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LA Sheriff's Department reaches $1M settlement with sergeant
The Sheriff's Department will pay nearly $1 million to a sergeant who ran for sheriff in 2002 and claimed he faced retaliation for criticizing Lee Baca, it was reported today.
The settlement for Sgt. Patrick Gomez was reached Friday after a federal jury found the Sheriff's Department liable, the Los Angeles TimesM reported.
Gomez, 51, claimed the retaliation was in response to his criticism of how the county jail system was being run.
In a three-day trial, Gomez, a 28-year sheriff's employee, said he was passed over for promotion and targeted by an internal inquiry because he was critical of Baca and inmate health care.
The county of Board of Supervisors will need to sign off on the roughly $950,000 settlement before it is finalized.
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