Visiting Scotland

Ah the beauty of The Highlands, Scotland. Serenity, my journal, a good book and a cup of hot tea; this makes me happy. Stop overwhelming your mind and soul with chaos. You can find happiness in simplicity.

Information Is Key

As an open-minded academic, through and through, I really like this potent message from the L.A. Public Library.

Jacqueline Sebiane

Every day the Los Angeles Public Library strives to complete its mission serving the community. ⁠The Los Angeles Public Library provides free and easy access to information, ideas, books and technology that enrich, educate and empower every individual in our city's diverse communities.

Gang-Like Secret Society Within The L.A. County Sheriff's Department

For years I have been talking about corruption in law enforcement except within the Los Angeles Police Department. This is a very uncomfortable subject for everyone. As the sister of an LAPD Officer, Frank Jerry Seviane (Serial No. 32809), I was severely harassed, verbally abused and terrorized by my own brother for many years over jealously, greed and revenge. The revenge started when I reported the attacks and his past personal and financial relationship with Federal Prisoner Colin Nathanson. And it escalated to a very dangerous degree in 2018 because the LAPD repeatedly remained complicit and even covered up for him by ignoring evidence, falsifying documentation and manipulating investigation results. When I felt that my safety, security, freedom and very life were in jeopardy, I started openly writing about it in the public domain.

Unfortunately, here is another story of corruption in law enforcement except within the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Jacqueline Sebiane

FBI INVESTIGATING TATTOOED DEPUTY GANGS IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT

By Maya Lau and Joel Rubin, Los Angeles Times

JulY 11, 2019 | 10:00 AM

The FBI is investigating a secret society of tattooed deputies in East Los Angeles as well as similar gang-like groups elsewhere within the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, multiple people familiar with the inquiry said.

The federal probe follows allegations of beatings and harassment by members of the Banditos, a group of deputies assigned to the Sheriff’s Department’s East L.A. station who brand themselves with matching tattoos of a skeleton outfitted with a sombrero, bandolier and pistol. The clique’s members are accused by other deputies of using gang-like tactics to recruit young Latino deputies into their fold and retaliating against those who rebuff them.

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In interviews with several deputies, FBI agents have asked about the inner workings of the Banditos and the group’s hierarchy, according to three people with close knowledge of the matter who spoke to The Times on the condition that their names not be used because the investigation is ongoing.

In particular, the sources said, agents have been trying to determine whether leaders of the Banditos require or encourage aspiring members to commit criminal acts, such as planting evidence or writing false incident reports, to secure membership in the group.

The agents also have inquired about other groups known to exist in the department, which has nearly 10,000 deputies and polices large swaths of the sprawling county. They have asked for information about the tattoos and practices of the Spartans and Regulators in the department’s Century station, and the Reapers, who operate out of a station in South Los Angeles, according to the sources.

Sheriff Alex Villanueva said he could not comment when asked about the FBI probe Wednesday. An FBI spokeswoman also declined to provide any information.

The inquiry marks the return of federal law enforcement authorities tasked with digging around in the Sheriff’s Department, which has been beset by episodes of corruption and mismanagement in the last several years.

In 2011, the FBI secretly opened an investigation into reports of inmate abuse by deputies working in the county jails. The sweeping probe involving an inmate who served as an undercover informant upended the insular department, sending several deputies to prison for beatings and cover-ups. Former Sheriff Lee Baca, his second-in-command and other senior staff were convicted of conspiring to obstruct the FBI.

The current investigation appears to have been spurred by a group of deputies who in March filed a legal claim against the county accusing Sheriff’s Department officials of failing to address a hostile work environment in the East L.A. station. The deputies say Bandito leaders, who are alleged to control key elements of station operations, put others’ lives at risk by not sending backup to help on dangerous calls, enforced illegal arrest quotas and carried out other forms of harassment.

The claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, focuses on what deputies say was an unprovoked attack by members of the Banditos during an off-duty party in the early morning hours of Sept. 28 at Kennedy Hall, an event space near the station.

The altercation started when four Banditos began harassing a rookie, according to the claim. Two other deputies said they intervened; one was struck repeatedly in the face, while the other was punched and kicked multiple times before being choked and losing consciousness, the claim says.

The lawmen accused in the claim — Deputies David Silverio, Gregory Rodriguez and Rafael Munoz, and Sgt. Mike Hernandez — were placed on paid administrative leave after the incident. The Sheriff’s Department presented a criminal case involving the four men to the district attorney’s office on June 19.

Greg Risling, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, said Wednesday that charges have not been filed and that the case remains under review. He declined to comment when asked whether federal officials have asked his office to hold off on the prosecution.

Villanueva has repeatedly downplayed the significance of tattooed deputy groups in his ranks, calling them a “cultural norm” and a source of intergenerational hazing among lawmen. He said there is nothing wrong with the clubs as long as they don’t promote misconduct.

Still, he acknowledged the pervasive influence of the Banditos at the East L.A. station, saying they “ran roughshod” over the previous captain and dictated where deputies would be assigned, enabled by the weak leadership of past administrations.

He said that his first act upon taking office Dec. 3 was to bring in a new captain, Ernie Chavez, to quell the Banditos situation.

“Chavez identified the problem and the problem players, and he’s been doing a commendable job of sifting through them to get the station up and running to serve the community,” Villanueva said.

Last month, Villanueva announced a new policy that specifically bars department members from participating in any groups that promote conduct that violates the rights of other employees or the public. The policy says such groups often organize under a symbol or tattoo and increase the risk of civil liability to the agency.

He said the 1st Amendment prevents him from barring deputies from getting tattooed, but he said having matching ink is a “dumb idea” because of potential lawsuits in “today’s litigious society.” He advises those with the coordinated tattoos to get them removed, if they can.

The sheriff claims he transferred from the station 36 people who were associated with the Banditos or were otherwise identified as problematic. But Chavez, in an interview Wednesday, said that the 36 transfers simply reflect the general group of deputies who left the station since January and that the departures were voluntary, some because of promotions. He said he did not know how many people allegedly tied to the Banditos were transferred.

Villanueva said he thinks there is no longer a hostile work environment at the East L.A. station.

“Now that it’s been broken up and scattered, I’d say yeah, it’s over,” he said.

Vincent Miller, an attorney for the deputies who filed the claim about the Banditos, said any changes at the station have been cosmetic and have failed to abolish the toxic work environment there. He said the department has not held the problematic deputies accountable and that some of his clients have suffered ongoing emotional stress because of the situation, prompting him to file additional grievances in the case.

“The captain and everyone else at East L.A. station knows they haven’t transferred 36 deputies, and the real number is just six,” Miller said. “We specifically filed the supplemental claims very recently because the cop gang problem has not been fixed.”

Though reports about cliques of law enforcement officers occasionally surface across the country, no agency has received more public scrutiny for them than the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The secretive groups have been entrenched in the department for decades. Defenders say the cliques are harmless fraternities, likening them to close-knit groups in the military. But time and again, the deputy clubs have come under fire for promoting aggressive tactics and an us-versus-everyone mentality.

A watchdog panel in 1992 pressed the Sheriff’s Department to address the problem. Two decades later, a blue-ribbon commission sharply criticized the department for turning a blind eye and allowing the groups to use excessive force against people in the county jails and on the streets.

The Times reported last year that a new tattooed club of lawmen surfaced at the Compton station after a deputy there admitted under oath to having ink of a skeleton holding a rifle. The deputy — who was accused of excessive force in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man — said as many as 20 of his colleagues have the same tattoo.

The county recently reached a $7-million settlement in a lawsuit after attorneys for the slain man’s family said the shooting was driven by the hard-charging policing of inked deputies.

In a separate case last year, a Palmdale station deputy admitted in a deposition to having a tattoo of a skull in a cowboy hat that matched the ink of several other lawmen at his station.

More recently, internal documents showed that Deputy Caren Carl Mandoyan — who was fired for domestic violence and dishonesty and later was rehired by Villanueva — acknowledged having a tattoo as a member of the Reapers.

Villanueva said Wednesday he does not believe there are problems with deputy groups at any other stations.

The alleged attack by Banditos on fellow deputies echoed a 2010 incident in which a clique of deputies from a high-security floor in Men’s Central Jail brawled with other deputies at a Christmas party. Sheriff’s Department officials accused the group of using gang-like hand signs and said jailers tried to “earn their ink” by breaking inmates’ bones.

The recent allegations are not the first against the Banditos. In 2014, the county paid a female deputy assigned to the East L.A. station $1.5 million to settle a lawsuit in which she claimed she had been physically and mentally harassed by some of the clique’s 80 members after refusing to go along with their “traditions and initiation rituals.”

At the time, then-interim Sheriff John Scott announced that he would share the results of an investigation into claims of bullying by the Banditos. The probe, however, has remained confidential.

Source: Los Angeles Times.

Violation Of A Physician's Code Of Ethics And Code Of Conduct

What has the world come to when you can't even trust your doctor?  Criminals belong in jail; point blank, period.

UCLA Health has created a website to provide information and resources to patients following the charges against former UCLA employee, Dr. James Heaps.

INFO ON THE INVESTIGATION OF DR. JAMES HEAPS

Health and well-being is our mission, starting with safety. At UCLA Health we are advancing our organization's policies and practices to prevent and take action against sexual misconduct. That starts with maintaining open dialogue with our patients.

SITUATION

Dr. James Heaps was employed at UCLA Health as an obstetrician-gynecologist from February 2014 to June 2018. He completed his internship and residency in that field and a fellowship in gynecologic oncology at the School of Medicine from 1983-1989. From 1990 to January 31, 2014, Dr. Heaps' private practice was independent from UCLA Health, but he had privileges at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, and from 1989 until 2018, he served on the Medical School faculty. During his internship, residency, and fellowship, and extending until June 2010, Dr. Heaps was a consulting physician for UCLA Student Health.

In 2018, UCLA investigated Dr. Heaps for sexual misconduct and improper billing practices. We reported him to the Medical Board of California, and the US Department of Health & Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”), and law enforcement. We also informed Dr. Heaps that his employment was being terminated, after which he announced he was retiring.

INFORMATION RESOURCES

Media statement regarding the charges against Dr. James Heaps

Communication from Chancellor Block and Vice Chancellor Mazziotta 

Communication from Mazziotta, Spisso and Martin

Media Inquiries: UCLA Health Media Relations

(310) 267-7022
UCLAHealthNews@mednet.ucla.edu

QUESTIONS & ANWSERS

What were the misconduct complaints against Heaps?

The complaint that triggered our investigation and ultimately Dr. Heaps' termination was of inappropriate and medically unnecessary touching and communications during a gynecologic procedure. Through the investigation and since then, we also have become aware of similar allegations by three other patients of Dr. Heaps, and we substantiated allegations of billing irregularities and violation of our Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment policy.

For what period of time was Dr. Heaps employed by UCLA?

Dr. Heaps was employed by UCLA as an ob-gyn from 2014 to 2018. Dr. Heaps did his internship and residency in obstetrics and gynecology and a fellowship in gynecologic oncology at UCLA School of Medicine from 1983 to 1989. From 1990 to January 31, 2014, Dr. Heaps' private practice was independent from UCLA Health, but Dr. Heaps had privileges at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, and from 1989 until 2018, Dr. Heaps served on the UCLA Medical School faculty. During his internship, residence, and fellowship, and until June of 2010, Dr. Heaps was a consulting physician for UCLA Student Health.

Were any of Dr. Heaps’ former patients UCLA students?

Yes. Dr. Heaps worked on a part-time basis at the UCLA student health center from approximately 1983 through June of 2010. He may also have seen students by referral at his private practice prior to 2014 and then as a UCLA Health employee from 2014-2018.

What steps is UCLA taking?

Sexual harassment or sexual violence against anyone is unacceptable. We are deeply sorry that a former member of our staff violated our policies and standards, our trust, and the trust of his patients. Because we know we can and must do better, in March 2019, we initiated an independent review of our institution's response to sexual misconduct in clinical settings. The review is examining UCLA’s response to such conduct and whether our policies and procedures to prevent, identify and address sexual misconduct are consistent with best practices and reflect the high standard of patient care we demand of ourselves. Based on the findings of the review, we will identify and implement necessary changes across all of UCLA’s clinical sites. Our process will be guided by the principles of transparency, accountability, fairness and devotion to our patients.

If you are a former patient of Dr. James Heaps and want to report improper behavior, or are in need of support services, please contact the patient assistance hotline at (888) 961-9273.

For information on preventing and responding to sexual misconduct at UCLA Health, please click here.

Source: UCLA Health

Home Sweet Home For U.S. Soccer WNT

🇺🇸 Home Sweet Home 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/AGa79VZaoi

— U.S. Soccer WNT (@USWNT) July 8, 2019

USA vs. Netherlands 2019 - Team USA All The Way

🎶 of the WORLD 🎶

ʞɔɐq to back. pic.twitter.com/3B3YEMWujn

— U.S. Soccer WNT (@USWNT) July 8, 2019

Match: U.S. Women’s National Team vs. Netherlands
Date: July 7, 2019
Competition: 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup; Final
Venue: Stade de Lyon; Lyon, France
Kickoff: 11 a.m. ET (5 p.m. local)

LYON, France (July 7, 2019) – A sellout crowd of 57,900 fans that thundered “USA” chants throughout the game turned up at Stade de Lyon to witness the U.S. Women’s National Team claim its record fourth FIFA Women’s World Cup title with a 2-0 triumph over 2017 UEFA Women’s Euro champions the Netherlands. Megan Rapinoe, who was awarded the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player and the Golden Boot as its top scorer with six goals and three assists in 428 minutes played, opened the scoring for the USA in the second half, and Rose Lavelle, who was awarded the Bronze Ball, scored the USA’s second goal of the Final, as the USWNT authored another entry in the history books as the highest scoring team in Women’s World Cup history with 26 goals scored. The world title makes the USA only the second nation to successfully defend a World Cup crown. 

U.S. head coach Jill Ellis, who is now only four wins short of becoming the winningest coach in USWNT history, made two changes to the USA’s starting XI, returning Rapinoe to the forward line alongside Silver Boot winner Alex Morgan (six goals, three assists in 490 minutes played) and offensive dynamo Tobin Heath after she sat out the England match with a strained hamstring, and drafting Samantha Mewis into midfield alongside defensive stalwart Julie Ertz and the all-around brilliant Lavelle.  

The U.S. was methodical in its approach to the game, attacking the flanks of the Dutch defense early and often in an effort to spread the field and create chances for its plethora of attacking talents. Despite dominating 60 percent of possession in the first half, the U.S. initially had some difficulty with a packed-in Netherlands squad as neither team recorded a shot on goal in the first 20 minutes. However, as the half wore on, the USA found set pieces we’re a profitable avenue for generating shots on goal, ultimately ending the half with four on target that forced Netherlands goalkeeper Sari van Veenendaal to make as many save in the opening 45 as she’d had to make in the entirety of any previous match in the tournament. 

Veenendaal, who was awarded the Golden Glove as the tournament’s best ‘keeper, showed why she had been given that distinction beginning in the 27th minute when she batted away a blistering volley from Ertz. She then parried a point-blank header from Mewis before recovering to claw a Morgan redirection back as it rolled toward the goal line moments later in the 37th minute. Veenendaal brilliantly denied Morgan a second time in the 40th minute when the U.S. forward curled a left-footed drive toward the bottom right corner. 

After being held without a touch in the USA penalty area for nearly the entire opening 45 minutes, the Dutch conjured a late flurry of offense but was unable to truly trouble Alyssa Naeher in the U.S. goal as the USWNT defense cleared away the Netherlands three crosses into the box. 

At halftime, veteran defender Ali Krieger entered the game for right back Kelley O’Hara who was withdrawn after suffering a knock in the final moments of the first half. 

Krieger proved an assured deputy as the U.S. continued its dominance in the second half, finally finding the crucial breakthrough near the hour mark. A long ball over the Netherlands defense for Morgan resulted in Stefanie van der Gragt missing an attempt to clear the ball and instead kicking Morgan with a high boot. French referee Stephanie Frappart consulted a replay after the Video Assistant Referee contacted her and duly awarded the U.S. a penalty kick. 

After Veenendaal made the first move, Rapinoe sent the spot kick into the lower right side of the goal to give the USA the 1-0 lead and become the oldest player (34 years and two days) to score in a World Cup final, breaking Carli Lloyd’s record set in the 2015 edition of the tournament. 

Eight minutes later Lavelle gave the USA much deserved breathing room with a fantastic strike into the lower right corner after carrying the ball from midfield to the edge of the Netherlands penalty area. 

The 2-0 score line in favor of the U.S. forced the Netherlands forward which opened up the game and played into the American’s preferred style of counterattacking as Heath, Morgan and Dunn all drew impressive stops from Veenendaal over the final 20 minutes. 

Naeher and the U.S. defense did their part at the other end, limiting the Netherlands to four second half shots, only one of which was on goal. 

The USA’s historic World Cup title triumph that was celebrated by thousands of fans across France and the United States who attended matches and tuned into games in record numbers throughout the tournament comes 33 years and a continent away from the U.S. Women’s National Team first ever program win, a 2-0 result against Canada in Blaine, Minnesota on July 7, 1986. 

Source: The United States Soccer Federation, Inc.

Born In The USA

Freedom is EVERYTHING. Respect and cherish your freedom. Uplift and uphold each and every past and present member of the United States military who fight and fought for your right to be free. To all Americans, love, protect and take care of our country. Obey the laws and conduct yourself in a respectable manner.

 Jacqueline Sebiane (born in the USA)

Ownership Statement: The written content of The Blog by Jacqueline Sebiane which is deemed and construed to be original is the sole and exclusive property of the author, Jacqueline Sebiane.  All right, title and interest in and to the intellectual property rights of The Blog by Jacqueline Sebiane shall vest solely in the author.  Any unauthorized use or duplication of the written content of The Blog by Jacqueline Sebiane, or any portion thereof, is expressly prohibited.