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Ex-lover of jailed LAPD officer makes plea bargain

Flores has agreed to cooperate with authorities, avoiding further prosecution, in exchange for pleading guilty to making false accusations

Woman says she lied about murder allegations

In this story: Perez serving sentence Flores fails polygraph RELATED STORIES, SITES

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- The former lover of the key figure in the Los Angeles Police Department corruption case has entered into a plea bargain with authorities after saying she made up a story of murders allegedly committed by LAPD officers, sources tell CNN.

According to the law enforcement sources, Sonya Flores, 23, said she lied when she said that former LAPD officers Rafael Perez and David Mack took part in three homicides and buried the bodies in Tijuana, Mexico.

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Flores agreed to plead guilty to giving false statements to investigators and to cooperate with them to avoid further prosecution, the sources said.

Flores publicly recanted, saying she was bent on revenge against Perez, her former lover. Sources tell CNN that Flores agreed to cooperate with the federal investigation looking into whether somebody put her up to the story to sabotage the first of the criminal trials stemming from the LAPD Rampart department corruption probe.

Flores' attorney, Marshall Bitkower, was contacted by CNN but declined to discuss the case.

Perez serving sentence

Perez is serving a reduced jail sentence -- for stealing $1 million worth of cocaine from a police evidence locker -- after agreeing to cooperate with authorities. He has implicated fellow officers in dozens of crimes ranging from planting evidence to shooting innocent civilians during gang raids.

Flores said she helped Perez and Mack deal cocaine at nightclubs and was with them one night when they killed two people in a botched drug deal. She also claimed a woman, who was Mack's girlfriend, was killed by Mack during a trip with Perez and was also buried in Tijuana.

U.S. and Mexican authorities searched for the alleged missing victims in early October, but came up empty-handed.

Flores fails polygraph

After telling investigators her story, Flores went public, giving interviews with CNN and the Los Angeles Times. Through their lawyers, both Perez and Mack -- a convicted bank robber -- have repeatedly denied Flores' allegations. After failing a polygraph examination, Flores told federal authorities that she made up the accusations.

Law enforcement officials are suspicious because Flores' allegations occurred during the start of the first trial stemming from the police corruption scandal. Prosecutors decided against calling Perez, their key witness, because of his decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination if questioned about the allegations of killings, according to his attorney Winston Kevin McKesson.

Sgts. Brian Liddy, 39, and Edward Ortiz, 44, and Officer Michael Buchanan, 30, were found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct justice and filing false police reports in the first trial on November 15, resulting from the Rampart scandal. They were convicted of falsely accusing two reputed gang members of trying to run over them with their pickup truck.

Officer Paul Harper, 33, was acquitted of all charges.

Prosecutors will recommend a 10-month prison sentence for Flores if she agrees to cooperate with their investigation, sources said.

Since the corruption scandal emerged in September 1999, more than 100 criminal convictions have been overturned while at least 70 officers have been investigated. Dozens of officers have quit or been fired or suspended because of the scandal.

Three LAPD officers convicted in corruption scandal
November 15, 2000
Prosecutor says cops lost 'moral compass' as closing arguments begin in LAPD trial
November 7, 2000
LAPD sergeant denies wrongdoing in corruption case
November 4, 2000
Defense in Los Angeles police corruption trial to finish Friday
November 3, 2000
Prosecution rests in LAPD corruption trial
October 30, 2000
LAPD officers testify they didn't see gang member with gun
October 26, 2000
Testimony in LAPD corruption trial centers on alleged gun planting
October 25, 2000
Indictments issued for two former LAPD officers
October 23, 2000
Witness testifies truck never hit LAPD officers
October 23, 2000
Judge rules testimony concerning alleged Perez murders is irrelevant
October 20, 2000

Department of Justice proposed consent decree
City of Los Angeles notes on proposed plan
Independent Analysis of the Los Angeles Police Department's Board of Inquiry Report on the Rampart Scandal

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