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Evidence mounting that OC sheriff’s detective illegally listened to attorney-client phone calls

April 13, 2023

Evidence is mounting in court documents that an Orange County sheriff’s detective illegally listened to at least five recorded calls between a jail inmate and an attorney — including calls in which the officer was warned by the lawyer not to listen.

Recordings of the calls were included in a motion filed Wednesday, April 12, by Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders in an unrelated drug case. Sanders is seeking the personnel records of newly promoted Sgt. Matthew LeFlore in that case.

Sheriff’s spokesperson Carrie Braun said the department is examining Sanders’ motion to determine how to proceed.

“The department takes any allegation of misconduct seriously,” Braun said. “We are reviewing the motion and are committed to investigating, if discovered, any instances of misconduct.”

The conversations were among the nearly 34,000 attorney-client calls that were inadvertently recorded by the sheriff’s telephone vendor, GTL, now known as ViaPath Technologies. The breach was reported in 2018.

LeFlore is accused by Sanders of listening to recordings made in 2017 of calls from Theo Lacy jail inmate Taylor Camu-Ferguson to attorney Jon Andersen. Sanders is using LeFlore’s conduct regarding the calls to persuade a judge to give him LeFlore’s personnel files for use in an unrelated case involving gun charges.

On the jail recordings, Andersen repeatedly warns that he is an attorney and that anyone eavesdropping is violating the law. In at least two of the recordings, Andersen and Camu-Ferguson mention LeFlore by name in invectives laced with expletives.

In the last call, Andersen warns, “Anyone attempts to listen to this, especially that 5 foot tall, deceitful, lying Orange County sheriff named LeFlore, we’ll seek prosecution, guaranteed. So don’t listen in.”

In court testimony, LeFlore said he did not remember the content of the calls, according to the motion.

“Andersen probably delivered one of the most pointed and unforgettable warnings ever heard by a law enforcement member accessing attorney-client calls,” Sanders wrote in his motion. “If … LeFlore suffers from memory loss at the level required for his testimony to have been truthful, he would be mentally unfit to serve as an officer.”

LeFlore, in log notes kept on the recordings, indicated he stopped listening when he discovered the calls were between an inmate and an attorney. But those notes include information that LeFlore would only have known by listening to the recordings, Sanders said in an interview.

While it is clear in all five recordings that an attorney is on the line, LeFlore mentions in his log that only one of the calls is confidential and should not be listened to, the motion says. In the other calls, he writes a summary of what was discussed — which does not match the recordings, Sanders writes.

Sanders also notes the way LeFlore picked the recordings that he listened to. Sanders said LeFlore could not have targeted Camu-Ferguson because the inmate used PIN numbers and accounts belonging to other inmates. It appears LeFlore targeted the publicly listed phone number of attorney Andersen — whose conversations with clients are legally protected, Sanders said.

Sanders said LeFlore apparently targeted Andersen because the lawyer had earlier filed a complaint with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office alleging the detective lied and fabricated facts to support a search warrant. Prosecutors took no action against LeFlore.

“There’s not a chance of any of it being a coincidence,” Andersen said in an interview Wednesday. “He knew what he was doing. … He tracked me. He took my number and searched all the records for the calls.”

While testifying in a separate drug case last year, LeFlore said he was never questioned by the Sheriff’s Department on the accessed phone calls. Sanders said LeFlore’s testimony is evidence that sheriff’s officials never fully investigated allegations that deputies illegally listened to attorney-client conversations.

Sanders also alleges that LeFlore retaliated against Camu-Ferguson for insulting him in the phone recordings by resurrecting an old burglary case against him. Camu-Ferguson ended up pleading guilty in that case.

Andersen said he may ask that felony convictions be overturned against Camu-Ferguson and other clients he represents in which LeFlore was the investigator.

Attorney accuses Orange County sheriff of intentionally eavesdropping on attorney-inmate phone calls
DA asked to investigate Orange County’s illegally recorded attorney-client phone calls
Nearly 34,000 Orange County inmates’ calls to attorneys recorded, not the 1,079 originally reported
Conflicting information on breached jail phone calls sends Orange County defense attorneys to court
Orange County grand jury finds no damage from improper recordings of phone calls between jail inmates, lawyers

LeFlore also was caught up in a 2018 scandal over the inability by deputies to book evidence in a timely manner — if at all.

In one case, LeFlore had taken custody of two full boxes of bullets, 11 grams of methamphetamine and a pipe stuffed inside a pair of boots. He never booked the property and, two weeks later, placed the boots on a shelf in a sheriff’s substation, with a sign saying “Free.”

Court documents previously show LeFlore on five occasions wrote in his official reports that he had placed evidence — typically documents and photos — in a sheriff’s locker when, in fact, he had not. The evidence was booked more than 20 days late on three occasions.

One case was referred by the Sheriff’s Department to the District Attorney’s Office, but no charge was filed.

Meanwhile, LeFlore was assigned to investigate other deputies who failed to book evidence and ultimately was promoted to sergeant and placed at Theo Lacy jail, where the recording breaches occurred.

Staff writer Scott Schwebke contributed to this report.

Orange County Register

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Evidence mounting that OC sheriff’s detective illegally listened to attorney-client phone calls

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