Welcome to L.A. TACO’s weekly Investigations Newsletter. I’m Lexis-Olivier Ray, the Head of Investigations for L.A. TACO. This is what we're looking into this week.
One early-November morning in 2023, former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Francisco Sosa was working patrol when he noticed a woman’s car broken down in the middle of the roadway. Sosa pulled up behind the woman and activated his rear lights while the woman was changing her tire.
The two briefly engaged in a "flirtatious" conversation during which Sosa “complimented her appearance and asked if she was married,” according to a report from the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) reviewed by L.A. TACO. At some point in that first interaction, Sosa showed the woman a photograph “of his exposed penis.”
That same month, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) learned of the incident through a complaint filed with the department and “immediately initiated an internal investigation,” a spokesperson for the department tells L.A. TACO in a statement. At the time, Sosa was assigned to the department's Pico Rivera station.
“The employee was relieved of duty pending the outcome of a criminal investigation,” another department spokesperson tells L.A. TACO. “Upon conclusion of the criminal investigation, the department conducted an internal administrative investigation.”
Sosa continued to be relieved of duty while the “administrative investigation” played out, according to the spokesperson. In early December of last year, Sosa “resigned,” a spokesperson for POST confirms with L.A. TACO.