Charles Velasquez v. Ventura County Sheriff's Department, et al.
Published: Jan. 21, 2012 | Result Date: Sep. 30, 2011 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: 2:2010-cv-10080 Settlement – Equitable Settlement
Facts
The Ventura County Sheriff's Department was sued alleging federal civil rights violating for allegedly jailing innocent people due to a flawed booking process. In a case of mistaken identity, Charles Velasquez was arrested and placed in the county jail for nine days. Velasquez was arrested on two warrants issued by Los Angeles and Santa Barbara for Arturo Gonzalez, the man who had been impersonating him. Gonzalez was Velasquez's former wife's boyfriend. Despite different physical characteristics, such as missing teeth and tattoos, and Velasquez's protests, the authorities failed to double-check his identity. It was not until Velasquez was picked up, nine days later, by detectives from Los Angeles County that the mistaken identity was realized. He lost his job as a result thereof. More than ten putative class members were identified during discovery.
Result
Defendants agreed to pay Charles Velasquez a total of $55,000 for his role as plaintiff representative, for emotional distress, as reimbursement for attorney fees and costs incurred in litigating Penal Code section 851.9 petitions for factual findings of innocence and judicial clearance orders in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara Counties, and for his past and future medical and psychiatric treatment. The department agreed to pay $3,000 for each incident of mistaken arrest up to a total of $120,000 as part of the settlement. It also agreed to implement a new system to ensure that mistakes like these do not happen again.
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