One Officer Was Derailed
Some months ago, the newspaper learned, a Culver City Police Dept. officer, working on the Vera files, banged into an unpleasant wall.
When the officer attempted to pursue and press a case against Mr. Vera, sources said, he was shut down.
He wanted to arrest Junior. He also wanted to search Juniors home after securing a search warrant from a judge.
The newspaper learned that a verbal fight ensued with the command staff over the case of Mr. Vera Jr.
Time to Go
Shortly, sources said, the official was placed on a paid leave of absence. Not long after that, he left the department for new employment.
Junior is a hot political potato for everyone, an insider told thefrontpageonline.com. Right or wrong, it is a reality.
Apparently, he never strays far from the radar of law enforcement agencies.
Getting to Know Him
Police are so well aware of his movements they may even know how much toothpaste Mr. Vera applies to his toothbrush, how many strokes he uses on weekdays and how many on weekends.
There is growing evidence this former reserve officer who wanted nothing more in life than to be a policeman is under regular surveillance.
Members of the Culver City Police Dept. and the County Sheriffs Dept. may not know Mr. Vera as well as their spouses. But he is far from a stranger to them.
He is the namesake son of arguably Culver Citys most influential politician and one of its shrewdest business/property owners. Separately, and much more quietly, his father is an enormously successful rancher in the Central Valley.
The Former Way
The younger Mr. Vera routinely was bailed out of trouble in the past. This time, though, he remains locked up, according to the Sheriffs Dept. website, on a series of felony charges almost a week after his late-night arrest in El Segundo.
At his preliminary hearing later this week, he is due to face 3 felony charges, covering a stolen vending machine coin dispenser, possession of an unregistered firearm and possession of burglary tools.
What They Found
Law enforcement officials reportedly found drugs, a sawed-off shotgun and evidence of participation in a burglary ring when searching Mr. Veras home.
Police sources say that the younger Mr. Vera has been parked for several years at the intersection of politics and suspected lawbreaking.
Sorting out where the politics starts or ends and where alleged illicit activities begin is nearly impossible, sources admit.
The Pacesetter
What is clear is that Mr. Veras father, Albert Sr., is both liked and feared, according to friends and neighbors. An aggressive lightning rod for publicity in Culver City for many years, the elder Mr. Vera has been strongly protective of his son when trouble with the law beckoned.
The precise sphere of the elder Mr. Veras influence never has been clear.
Whether it extends beyond the borders of Culver City is debated a year after term limits forced the senior Mr. Vera out of City Hall.
3 Contacts, All Different
But this much is known:
Three separate inquiries of the El Segundo Police Dept. about the current case yielded 3 different results last week.
Responding to the first inquiry, by telephone, an El Segundo officer said it is the departments policy not to release any information about an arrest.
The second inquiry, in person, brought a search of recent records. This was followed by a declaration that no such case existed.
Third Experience Different
The third inquiry, also in person, scarcely required a question. After a brief consultation, a desk officer said a public report would be issued within moments.
The abbreviated report said Mr. Vera was arrested at an address that did not seem to exist, and it provided no information on the victim party. It offered no hint of how the crime was committed nor of how or why the police found Mr. Vera, whether he was a suspect all along or otherwise.
Why So Complicated
For those new to the ongoing Vera saga, all of this may seem disproportionate, an inexplicably elaborate explanation for a low-flying crime.
But this is what happens when politics and police work are interlaced, said a veteran officer.
