Inglewood (CA) Police Officer John Baca was arrested on federal narcotics charges.

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Veteran drug task force Inglewood Police Department officer John Abel Baca was arrested on October 21, 2021 and faces charges for intentionally distributing over one kilogram of cocaine. The federal indictment alleges two transactions: first on April 29, 2021 when Baca allegedly delivered cocaine to a witness cooperating with law enforcement. Baca allegedly delivered approximately one kilogram of cocaine to the same witness during another meeting on May 4, 2021 in exchange for $22,000 in cash.

Baca has been employed by the IPD since 2000 as a task force officer on drug investigations. He is also the vice president of the Inglewood Police Association, the union for Inglewood police officers. He was hired as a peace officer despite his violent criminal record – in 1996, he was convicted of assault and battery and sentenced to one year of probation. In 2008, he was one of eight officers involved in the shooting death of 56-year-old Eddie Felix Franco. Officers fired at Franco 47 times, striking a male bystander in the head and leaving a nearby wall riddled with at least 13 bullet holes and blood. Witness Larry Ross told the Los Angeles Times that he did not hear the officers ask Franco to put down his weapon. The incident, along with nine other shooting deaths, was investigated by the OIR Group, a law enforcement review company. But out of the 115 publicly available reports from the OIR, the Inglewood report remains singularly confidential.

Jason Major, a former campaign aide for Inglewood Mayor James Butts, says that federal agents raided the Inglewood Police Department station on October 22, confiscating cell phones and laptops. A cell phone from Mayor Butts was allegedly confiscated. Following the raid, Major says that IPD’s narcotics unit was temporarily disbanded. IPD and Mayor Butts’ office did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

According to the complaint, Gerardo Ekonomo began working as a confidential informant for IPD on August 18, 2016. Records from IPD indicate that Ekonomo did not have a substantial criminal history and never been an informant before. On October 12, 2016, Baca requested Ekonomo as a confidential source. Ekonomo stated in an interview with federal law enforcement following his arrest that he agreed to “work” with Baca because IPD paid more to informants than other police departments. But based on activity logs, during his five years as an informant, Ekonomo never conducted any operations with the IPD.

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This reporter broke the story and the LA Times then published the story without giving her credit. Not posting their article.