ex-officers were accused of painting a swine cross inside a vehicle that had been towed to the scene of an alleged theft of mail. The victim, Kiley Swaine, later put a legal action accusing the police of the police illegally rummaging and expressed his fear for his life because of the actions of the officers, noting that his grandfather was Jewish.
Tomsic and Weldin refused to be questioned outside the courtroom, but their lawyers both said that the former officers thought that the advocacy agreement was a fair resolution.
Lisa Houle said Tomsic “accepted responsibility practically from the start of the case”.
“He has remorse and apologizes to the Torrance Police Service and the Community for the damage he has caused and the confidence he raped,” she said.
Tom Yu, who represented Weldin, said he was happy that his client could “continue his life”.
A search warrant performed within the framework of the investigation into vandalism has led to a disturbing discovery: hundreds of text messages in which the officers used racist and homophobic insults, joked on the beat and the racial profiling of suspects and, in some cases, fantasized on the death of blacks.
“Fortunately, I did not go out,” wrote an officer in response to a text on black men who steal someone torus, according to files previously obtained by the Times. “The shoot team asking me why they are all suspended by a flowing knot and pulled at the back of the head 8 times each.”
In another conversation to unnecessarily beat a suspicious woman, the SGT. Brian Kawamoto said he wanted to “make Torrance Grand again”, a play on the omnipresent campaign slogan of President Trump.
“Immediately after learning of the reprehensible allegations in this case, the detectives of the Torrance police launched a vigorous investigation which led to criminal charges, and finally led to guilt of today’s guilt,” said Lieutenant Fareed Ahmad, ministry spokesperson, in a statement. “The Torrance Police Service keeps its officers according to the highest police standards, in particular by treating all public members with respect when we protect the security of our community.”
A previous survey at times which identified most of the officers of the text chain also noted that several group officers had been involved in at least seven incidents of recourse to the force of Torrance Force and Long Beach between 2013 and 2021. Three of these incidents ended in the death of black men and Latinos, according to the police archives and the deposits of the Court.
Tomsic and Weldin are the first of the five officers linked to the scandal to be criminally condemned. Three others are waiting for the trial.
David Chandler was accused of assault for shooting a black man in the back in 2018 when man felt a mental health crisis in his grandmother. The victim brandished a knife but did not threaten anyone at the time of the shooting, according to the prosecutors, who said that the man was walking away when Chandler opened fire. A judge confirmed the accusations of assault during a preliminary hearing in 2023.
Matthew Concannon and Anthony Chavez are waiting for a trial for accusations of manslaughter guilty in the murder of Christopher Deandre Mitchell in 2018, who was sitting in a car with an air rifle between his knees when the police pulled the mortal rounds. Mitchell, a car flight suspect, was parked in a ralph car park when he was killed. None of the two officers alleged that Mitchell had grasped the weapon or had pointed to him anymore before starting to shoot, according to the files.
In the text thread, the officers used the word N to describe the relatives of Mitchell, according to the recordings previously obtained by the Times. The name of the officer who sent this SMS was expurred in the files. Concannon was the subject of an investigation within the framework of the scandal, but his lawyer says that he did not send any racist text.
County prosecutors initially refused to continue the police, but the former dist. Atty. George Gascón reopened the case, and a large jury charged Conannon and Chavez in 2023. Current dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman dismissed the special prosecutor who brought these accusations at the end of last year, but he appointed a replacement who is currently supervising the case.
“Vandalizing goods with hateful messages is reprehensible and violates that the oath police take to confirm the law and protect and serve their communities,” said Hochman. “I congratulate the Torrance Police Service for having quickly taken measures against these officers to relieve them of their functions. I also thank the assistant prosecutors of district Saeed Teymouri and John Perroni for the division of the integrity of the judicial system of our office for having kept these responsible officers, guaranteeing that they never work as a police officers from our state. ”
Dozens of criminal cases had to be thrown due to the police remarks, and several of the people involved were dismissed. In addition to Tomsic and Weldin, seven other officers related to scandal had their ability to be a police officer in California temporarily suspended by the State Commission on the standards and training of peace agents. A commission spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
The disciplinary files of this council, which were made public earlier this year, identified Weldin as the “owner” of the group’s text in which many racist remarks were found. The group was nicknamed “The Boys”, according to the files. His lawyer said it simply meant that Weldin was starting the text thread.
California Atty. General Rob Bonta announced an investigation into the Torrance Police Service in December 2021, the day the Times revealed for the first time the content of the text thread. None of the conclusions were made public, and we do not know what, if necessary, an impact on the probe. A prosecutor’s office spokesman said this week that he had not been able to comment on an investigation in progress.
Ahmad said that Torrance police chief Jeremiah Hart contacted the Office General of the State shortly after the scandal has surfaced in 2021, and the Ministry offered an agreement with the California Ministry of Justice in 2022.
“We collaborated with the DoJ throughout the process, offering full access to the department, to our employees and files,” said Ahmad. “The objective is to work with the DoJ to ensure that the Torrance Police Service promotes public security while ensuring that the public is treated with respect.”
The staff editor Libor Jany has contributed to this report.
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