Citing threats, DWP seeks to spend up to $700,000 on private security for CEO
The chief executive of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has asked the utility's board to spend around $700,000 on private security for her, citing an uptick in threats after the Palisades fire.
The five-member Board of Water and Power Commissioners will decide Tuesday whether to approve the one-year private security contract for the CEO and chief engineer, Janisse Quiñones.
In the wake of the Palisades fire, DWP received criticism for diminished water pressure in some hydrants and for the Santa Ynez Reservoir sitting empty for nearly a year while awaiting a repair estimated to cost about $130,000.
Quiñones, who took over as chief executive of the nation's largest municipal utility in May, came under increasingly personal attacks online that assailed her $750,000 salary and denigrated her as a 'DEI hire' for her Puerto Rican roots.
Quiñones addressed some of the commentary about her background at a DWP commission meeting last month, suggesting her critics had ignored her qualifications in order to fuel an agenda. She highlighted her decades running emergency management for the U.S. Coast Guard.
'Not only do I have 20 years plus serving this country, I also have a mechanical engineering degree that I graduated with honors. I have two graduate degrees,' she said. 'And I happen to like to get tough jobs, and this is a tough job.'
Quiñones' salary is in line with top executives' salaries at the Omaha Public Power District in Nebraska and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, according to public records.
A DWP spokesperson said the utility began soliciting proposals for private security to protect Quiñones before the Jan. 7 fire. Around that time, companies across the U.S. began boosting security after the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare was slain outside a New York hotel in December.
In the days after the wildfire erupted, vitriol against her intensified.
The utility said it 'has received numerous threats' to Quiñones' personal safety, adding that some 'have required direct intervention by law enforcement.' The nature of those threats and police 'intervention' are unclear. DWP officials did not elaborate, but a spokesperson said, 'All threats were reported to LAPD.' Police officials also declined to disclose any details about the alleged threats.
'We don't comment on potential threats or ongoing investigations,' said Jennifer Forkish, LAPD communications director.
An L.A. County district attorney's spokesperson said that no case has been presented to the office relating to threats to Quiñones. A spokesperson for L.A. City Atty. Hydee Feldstein-Soto did not answer whether any misdemeanor charges were filed.
Under the agreement pending before the mayor-appointed DWP commissioners, Quiñones would receive protection from Pinkerton Consulting & Investigations, with at least one designated armed security agent and a driver.
The contract, which would permit up to $703,577 in spending, was issued on a single-source basis, although DWP said it received two other proposals that were far more expensive.
The firm 'will provide security agents trained in personal safety, defensive tactics, travel security, and surveillance on an as-needed basis,' according to a memo on the agreement. The firm's agents have military or surveillance backgrounds, including the special forces.
The move to private security partially alleviates a strain on LAPD resources. Quiñones initially received protection from L.A. Airport Police after the Palisades fire broke out. She was then provided a detail of LAPD officers who also were protecting then-L.A. Fire Chief Kristin Crowley and LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell.
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Los Angeles Times
13 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
How the LAPD's protest response once again triggered outrage, injuries and lawsuits
Bridgette Covelli arrived near Los Angeles City Hall for last Saturday's 'No Kings' festivities to find what she described as a peaceful scene: people chanting, dancing, holding signs. No one was arguing with the police, as far as she could tell. Enforcement of the city's curfew wouldn't begin for hours. But seemingly out of nowhere, Covelli said, officers began to fire rubber bullets and launch smoke bombs into the crowd, which had gathered to protest the Trump administration's aggressive immigration enforcement campaign. 'No dispersal order. Nothing at all,' she said. 'We were doing everything right. There was no aggression toward them.' Covelli, 23, grabbed an electric bike and turned up 3rd Street, where another line of police blocked parts of the roadway. She felt a shock of pain in her arm as she fell from the bike and crashed to the sidewalk. In a daze, she realized she was bleeding after being struck by a hard-foam projectile shot by an unidentified LAPD officer. The young tattoo artist was hospitalized with injuries that included a fractured forearm, which has left her unable to work. 'I haven't been able to draw. I can't even brush my teeth correctly,' she said. She is among the demonstrators and journalists hurt this month after being targeted by LAPD officers with foam projectiles, tear gas, flash-bang grenades and paintball-like weapons that waft pepper spray into the air. Despite years of costly lawsuits, oversight measures and promises by leaders to rein in indiscriminate use of force during protests, the LAPD once again faces sharp criticism and litigation over tactics used during the past two weeks. In a news conference at police headquarters last week, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell promised 'a comprehensive review when this is all done,' while also defending officers he said were dealing with 'a very chaotic, dynamic situation.' Police officials said force was used only after a group of agitators began pelting officers with bottles, fireworks and other objects. At least a dozen police injuries occurred during confrontations, including one instance in which a protester drove a motorcycle into a line of officers. L.A. County prosecutors have charged several defendants with assault for attacks on law enforcement. Behind the scenes, according to communications reviewed by The Times and multiple sources who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, tensions sometimes ran high between LAPD commanders and City Hall officials, who pushed for restraint in the early hours of the protests downtown. On June 6 — the Friday that the demonstrations began — communication records show Mayor Karen Bass made calls to LAPD Capt. Raul Jovel, the incident commander, and to McDonnell. In the days that followed, sources said Bass or members of her senior staff were a constant presence at a command post in Elysian Park, from where local and federal officials were monitoring the on-the-ground developments. Some LAPD officials have privately grumbled about not being allowed to make arrests sooner, before protesters poured into downtown. Although mostly peaceful, a handful of those who flooded the streets vandalized shops, vehicles and other property. LAPD leaders have also pointed out improvements from past years, including restrictions on the use of bean-bag shotguns for crowd control and efforts to more quickly release people who were arrested. But among longtime LAPD observers, the latest protest response is widely seen as another step backward. After paying out millions over the last decade for protest-related lawsuits, the city now stares down another series of expensive court battles. 'City leaders like Mayor Bass [are] conveniently saying, 'Oh this is Trump's fault, this is the Feds' fault.' No, take a look at your own force,' said longtime civil rights attorney James DeSimone, who filed several excessive force government claims against the city and the county in recent days. A spokesperson for Bass didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. McDonnell — a member of the LAPD command staff during an aggressive police crackdown on immigrant rights demonstrators on May Day in 2007 — found himself on the defensive during an appearance before the City Council last week, when he faced questions about readiness and whether more could have been done to prevent property damage. 'We'll look and see, are there training issues, are there tactics [issues], are there less-lethal issues that need to be addressed,' McDonnell told reporters a few days later. One of the most potentially embarrassing incidents occurred during the 'No Kings' rally Saturday, when LAPD officers could be heard on a public radio channel saying they were taking friendly fire from L.A. County sheriff's deputies shooting less-lethal rounds. Three LAPD sources not authorized to speak publicly confirmed the incident occurred. A spokesperson for the Sheriff's Department said in a statement that the agency 'has not received reports of any 'friendly fire' incidents.' Some protesters allege LAPD officers deliberately targeted individuals who posed no threat. Shakeer Rahman, a civil rights attorney and community organizer with the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, said he was monitoring a demonstration snaking past LAPD headquarters on June 8 when he witnessed two colleagues who were demanding to know an officer's badge number get shot with a 40mm less-lethal launcher at close range. In a recording he shared of the incident, Rahman can be heard confronting the officer, who threatens to fire as he paces back and forth on an elevated platform. 'I'm gonna pop you right now, because you're taking away my focus,' the officer is heard saying before raising his weapon over the glass partition that separated them and firing two foam rounds at Rahman, nearly striking him in his groin. 'It's an officer who doesn't want to be questioned and knows he can get away with firing these shots,' said Rahman, who noted a 2021 court injunction bans the use of 40mm launchers in most crowd-control situations. Later on June 8, as clashes between officers and protesters intensified in other parts of downtown, department leaders authorized the use of tear gas against a crowd — a common practice among other agencies, but one that the LAPD hasn't used in decades. 'There was a need under these circumstances to deploy it when officers started taking being assaulted by commercial fireworks, some of those with shrapnel in them,' McDonnell said to The Times. 'It's a different day, and we use the tools we are able to access.' City and state leaders arguing against Trump's deployment of soldiers to L.A. have made the case that the LAPD is better positioned to handle demonstrations than federal forces. They say local cops train regularly on tactics beneficial to crowd control, including de-escalation, and know the downtown terrain where most demonstrations occur. But numerous protesters who spoke with The Times said they felt the LAPD officers were quicker to use violence than they have been at any point in recent years. Raphael Mamoun, 36, followed the June 8 march from City Hall to the federal Metropolitan Detention Center on Alameda Street. Mamoun, who works in digital security, said his group eventually merged with other demonstrators and wound up bottlenecked by LAPD near the intersection of Temple and Alameda, where a stalemate with LAPD officers ensued. After roughly an hour, he said, chaos erupted without warning. 'I don't know if they made any announcement, any dispersal order, but basically you had like a line of mounted police coming behind the line of cops that were on foot and then they just started charging, moving forward super fast, pushing people, screaming at people, shooting rubber bullets,' he said. Mamoun's complaints echoed those of other demonstrators and observations of Times reporters at multiple protest scenes throughout the week. LAPD dispersal orders were sometimes only audible when delivered from an overhead helicopter. Toward the end of Saturday's hours-long 'No Kings' protests, many demonstrators contended officers used force against crowds that had been relatively peaceful all day. The LAPD's use of horses has also raised widespread concern, with some protesters saying the department's mounted unit caused injuries and confusion rather than bringing anything resembling order. One video captured on June 8 by independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg shows a line of officers on horseback advance into a crowd while other officers fire less-lethal rounds at protesters shielding themselves with chairs and road signs. A protester can be seen falling to the ground, seemingly injured. The mounted units continue marching forward even as the person desperately tries to roll out of the way. Several horses trample over the person's prone body before officers arrest them. At other scenes, mounted officers were weaving through traffic and running up alongside vehicles that were not involved with the demonstrations. In one incident on June 10, a Times reporter saw a mounted officer smashing the roof of a car repeatedly with a wooden stick. 'It just seems like they are doing whatever the hell they want to get protesters, and injure protesters,' Mamoun said. Audrey Knox, 32, a screenwriter and teacher, was also marching with the City Hall group on June 8. She stopped to watch a tense skirmish near the Grand Park Metro stop when officers began firing projectiles into the crowd. Some protesters said officers fired less-lethal rounds into groups of people in response to being hit with flying objects. Although she said she was well off to the side, she was still struck in the head by one of the hard-foam rounds. Other demonstrators helped her get to a hospital, where Knox said she received five staples to close her head wound. In a follow-up later in the week, a doctor said she had post-concussion symptoms. The incident has made her hesitant to demonstrate again, despite her utter disgust for the Trump administration's actions in Los Angeles. 'It just doesn't seem smart to go back out because even when you think you're in a low-risk situation, that apparently is not the case,' she said. 'I feel like my freedom of speech was directly attacked, intentionally.' Times staff writers Julia Wick, Connor Sheets and Richard Winton contributed to this report.
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Judge Dismisses Sean Combs Juror Over Inconsistent Statements
Follow all of our Sean Combs trial coverage Sean Combs' sex trafficking and racketeering trial entered its sixth week Monday with the judge dismissing a juror whose credibility was contested after he gave inconsistent statements about where he lives. More from Rolling Stone Wife of Weezer Bassist Appears in Court, Wins Delay in LAPD Shooting Case Kneecap's Mo Chara Granted Unconditional Bail at First Hearing on Terror Charge Tyler Perry Sued for Alleged Sexual Assault, Battery by 'The Oval' Actor The juror, a 41-year-old Black man who works for New York's Department of Corrections, initially said he lived in the Bronx. He later casually mentioned to court staff during trial that he had moved to New Jersey to live with his finacée and child. When the issue was brought to the court's attention, the man said the move to New Jersey 'may not be permanent' and that he still had a New York driver's license and received his mail in the Bronx. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian said 'the record raised serious concerns as to the juror's candor and whether he shaded answers to get on and stay on the jury.' (According to CNN, the man said during jury selection that he was a fan of 1990s hip-hop but that he didn't know much about the case.) 'Even if this juror had an excuse or explanation for the inconsistencies in the record, that would be yet another set of shifting answers on basic questions about the juror's residence. This would only heighten the specter that the juror's trying to shade answers in an effort to remain on the jury,' Subramanian said Monday as he issued his final decision. 'In other words, there's nothing the juror could say at this point that would put the genie back in the bottle and repair the damage to his credibility.' Combs sighed in court after the judge ruled. The reaction was noticeably muted compared to Friday, when he was visibly angry, vigorously shaking his head, and whispering to his legal team. Combs' camp emphatically fought the juror's removal, calling him one of only two Black men on the jury. On Friday, Combs' attorney, Xavier Donaldson, said it would be a 'step backwards' to remove the man. In a letter to the court filed Sunday night, the defense team said Combs wanted a mistrial if the juror was excused. The lawyers said prosecutors used seven of their nine peremptory strikes to remove Black jurors from the prospective panel before the final jury was selected. They argued that removing the seated juror over his residency issue after five weeks of trial would be 'discriminatory.' 'The fairness of the trial depends in part on having jurors with backgrounds similar to Mr. Combs share their perspectives on the evidence with other jurors from diverse backgrounds during deliberations,' the 14-page letter, authored by Combs' attorney, Alexandra Shapiro, said. 'Removing this particular juror will deprive Mr. Combs of that important perspective and it is no answer to simply say that there are other Black jurors, or other males, on the jury.' On Monday, Judge Subramanian said it would be 'improper' to consider the race of the juror while determining whether to excuse the man. The judge said he took the weekend to consider the issue and that he was comfortable with his decision, considering the alternate jurors were selected in a fair process agreed to by both sides. The alternate juror who filled the excused juror's seat is a 57-year-old male who appears to be white and lives with his wife and children in Westchester County, according to NBC News. On Monday, the defense contested another juror, though Subramanian said there was no connection between that juror and the one already dismissed. Combs, 55, was arrested in September and has pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering conspiracy. If convicted as charged, he could spend the rest of his life in prison. Combs' lawyers deny the music mogul was the head of a criminal enterprise allegedly designed to fulfill his sexual desires and protect his reputation. Instead, they've described Combs as a 'swinger' who indulged his 'kinky' proclivities with his longtime girlfriends. Combs has acknowledged he kicked and dragged Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura in the hallway of the InterContinental hotel in 2016, but he denies he coerced her or another recent ex-girlfriend, 'Jane,' into sex trafficking. Throughout the trial playing out in lower Manhattan, prosecutors have alleged Combs used force, fraud, or coercion to manipulate Ventura and Jane into drug-fueled, highly orchestrated sex marathons with male escorts that Combs directed and recorded. The encounters were known as 'freak-offs,' 'hotel nights,' and 'king nights,' according to testimony. For the first time Monday, jurors were shown freak-off videos, which were admitted under seal and not shown to the gallery. The explicit videos were introduced using a summary chart that detailed 71 alleged instances where Combs booked hotel rooms for freak-offs with Ventura between August 2009 and June 2017. The chart contained names of the male escorts and corresponding travel information if they were flown in from out of state. Summary witness SDNY special agent DeLeassa Penland said the data was compiled through bank statements, hotel and flight records, text messages, and videotapes. The videos were introduced in the context of confirming certain male escorts were in the hotel rooms for some of the alleged freak-offs with Ventura. Putting on headphones, many of the jurors watched a few moments of the 11-minute to 40-minute videos, with intent expressions and holding their chin in their hands. Earlier in the day, Ananya Sankar, a paralegal specialist with the U.S. Attorney's Office, was called to the stand. Sankar walked jurors through a lengthy chart showing texts and communications between Combs' former chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, and other staffers or even Combs himself. In the messages, extracted from seized devices, Khorram and others allegedly discussed prepping hotel rooms for freak-offs and dropping off supplies, including drugs and large sums of cash to pay male escorts. (Khorram has been described as a 'co-conspirator' but has not been called to testify.) In one exchange shown to jurors, Combs' former assistant Ryan Lopez texted Khorram, 'LOL. Think I saw one of the cowboys today. You can spot them in the lobby like an escort.' Khorram texted back with four laughing face emojis, later asking, 'BTW, how long is he going to stay awake?' Prosecutors positioned the December 2019 exchange as clear evidence Khorram knew Combs used an escort service called 'Cowboys 4 Angels' to hire paid male sex workers for his freak-offs with Ventura and Jane. 'Hotel called, Paul coming up,' Khorram texted Combs in another exchange dated Nov. 14, 2021. (Jane previously told jurors that 'Paul' was an escort they used for 'hotel nights.') In a subsequent exchange on March 3, 2022, a travel assistant sent Khorram flight information for Paul. Prosecutors also allege Khorram was aware of Combs' violence towards Ventura. In a text exchange dated May 2, 2017, Ventura described Combs attacking her. 'No one deserves being dragged by their hair,' Ventura wrote. 'I locked the door for my safety.' In April 2018, Ventura texted Khorram, 'I can't do the violent, scary, kick me out of my own house stuff anymore.' Jurors also saw photos dated December 2023 that showed a text exchange from another device. The photos, which would have been snapped a month after Ventura filed her bombshell sex trafficking and rape lawsuit against Combs, depicted Jane telling Combs she felt 'extremely exploited, heartbroken and manipulated' by the music mogul. Shortly after the photos were taken, Jane texted Khorram directly, jurors heard. 'He just threatened me about my sex tapes that he has of me on two phones. He said that he would expose me and send them to my child's father,' Jane wrote. When Combs' defense lawyer Teny Geragos had her turn to question Sankar, she highlighted an exchange between Khorram and Jane from June 13, 2022. In one message, Jane sounds eager to travel and join Combs at a hotel. 'Pulling up to airport, yay,' she wrote. 'I'm excited to surprise him.' In a subsequent message in the series, Jane suggested to Khorram that Combs' security should bring $5,000 to $10,000 in cash to the room, ostensibly to pay for a male escort. A centerpiece of Combs' defense is that Jane and Ventura repeatedly consented to the freak-offs and sometimes managed paying the escorts themselves. In yet another exchange, longtime Combs spokeswoman Nathalie Moar texted Khorram on Aug. 18, 2016, informing her that TMZ was about to run a story about Combs allegedly snatching Ventura's phone and taking off running down a street in Beverly Hills. 'The only reason it's running is because of police report,' Moar allegedly texted Khorram in the messages shown to jurors. Moar said she was communicating with Ventura as well, claiming Ventura was 'worried' about the TMZ story and wanted to get an 'advance' copy. 'I told her that cannot happen,' Moar wrote, referring to Ventura. After Khorram was named as a co-defendant in multiple civil lawsuits, she released a statement in March. 'For months, horrific accusations have been made about me in various lawsuits regarding my former boss,' she said. 'These false allegations of my involvement are causing irreparable and incalculable damage to my reputation and the emotional well-being of myself and my family. I have never condoned or aided and abetted the sexual assault of anyone. Nor have I ever drugged anyone. The idea that I could be accused of playing a role in – or even being a bystander to – the rape of anyone is beyond upsetting, disturbing, and unthinkable. That is not who I am and my heart goes out to all victims of sexual assault. I am confident that the allegations against me will be proven to be untrue.' Before court ended for the day, jurors saw a text exchange between Combs and Ventura regarding an alleged freak-off with four male entertainers in Jan. 9, 2013. 'Would you want to celebrate Christmas and have a freak-off tonight or Friday?' Combs asked Ventura before sending another message saying he had her present. After more than two dozen witnesses, the government said they will rest later this week. On Tuesday, they plan to call one of their final witnesses, Combs' former recent assistant Brendan Paul. The former Syracuse University basketball player was the lone person arrested during the simultaneous raids on Combs' homes in March 2024. As Combs was about to take off on a private plane bound for the Caribbean with his daughters and entourage, Miami police detained him and said they found cocaine traces and marijuana candy in Paul's baggage. His case was ultimately dismissed after he completed a drug diversion course. In a sneak peek at how the defense plans to proceed, defense lawyers said Monday they plan to call Vashta Wilson, a former vice president of human resources for Combs, and Stephan Lind-Orjala, who's listed online as a facilities manager at Combs Enterprises, as witnesses. Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked
