The Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy whose reinstatement triggered a battle between the sheriff and the board of supervisors has filed a lawsuit against law enforcement officials and county leaders alleging they withheld his pay and are unfairly trying to push him out of the department.
Caren Carl Mandoyan alleges in the civil lawsuit filed in federal court on Wednesday that his support for newly elected Sheriff Alex Villanueva and former sheriff candidate Jim Helmold in the 2013 election has made him a target of retaliation.
The lawsuit names Assistant Sheriff Bobby Denham and County Supervisors Sheila Kuehl, Hilda Solis, Janice Hahn and Kathryn Barger, who endorsed McDonnell during the campaign.
Mandoyan was fired in 2016 by McDonnell after a fellow deputy alleged Mandoyan grabbed her by the neck, tried to break into her home and sent her harassing text messages. Prosecutors investigated the woman’s claims and looked at video evidence in the case but declined to charge Mandoyan with intimate partner violence.
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