A Santa Ana police detective had a sexual relationship with the fiancee of a gang member he was investigating in an attempted murder, and then lied to cover it up, prosecutors concluded, according to documents reviewed by The Orange County Register.

As a result, the defendant in the attempted murder case was given a plea bargain, escaping a possible life sentence.

Letters from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office were distributed to defense attorneys disclosing the allegations of misconduct against the detective.

And the detective, identified as Mitchell Graves, has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation, a Police Department spokesman said.

Deputy District Attorney Mark Geller said his office settled the case before trial for a 19-year prison sentence “because of evidentiary issues.” He declined to elaborate.

Defense attorney Roger Sheaks said Friday that prosecutors offered defendant Michael Anthony Granados the plea deal in July only after they concluded in a letter that they could not use the detective as a witness because of his misconduct.

Granados, 25, of Santa Ana faced life in prison after he was charged with multiple felonies involving a May 18, 2008, drive-by shooting in which a rival gang member was shot and wounded while talking on a cellphone in front of his house.

But instead of a life sentence, Granados was allowed to plead guilty July 16 to attempted murder with a gang penalty enhancement and a second felony count of street gang participation. His sentencing to the agreed-upon 19 years is scheduled for Aug. 24 before Superior Court Judge Craig Robison.

Sheaks said that both he and defense attorney Glenn Osajima, Granados’ first attorney, reported to Orange County prosecutors that the lead detective on the case – Graves – was having an affair with Granados’ girlfriend while Granados was in custody and while the investigation was ongoing.

LETTER OF MISCONDUCT



In a signed affidavit in support of a motion to continue the trial, Sheaks wrote that he had received a “Brady letter” about Graves’ misconduct from the District Attorney’s Office that stated they had investigated the claims of an inappropriate sexual relationship and found them to be true.

Maria Granados Perez, Michael Granados’ mother, said her son’s girlfriend eventually admitted to her that she had an affair with Graves, and that she reported it to her son’s attorneys.

Michael Granados had plans to marry his longtime girlfriend, the mother of his child, before his arrest in the gang shooting case in May 2008, according to a court document. The two are now no longer a couple, said Granados-Perez, who is helping raise the granddaughter her son had with his girlfriend.

Sheaks’ affidavit, which is in Granados’ criminal file, states that the District Attorney’s Office concluded that Graves had “engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship” with the woman that continued while he investigated the case.

Graves then “engaged in, and continues to engage in dishonest cover up of the affair,” Sheaks wrote in his affidavit, by first lying to the prosecutor handling the case, and later to senior deputy district attorneys.

Orange County district attorney’s investigators started looking into Graves’ conduct after Osajima and Sheaks reported Granados-Perez’s concerns, according to court documents. Graves was the lead detective in the May 18, 2008, shooting of John Schwary, and he signed an affidavit in support of a search warrant, giving him access to Granados’ apartment and his mother’s apartment.

Witnesses told the district attorney’s investigators that Graves saw a photograph of Granados’ girlfriend while he was serving one of the search warrants and felt that she was attractive, according to investigative reports reviewed by the Register.

Later, according to investigative reports, Graves released Granados’ car to the girlfriend, who was not the registered owner, and waived the towing fee, apparently in violation of Police Department policy.

The detective later repeatedly called or texted Granados’ girlfriend, including during a time when she lived with Granados’ mother, and asked her out to dinner, where he would discuss the case, according to the investigative reports.

The young woman told investigators that Graves’ advances eventually led to sex in the back of his personal car and in a motel room in Corona, according to the reports.

DENIES CHARGES



The reports also show that Graves continued to deny that he had a sexual relationship with the woman, and that he claimed she was lying to police when she acknowledged the affair under questioning.

The District Attorney’s Office concluded after a lengthy probe that it was the detective who was lying, according to the letter reviewed by the Register.

The letter, signed by Assistant District Attorney Mary Anne McCauley, said Graves’ denials and explanations were in the end unbelievable after the woman revealed intimate details about the affair including her knowledge of what the inside of his personal car looked like, that he had a fresh tattoo, and that he shaved his body completely – including his genital area.

Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna, the Police Department’s spokesman, acknowledged Friday that there is an ongoing internal review concerning Graves. But he said he could not comment further because it is a personnel matter. Graves, a member of the gang suppression unit, is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of that hearing, Bertagna said.

Attorney Paul Meyer, who represents Graves, said he could not comment because it was a personnel matter and Graves had an attorney-client privilege.

Sheaks, however, said in his signed affidavit that the District Attorney’s Office sent him the results of that investigation with a misconduct letter April 11.

Other defense attorneys said they too had received a “Brady letter” on Graves.

–Staff writer Denisse Salazar contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: lwelborn@ocregister.com or 714-834-3784