Judge tosses police union lawsuit against LAPD commander accused of computer fraud
In a ruling Monday, L.A. County Superior Court Judge Bruce Iwasaki sided with Cmdr. Lillian Carranza and her co-defendant, Deputy Chief Marc Reina, who argued that the Los Angeles Police Protective League failed to prove the allegations of unlawful computer data access and fraud.
Read more: Lawsuit claims LAPD commander tried to 'discredit' police union. Is it part of a broader rift?
Iwasaki wrote that the league failed to make a clear allegation of the 'damage or loss' it incurred as a result of Carranza's actions, which centered on her accessing a union survey of its members, who are all below the rank of captain. Carranza and other command officers have their own separate union.
Among other legal technicalities, Iwasaki wrote that the company Survey Monkey owned the survey in question — not the league.
The suit was dismissed 'with prejudice,' which means it cannot be refiled.
Carranza declined to discuss the ruling when reached this week, saying she wanted to explore her legal options first.
Reina, who runs the department bureau that oversees training and recruitment, did not respond to a request for comment. Until recently, he also served as president of the Los Angeles Police Command Officers Assn., the union for department leadership.
The league's suit, filed last year, accused Carranza of accessed the union's website by passing herself off as a lower-ranking officer and filled out a survey meant to grade supervisors. Carranza argued in court filings that she used her name when logging in, and pointed out that she and other command staff routinely used the league's system to access their agency benefits.
In a letter to the command officers union last December, league President Craig Lally said command officers' access to the "benefits portal" would be cut off by the end of the year.
A voicemail left for Lally went unreturned on Thursday.
League officials have said a digital forensics firm hired to investigate the matter found that Carranza had opened approximately 49 'confidential emails' the union had sent to its members from 2016 to 2024, allegedly to undermine the union's credibility.
The suit came amid an intensifying dispute between the league and Carranza, an outspoken commander from LAPD's Central Bureau, who in the past has repeatedly sued the department over its treatment of female officers and alleged underreporting of crime statistics.
The league made a show of going after Carranza, calling a news conference, releasing YouTube videos and taking subtle shots at her in the pages of its monthly magazine, Thin Blue Line. Carranza further drew the league's ire when she came to the defense of a female captain who insisted on conducting a use-of-force investigation into an incident involving two of her officers.
The union — whose members include most LAPD officers, detectives, sergeants and lieutenants — has argued that department morale is low because Carranza and other commanders lack accountability.
Read more: LAPD cops shot 21 bystanders in 10 years. How does it keep happening?
In addition to publicly criticizing Carranza, the union has also singled out other high-ranking officials — namely, Reina and Michael Rimkunas, another deputy chief who oversees internal investigations.
Carranza, who was promoted to captain in 2012 and made commander in 2023, applied for the LAPD chief's job, which was vacated when Michel Moore retired in February 2024. Sources previously told The Times that Carranza was among a number of candidates who were invited for a second round of interviews.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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