Chief Michel Moore allegedly instructed two LAPD Internal Affairs Division investigators to look into Mayor Karen Bass soon after her election; the chief refuted the allegations.
The detectives said in their reports to the Office of the Inspector General that Moore requested that Internal Affairs detectives look into a scholarship that Bass had earned from USC.
Bass’ acceptance of the USC scholarship came under fire during the 2022 mayoral campaign from Rick Caruso, her opponent. Caruso then proposed legislation that would have extended USC’s and private universities’ eligibility for federal financing. Bass refuted any misconduct, and her request to receive the tuition award was approved by the House Committee on Ethics.
Federal prosecutors stated in court documents that Bass’s connections with USC and her scholarship were “critical” to a corruption case involving the university and a prominent Los Angeles County elected official, even though they did not accuse her with any wrongdoing.
In a message to The Times, Moore denied the detectives’ allegations: “The mayor and I have NOT discussed any such investigation by anyone in the department into her USC Master’s Degree in Social Work,” he said. “Additionally, I have no such knowledge of any alleged investigation nor would I initiate any such investigation.”
The detectives said in their accusations that they were so concerned about Moore’s purported request that they finally turned down the job. Why Internal Affairs investigators would have been called in to undertake this kind of investigation is unknown.
According to the investigators’ allegations, it was unclear “how far and to what extent” any further inquiries into Bass were conducted. However, the detectives claimed that the timing of the request—early January, when Moore’s status as the city’s top police officer was uncertain due to the election of a new mayor—made them wonder about the chief’s intentions.
“I believe that using LAPD resources to investigate Karen Bass was improper, unethical and a violation of City ordinances and was done for the personal benefit of Chief Moore to assure his reappointment as Chief of Police,” one of the complaints said.
In their allegations, the detectives make no mention of any supporting documentation for their assertions, and they declined to elaborate on the matter.
When The Times reached out to one of the detectives on Tuesday, Jason Turner, he declined to comment. A copy of the other detective’s complaint was given to the Times by attorney Greg Smith, subject to their request not to be named due to concerns about internal departmental retaliation.