{"id":7331,"date":"2026-08-20T20:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T20:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7331"},"modified":"2026-08-20T20:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T20:39:11","slug":"charges-against-lapd-officer-who-recorded-colleagues-derogatory-remarks-are-reduced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7331","title":{"rendered":"Charges against LAPD officer who recorded colleagues\u2019 derogatory remarks are reduced"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Following criticism for filing felony charges against a Los Angeles police officer accused of illegally recording colleagues\u2019 racist, sexist and homophobic workplace comments, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman on Wednesday, Aug. 19, announced he was lowering the charges to misdemeanors.<\/p>\n

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Hochman said in a press conference the felony charges were filed in the interest of \u201cdeterring criminal conduct while incentivizing legitimate whistleblowers.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, he added, \u201cThe way we charged the case was not making the message clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the filing of 16 felony eavesdropping charges against Daniel Flores, who has pleaded not guilty, Hochman faced criticism, including from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, that the charges sent the wrong message and would deter future whistleblowers from coming forward with evidence out of fear they could face time behind bars.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur office works every single day with individuals who are whistleblowers who have brought wrongdoing forward through legitimate means,\u201d the district attorney said. \u201cWe count on witnesses coming forward, showing the bravery to actually expose the criminal conduct, sometimes at a sacrifice to their own potential safety, and we make sure that safety is respected and protected at each point in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flores, 43, secretly recorded 16 colleagues working in the LAPD\u2019s Training Division in 2024. In January 2025, he turned over 122 recordings to the LAPD\u2019s Internal Affairs Unit and the Office of the Inspector General.<\/p>\n

Those recordings included fellow officers using slurs and making derogatory remarks about Mexican, Asian and Black people as well as women.<\/p>\n

Hochman could have filed 122 charges, one for each recording, he said, but decided to file a charge for each victim instead.<\/p>\n

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Hochman reiterated that the taped comments were unacceptable and that the officers were subject to internal LAPD disciplinary proceedings.<\/p>\n

If convicted of the felony charges, Flores could have faced up to 13 years in state prison. Once the charges are reduced, Hochman said he believes Flores\u2019 attorney will ask a judge for a one-year diversion program and, should Flores complete it without issue, the case would be dismissed.<\/p>\n

Flores would simply need to obey all laws for one year, Hochman said.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors alleged Flores made the recordings of his colleagues without their permission. In California, state law requires all participants consent to being recorded in private conversations.<\/p>\n

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In a brief filed before Flores\u2019 initial arraignment, Hochman said Flores had ulterior motives in submitting the recordings, with some of his colleagues telling investigators that Flores talked about suing the department and \u201cwinning the LAPD lottery,\u201d while others accused Flores of initiating some of the conversations and then starting the recordings after he had made his comments.<\/p>\n

Flores filed a hostile-workplace lawsuit against the city in June and said that he believed he made the recordings as part of a lawful investigation as a police officer.<\/p>\n

Flores said he was subjected to a hostile workplace environment starting in 2021 after a new supervisor took over the LAPD\u2019s recruitment division and allegedly made derogatory statements while encouraging others to do the same. The comments apparently were not directed at Flores.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit says co-workers made comments such as \u201cenjoy watermelon between basketball,\u201d and called women a derogatory word and said they \u201ccannot be trusted.\u201d A supervisor, the suit says, said Dodger pitcher Fernando Valenzuela died because \u201che ate too many tacos.\u201d He died of septic shock.<\/p>\n

Flores\u2019 attorney, Alan Jackson, told reporters following Flores\u2019 felony arraignment that the case \u201csends a really, really scary message. And that message is if you expose racism and sexism and bigotry and misogyny and bias within the walls of the LAPD, then you\u2019re going to be \u2026 the one exposed to potential state prison because of a prosecution like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hochman said his office doesn\u2019t \u201cjust go ahead and charge a case and stop and just assume that it is set in stone and we will not change our minds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe listen to the reaction that a case gets,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the live and learn,\u201d Hochman continued. \u201cWe thought we had made it crystal clear on what we were trying to deter, which was illegal conduct, and what we were incentivizing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat line got blurred, so now we have to go back and make it absolutely crystal clear what is happening in this case,\u201d the district attorney said.<\/p>\n

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DA says he wanted to be crystal clear that the charges are meant to deter criminal conduct while incentivizing whistleblowers who use legal means to gather information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nCharges against LAPD officer who recorded colleagues\u2019 derogatory remarks are reduced - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7331\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Charges against LAPD officer who recorded colleagues\u2019 derogatory remarks are reduced - 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