Hernandez File Paints a Disturbing Portrait

On eight occasions over a 14-day period, police officers tailed City Councilman Mike Hernandez and watched, at least once with a video camera rolling, as he allegedly bought cocaine, then traveled either to City Hall or to the Arcadia apartment of a member of his staff, where he was suspected of consuming the drug, according to police property reports and a search warrant affidavit filed Wednesday.

Those documents paint a disturbing portrait of the councilman, who was arrested last week on suspicion of cocaine possession and has since been in a local drug rehabilitation clinic, seeking treatment for what his staff refers to as his “illness.”

At the time of his arrest, Hernandez was carrying cocaine, marijuana, marijuana cigarettes, a metal pipe and “plastic tubes used to ingest cocaine,” the property report accompanying the search warrant states. The documents filed Wednesday include the unsealed portion of the request for search warrants. More documents were filed under seal, but authorities would not discuss them.

According to the affidavit filed in connection with the case, Hernandez was watched by officers eight times between July 24 and Aug. 6. Their surveillance began after the Los Angeles Police Department had turned the case over to L.A. IMPACT, a little-known task force of local law enforcement agencies that specializes in narcotics enforcement.

The affidavit states that, as officers watched, Hernandez often filled up his car at the LAPD’s central gas station and then headed out to attend community meetings and other functions. According to the affidavit, on “each and every” one of the eight occasions, Hernandez purchased cocaine. On one occasion he was videotaped appearing to consume cocaine in his car, the affidavit states. In each instance, it added, Hernandez was believed to have taken the cocaine either to his City Hall office or to his aide’s apartment.

“Michael Hernandez is presently engaged in the ongoing purchase and consumption of cocaine,” the affidavit states, adding that he was believed to be buying it at one of two locations, then taking it back to his private office or the apartment of a staff member, identified as Pauline Mendoza, in order to consume it. The affidavit does not make clear whether Mendoza was home on the occasions that Hernandez allegedly went to her apartment. Mendoza, a case worker who handles constituent issues in the councilman’s Lincoln Heights field office, has not been arrested, and authorities said she is not a target of the investigation.

On one occasion, officers followed Hernandez as he drove to a Pacoima apartment complex, arriving just after 9 p.m. on Aug. 4. According to the affidavit, Hernandez left after about 25 minutes and drove to a 7-Eleven, followed by a detective.

“While inside the 7-Eleven market, [the detective] observed Michael Hernandez to appear very nervous and agitated while speaking to the cashier,” the affidavit states. “He observed Michael Hernandez speaking to the cashier in such a rapid manner that it caused the cashier to ask Michael Hernandez several times to repeat what he wanted.” The detective “also noticed that Michael Hernandez was profusely sweating, especially around the back of his neck where his hair appeared to be very wet.”

From there, officers tailed Hernandez to Mendoza’s apartment, where according to the affidavit, the councilman remained when the surveillance was broken off at 11 p.m.

Two days later, officers again watched as Hernandez visited the same Pacoima apartment and emerged with a bindle “very consistent with the appearance and method used to package cocaine for street sales and personal use.” According to the affidavit, Hernandez then sat in his car for several minutes and appeared to snort the cocaine as a police video camera recorded the scene.

Immediately after allegedly consuming the cocaine in his car, Hernandez drove away, spoke at a community function, and filled up his car at the LAPD’s central gas station, located on 6th Street downtown, where many city officials get gas for free. Hernandez then returned to City Hall, where he remained at 10 p.m., when the surveillance ended for the night, the affidavit said.

Based on those and other observations, authorities were given permission to search Hernandez’s office, Mendoza’s apartment, the residences of two men accused of selling the councilman cocaine and a fifth location alleged to be the place where one of those suspected drug dealers got his supply of cocaine.

When they searched Hernandez’s office, officers found not only cocaine residue on his desk, but also marijuana, drug paraphernalia and a Rolodex card with the name of one of the men accused of selling him cocaine, the property report said. In addition, the report indicates that officers found a pocketknife and one of Hernandez’s business cards, both dusted with cocaine residue.

Asked to comment on the information contained in the material filed Wednesday, Jim Christian, senior agent in charge of L.A. IMPACT, responded: “I think it speaks for itself. I would think it’s disappointing.”

That evidence forms the basis of the case against Hernandez, a councilman with a once-promising political career now deeply in peril. Hernandez has retained criminal lawyer Charles English to represent him. English was at court Wednesday and unavailable for comment.

Until last week, Hernandez was considered a promising, if sometimes erratic, member of the Los Angeles City Council. He represents the city’s mainly Latino neighborhoods just west of the Harbor Freeway, and has been one of the council’s most outspoken liberal voices.

Now suddenly, for Hernandez, every aspect of the future is uncertain: His health is in the hands of a rehabilitation center, his family is being tested by financial and other strains, his freedom probably will be decided by a judge and his job turns on a close reading of the city’s clunky, antiquated charter.

First up is the question of whether the councilman can cling to the office he first won in 1991.

In that quest, he is faced with an intricate piece of legal work: If Hernandez elects not to fight the charges against him and instead requests treatment or “diversion,” the statute that allows him to avoid the possibility of jail also requires him to plead guilty to a felony.

The City Charter calls for a council member to be removed from office upon “conviction” of a felony.

It is possible, legal experts said, that the charter provision may not apply to Hernandez’s case because of a subtlety in the state’s recently passed diversion statute, which allows the judge to accept Hernandez’s plea but not impose judgment until treatment is complete. That would mean Hernandez had admitted guilt to a felony but not been convicted of one.

That might allow him to hold on to his council seat, though by a bare thread and one that might elicit little sympathy from residents of his district, who have long battled against the proliferation of drugs in their area.

In fact, Hernandez’s role in that fight has raised other concerns about his suitability to hold office. As a councilman, Hernandez has been privy to information about gang and drug activity, including the city’s efforts to crack down on the 18th Street gang, many of whose members are active in the local drug trade.

“That’s something that [police] expressed concern about,” one city official said. “It’s always in the back of the mind.”

Officials stressed that no evidence has surfaced that Hernandez passed any kind of information to drug suppliers, but the potential for misuse of office nevertheless has complicated his position.

Meanwhile, the fact that police amassed enough evidence to secure a warrant for the apartment of his aide, Mendoza, has created an awkward tension within Hernandez’s staff.

“I don’t really know how to comment on it,” said Tony Perez, the councilman’s press secretary.

According to the property report detailing the search of Mendoza’s apartment, officers found “plant material” resembling marijuana and rolling papers there. She was not arrested, and Perez said Wednesday that Mendoza is on vacation--a trip she planned before the recent disclosures regarding the councilman.

So far, no outside agency has initiated an audit of Hernandez’s staff accounts, though Deputy Auditor-Controller Tim Lynch said a cursory review of his contingency fund did not reveal anything out of the ordinary.

Perez, in fact, said Hernandez’s staff would welcome a full review of the accounts, which some officials have raised questions about, given Hernandez’s alleged $150-a-day cocaine habit.

All expenditures from the office accounts were approved by both the councilman and his chief of staff, Morrie Goldman, Perez said, and officials are confident that no money is missing.

Meanwhile, public opinion on the councilman’s fate appears sharply divided. In the immediate aftermath of his arrest, Mayor Richard Riordan and a number of council members expressed sympathy for his plight, only to face criticism that they were coddling a colleague whose actions warranted condemnation.

Since his arrest, some of the public’s reaction--at least as measured by calls to council offices and informal contacts with the council members and their staffs--seems to have hardened against Hernandez.

“Over the last couple of days, we’ve been getting more and more calls . . . and the tone has turned nastier and nastier,” said one San Fernando Valley council member. “I would definitely say the reaction has turned against him.”

One council aide agreed, noting a palpable shift in reaction since the early expressions of sympathy.

“The sentiment over here is shifting,” said one council aide. “It’s hard to predict where things will end up.”

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The Legal Trail

Here are excerpts from documents filed in connection with the investigation into cocaine use by City Councilman Mike Hernandez.

1) The search warrant: Executed at 6:15 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 15

2) The affidavit: Hernandez bought cocaine while under surveillance from July 24 to Aug. 6

3) Affidavit summary: He bought and used the cocaine in his car, at City Hall or at a private residence during that time.

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Found at City Hall

* Cocaine residue on his desk

* Marijuana and drug-related paraphanelia

* Rolodex card with the name and number of one of the men accused of selling him cocaine

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What Hernandez Faces

* Overcoming his problem at a rehabilitation center

* Financial and other strains on his family

* A decision whether to enter a guilty plea to a felony in order to avoid jail time.