LAPD Scandal: Man's Drug Sentence Cut

Judge Knocks 3 Years Off Carlos Romero's Sentence

LOS ANGELES, 10:20 p.m. PST January 6, 2000 -- There is more fallout from the Los Angeles Police Department scandal.

A judge today knocked three years off the sentence of a man who was convicted through testimony from ex-LAPD Officer Rafael Perez.

Perez has admitted he lied during Carlos Romero's 1997 drug trial as well as many other cases, which has since touched off the Rampart police scandal.

Romero's sentence for a 1998 drug conviction was reduced from nine years to six because the 1997 charge -- which was used to add three years to the final sentence --- was found to be false, CBS 2 News reported.

"Well, he was happy in the sense that he is going to be doing three years less than he was originally sentenced to," Romero's attorney, Vincent Oliver, told reporters outside court. "But he still contends that there were problems with his first case and that he was in fact innocent on that case, which is something that is currently under investigation by our office."

Perez pleaded guilty last September to stealing about eight pounds of cocaine from an evidence locker at the LAPD's Parker Center headquarters, and agreed to help in a corruption probe involving fellow Rampart station officers in exchange for a lighter sentence.

Since then, he told investigators that he and his former partner, Officer Nino Durden, seized drugs at Romero's home when he was not there and that they did not have a search warrant.

According to court documents, Perez had a sexual relationship with Romero's sister, Veronica Quesada.

"(Romero) was unaware of the relationship between Officer Perez and his sister," Romero's lawyer said.

"He answered all of the questions they had about Officer Perez," Oliver said. "But he didn't really have any information ... They suspected him of having been an accomplice of Officer Perez in distributing the drugs that Perez had pilfered from the narcotics lab of the police department. He wasn't involved in that."

And in another case tainted by Perez, the Los Angeles district attorneys intend to ask a federal judge to throw out a drug conviction of a man who spent five years in prison.