A former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy accused in a scheme to plant drugs and make a false arrest must stand trial, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Francisco Enriquez, 37, has pleaded not guilty to one count of perjury in a probable cause declaration and one count of filing a false report in connection with the October 2009 arrests of Tatiana Lopez and Miguel Amarillas, who received a $550,000 settlement from the county in a false-arrest lawsuit.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge M.L. Villar de Longoria said Tuesday that there was sufficient evidence for the criminal case to move forward. Enriquez’s attorney, Vicki Podberesky, declined to comment.

Enriquez and two other deputies in a separate patrol vehicle pulled over Amarillas’ car at a Downey gas station. Enriquez alleged that the couple appeared to be under the influence of drugs, and both were transported to a sheriff’s station.


Enriquez swore under penalty of perjury that he found methamphetamine in his patrol car, apparently left by Lopez, after dropping her off. In a search of the couple’s Downey apartment, Enriquez alleged that he found more meth.

But male deputies are required to make special calls to dispatch when transporting females. Radio transmissions showed another deputy, not Enriquez, took Lopez and her dog to the sheriff’s station.

Sheriff’s officials opened an investigation in early 2010 that resulted in Enriquez’s termination. Prosecutors filed criminal charges against him in July 2012.

Lopez had no criminal record at the time of her arrest. She testified that she never used meth and barely even touched prescription drugs.


Amarillas had twice been incarcerated, the first time for robbery in 2000 and the second for assault in 2007. He was on parole at the time of the arrest.

Prosecutors allege that a confidential informant had tipped off the sheriff’s narcotics bureau about Amarillas being a drug dealer. Amarillas testified that he and the informant used to work together at an oil company and were acquaintances.

When no drugs were discovered at the traffic stop, the deputies conspired to frame Amarillas and Lopez, prosecutors allege.

Lopez testified that while she was in a holding cell she overheard Enriquez telling another deputy that he had “planted” the evidence. Both she and Amarillas also testified that another deputy at the sheriff’s station taunted them with a plastic bag, similar to one that might hold drugs.


The L.A. County district attorney’s office initially declined to file charges against the couple, concluding there was not enough evidence. But prosecutors later charged Lopez with possession for sale of a controlled substance after deputies wrote new reports that provided more details about the night of the arrest. Those reports were written after Lopez and her attorney met with a sheriff’s lieutenant to discuss a false-arrest complaint.

Sheriff’s internal crimes investigator Raymond Moeller said during the preliminary hearing that Enriquez also appears to have forged a sergeant’s signature on a document stating that Lopez refused to provide a urine sample. Lopez testified that deputies never collected her fluids despite her repeated pleas to be drug tested.

If convicted, Enriquez faces up to four years and eight months in prison. Enriquez is due back in court Feb. 4.

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