LA sheriff shipped bulletproof vests to Cambodia

By The Associated Press  

Feb. 13, 2013

LOS ANGELES — Officials want investigations into the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department's shipment of bulletproof vests to Cambodia via the suburban city of Gardena.

Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas is asking for an audit to determine if laws were violated when the vests were shipped a decade ago.

Gardena Mayor Pro Tem Rachel Johnson wants an investigation into why her city was used as an intermediary in the transaction.

She says she's troubled by the alleged role then-Mayor Paul Tanaka played in the sales. Tanaka is now second-in-command at the Sheriff's Department.

A Los Angeles Times ( http://lat.ms/VTBDzV ) investigation says the ballistic vests were not declared to customs officials as required. Instead, they were stuffed inside one of a number of patrol cars the Sheriff's Department shipped directly to Cambodia.

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Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com

The Associated Press