Bomb Squad Officer Faces Gun Charge

A veteran detective assigned to the Los Angeles Police Department’s bomb squad was relieved of duty Friday pending an internal disciplinary hearing on charges that he illegally possessed a machine gun and a stolen television set.

Information that implicated Detective Jimmy L. Trahin of the LAPD firearms and explosives unit was developed during an investigation of another Los Angeles policeman, William E. Leasure, who last week was charged with helping to arrange and carry out two contract killings, a police spokesman said.

The extent of ties between Leasure and Trahin, both 40, could not be determined Friday. However, a source close to the Leasure case said Trahin was suspected of having provided, indirectly or otherwise, firearms and police identification to a self-professed trigger man allegedly hired by Leasure to carry out the two slayings.

4 Misconduct Charges

“Information developed during the Leasure investigation constituted probable cause to obtain a search warrant for Trahin’s residence, which produced evidence which resulted in (four) counts of misconduct,” said Cmdr. William Booth, a Police Department spokesman.

Those counts include allegations that during the last 12 months, Trahin possessed at his home in Whittier a television set “which (he) knew or should have reasonably known was fraudulently obtained” and that he “off-duty, improperly possessed a machine gun,” Booth said. Trahin also was charged with falsely reporting to department authorities that he had lost his badge and LAPD identification card.

Booth said results of the Police Department’s internal investigation of Trahin had been turned over to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office for possible criminal action, but that the district attorney had declined to prosecute.

The allegation involving the machine gun, meanwhile, a potential violation of federal laws, was submitted to the U.S. attorney’s office for review, Booth said. That agency has yet to decide whether it will enter the case.

Booth declined to elaborate on any of the charges facing Trahin.

Trahin, regarded within the department as a first-rate bomb expert, could not be reached for comment. His suspension, ordered by Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, is indefinite and without pay, Booth said.

Under standard LAPD procedures, Trahin is expected next week to select three ranking officers--captains or above--who will preside over the Board of Rights hearing that could ultimately lead to his exoneration, temporary suspension or termination.

It is not the first disciplinary board that Trahin has faced in his 17 years on the force.

In 1980, he was acquitted of charges that he fired a pellet pistol and BB rifle at passers-by from his fourth-floor office window at police headquarters. He was also accused and acquitted of drinking on duty.