An 82 year-old former LA Sheriff has been found after he vanished from his home and triggered a massive search involving multiple law-enforcement agencies.
Authorities say that Lee Baca was found safe and that he has since been reunited with his family.
Baca, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, was reported missing around 7:30 on Sunday night.
A member of the former LA Sheriff’s family reported that he hadn’t been seen since leaving his residence around 4:30 pm that day.
A thorough search was conducted by various police forces, who were ultimately able to track Baca with the help of his medical bracelet, which also identified him.
‘An extensive search for Mr. Baca took place with the assistance from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (Missing Person’s Unit),’ the San Marino Police Department said in a statement.
The Pasadena Police Department Air Support, the Arcadia Police Department K-9, and the Claremont Police Department K-9 were all also called in to assist in the high-stakes hunt for the elderly man.
Officers found Baca just after 12:30 am, according to the San Marion Police Department.
They were able to ascertain the Alzheimer patient’s identity by checking his medical bracelet.
‘He was found in good condition … and he’s been reunited with his family and resting comfortably,’ San Marion Police Chief John Incontro said.
The 82-year-old has a controversial background. In 2017, he was convicted of obstruction of justice, for which he served a three-year federal prison sentence.
In 2014, Baca resigned amid a lurid corruption scandal that ensnared him and other senior law-enforcement officers.
The LA Sheriff was subsequently convicted of lying to the FBI and trying to foil the agency’s efforts to investigate allegations of corruption in the country’s largest jail system.
By 2011, the FBI began quietly probing accusations of bribery and inmate beatings by jail guards. But Baca and some of his lieutenants learned that one of their inmates was serving as an FBI informant.
The LA Sheriff and other officials devised an intricate plot to thwart the work of the informant.
They accomplished this by burying the informant in the jail system by shuffling him along to different locations and booking him under fake names.
Baca and his peers also attempted to intimidate an FBI agent by making threats to have her arrested.
Along with his chief deputy, Paul Tanaka, Baca was convicted. Tanaka went on to serve a five-year sentence.
Baca spent several years trying to fight his conviction in court. After he lost his appeals, he started his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in La Tuna.
According to federal prison records, the disgraced sheriff was released in January 2022.