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Former LA County Sheriff pleads guilty for lying to federal investigators

Xinhua, February 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal charge of lying to investigators during an FBI probe of corruption in the jail system.

Under a plea deal with the U.S. Attorney's Office, Baca could receive up to six months in federal prison, according to local media reports.

Prosecutors said Baca lied to investigators in 2013 when he said he was unaware that the sheriff's deputies were going to the home of an FBI agent in 2011 to threaten her over her involvement in the corruption probe of the department.

But, prosecutors said, Baca was not only aware of the plan, but specifically told the deputies that they "should do everything but put handcuffs on her."

"This case illustrates that leaders who foster and then try to hide a corrupt culture will be held accountable," U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker said.

Baca is the latest -- and highest-ranking -- department official to be enveloped in the corruption scandal stemming from violence in the jail system.

Baca, 73, retired in 2014 at the height of the federal probe. He had been sheriff since December 1998.

Sentencing was set for May 16. Endi