Cnty. of L. A. v. L. A. Cnty. Civil Serv. Comm'n

*475 Based on phone calls legally intercepted by law enforcement during a drug trafficking investigation, investigators came to believe that Carlos Arellano (Arellano), then a detective with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (Sheriff's Department), was associating with known narcotic felons, using his law enforcement status to obtain inside information from the department to provide to individuals involved in illegal narcotic activity, and was himself *476 involved in cultivating marijuana. As the Sheriff's Department expanded its criminal investigation to include Arellano, it sought a court order releasing the wiretap recordings, and transcripts from those recordings, to the Sheriff's Department for use against Arellano. The court's order permitted the district attorney to release the wiretap evidence to the Sheriff's Department and further authorized testimony regarding the evidence pursuant to Penal Code section 629.78. 1

Although the Sheriff's Department closed its criminal investigation without filing charges, the department later sought to discharge Arellano from his position. During the civil service commission hearing that followed, the Sheriff's Department…