‘Snitch scandal’ deputies surface in Orange County controversy over recorded attorney-client phone calls

Orange County sheriff’s deputies who managed jailhouse informants as part of the department’s “snitch scandal” are again embroiled in controversy, this time over the use of improperly recorded attorney-client telephone calls from the jail.

Investigator William Beeman, who maintained recording devices in jail cells during the scandal that unfolded in 2014, also accessed some of the phone calls that the Sheriff’s Department said were mistakenly recorded over the past three years.

Documents obtained by Southern California News Group showed that Beeman, on 10 occasions, listened to the unauthorized recordings of calls made to four different telephone numbers. On an 11th occasion, he downloaded the call.

Beeman worked closely with the now-defunct “special handling” unit that managed informants in the Orange County jail. A four-year investigation by the Public Defender’s Office found that prosecutors and deputies in the special unit were misusing jail informants to gain confessions and then convictions.

Using informants is a standard practice of law enforcement. But it is a civil rights violation to use informants on inmates who have attorneys and have been formally charged.

Prosecutors and deputies had developed a group of jailhouse informants who were strategically placed to obtain incriminating statements from targeted inmates. Defense attorneys alleged the practice had been going on for decades and began to unravel in 2014.

Appellate justices said the “snitch scandal” indicated systemic problems in the the District Attorney’s Office and Sheriff’s Department. The problems prompted a Superior Court judge to remove the district attorney from the prosecution of mass killer Scott Dekraai, who shot and killed people in 2011 in Seal Beach. The judge also barred Dekraai from getting the death penalty, instead sentencing him to multiple terms of life in prison.

On the heels of that controversy comes the revelation that the sheriff’s telephone contractor, Global Tel Link Corp., inadvertently recorded 1,079 calls from jail inmates to their attorneys. GTL attributed the problem to a software upgrade in January 2015. Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said she didn’t learn of the breach until mid-June. The District Attorney’s Office said it didn’t learn of it until last week.

Records show that 58 phone conversations were accessed 87 times, mostly by sheriff’s personnel. Beeman was among the most prolific in accessing the calls. Another former special handling deputy, Jacob Bieker, listened to one call, according to the documents.

One deputy, Eric Giummo, played one call and then downloaded 32 recordings. All the calls were to the same phone number.

The Sheriff’s Department and the deputies declined a request for comment.

The Public Defender’s Office is so concerned about the breach that it obtained a court order Monday from Superior Court Judge Gregg Prickett banning all law enforcement, prosecutors and county officials from listening to or reviewing the recordings.

Prickett also appointed a special master to take charge of the recorded conversations. As part of his order, any digital copies must be deleted or destroyed and hard copies must be turned over to the special master, who will be named later this week.

Prosecutors have identified 10 defendants whose conversations were breached and are in the process of notifying their attorneys, Deputy District Attorney John Maxfield said.

Meanwhile, the Sheriff’s Department provided the public defender with a list of the 1,079 recordings as well as the calls that were accessed 87 times.

So far, the gaffe has affected the attempted murder case against Joshua Waring, the son of former “Real Wives of Orange County” cast member Lauri Peterson. At least two calls between Waring and his then public defender were recorded, said his attorney, Joel Garson.

Waring, accused in a Costa Mesa shooting, said Monday in a telephone interview that he couldn’t prove his innocence with police eavesdropping on his confidential conversations.

“That to me is chilling,” Waring said.

The gaffe also could affect the case of Shazer Fernando Limas, accused of killing his wife and two small children. His conversations were among those accessed by deputies.