Exemplary Performance Award
Bryan McMahon,
Detective, Long Beach Police Department
Patrick O’Dowd
Detective, Long Beach Police Department
On Tuesday, March 28, 2006, at 6:12 a.m., Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Maria Rosa was brutally murdered as she prepared to leave for work at the Inmate Reception Center. Occurring in the early morning hours in a quiet Long Beach neighborhood, there were no eyewitnesses to the shooting and few crime scene clues.
A Good Samaritan drove by, saw Deputy Rosa lying in her driveway, and stopped to try and render aid. En route to Long Beach Memorial Hospital, Long Beach Fire and Paramedic personnel worked valiantly to resuscitate Deputy Rosa, but her injuries were fatal.
Detectives McMahon and O’Dowd were notified of the murder of a fellow law enforcement officer, responded immediately to the crime scene and began a meticulously detailed, comprehensive and multi-jurisdictional investigation which led to the identification and arrest of two suspects responsible for Deputy Rosa’s murder.
Due to rainy weather conditions that morning, Detectives McMahon and O’Dowd took quick action to preserve all evidence at the crime scene. A protective canopy was delivered to cover Deputy Rosa’s vehicle and its open trunk, where she was standing when she was fatally shot. The vehicle was later carefully transported on a flat bed tow truck to a secured building at the Long Beach Tow Yard, where Long Beach Police crime scene investigators and detectives performed a detailed analysis of the vehicle.
This was just the start of a very complex investigation that used numerous investigative techniques and other personnel.Unable to locate any shell casings or bullet fragments at the crime scene, detectives called upon the Prospector’s Club of Southern California, a volunteer search unit whose expertise is metal evidence recovery.
A BMX bicycle, bearing some unique features, was found near the crime scene. Detectives suspected Deputy Rosa’s killers may have used it and had the bicycle analyzed for the suspect’s DNA. Detective McMahon and O’Dowd’s instincts would later prove to be very accurate; the bicycle had, in fact, been ridden by one of the suspects.Detectives McMahon and O’Dowd directed additional homicide investigators to determine when the BMX bicycle had been purchased and by whom.
Detectives enlisted the support of police bloodhounds to track the scent of the suspects and the direction they fled after shooting Deputy Rosa.
Detectives McMahon and O’Dowd formulated a strategy to thoroughly canvas the neighborhood for witnesses who may have seen suspicious activity or suspects riding bicycles in the area during the early morning hours prior to Deputy Rosa’s murder. Additional detective personnel from the Gang and Violent Crimes Division were called upon to walk the entire neighborhood, contact hundreds of residents and obtain their statements.
Detectives contacted the Long Beach Transit bus company and learned there were 10 buses operating in the area during the time of Deputy Rosa’s murder. Twenty hours of video surveillance from the 10 transit vehicles were reviewed to see if the suspects rode to, or fled from the area of the shooting on a bus.Detectives contacted personnel from the city’s street sweeping section to inquire if any city employees working in the area might have seen anyone suspicious during the early morning hours of March 28. Detectives contacted the central dispatch office of the Long Beach Yellow Cab Company to inquire whether any cab drivers had dropped off, or picked up any fares in the area during the time of the shooting.
Additional homicide detectives contacted every business owner along the Willow Street corridor near the crime scene. Walking an estimated two miles up and down this busy business area, detectives searched for video surveillance that might have captured the suspects riding their bicycles prior to shooting Deputy Rosa. In doing so, detectives obtained video surveillance footage from the Bank of America Branch on Willow Street. Working closely with the bank’s Director of Security, homicide detectives reviewed over 46,000 video images from several cameras, anchored outside the B of A building. The painstaking task of reviewing each image took homicide investigators over three days to complete. Images of two male subjects riding bicycles were captured on tape and were later determined to be the suspects in Deputy Rosa’s murder.
One citizen, who lives near where Deputy Rosa was murdered, contacted detectives to report he saw two male subjects riding bicycles just prior to hearing gunshots. Two more citizens came forward to advise they saw two male subjects running from the area just after the murder occurred.
Detectives McMahon and O’Dowd held numerous meetings to coordinate one of the largest multi-jurisdictional investigations ever conducted by LBPD. Detectives from the LBPD Gang Enforcement Section worked closely with LASD detectives to conduct a parole/probation operation in the neighborhood where Deputy Rosa was killed.
Gang detectives, expert in identifying graffiti, canvassed the neighborhood, identified several subjects who had tagged the area recently and closed in on gangs conducting criminal activity in the immediate area. Detectives enlisted the assistance of local news channels to disseminate the reward information for Deputy Rosa’s murder and utilized local newspapers to publish articles asking for the public’s assistance.
Detectives met with the producers of “America’s Most Wanted,” and filmed a 10-minute segment describing the circumstances of Deputy Rosa’s murder, which aired on national television on April 8, 2006. Homicide detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department assisted with this vital part of the investigation and flew to Washington, D.C., to answer telephone calls received during the airing of the segment and documented clues and leads offered by callers.
Detectives McMahon and O’Dowd maintained constant attention on the case and utilized media resources to keep pressure on the public to come forward with information. Detectives identified two possible suspects, focused their investigation on them, their friends, associates and family members, and developed a stimulation strategy to get them to talk about the murder.
Detectives found that, after the murder of Deputy Rosa, the two suspects had been arrested for possessing counterfeit money and for robbery. Detectives listened to hours of recorded telephone calls made from the LBPD Men’s Jail, and found that while in custody, the suspects made numerous incriminating phone calls to family and friends.
Detectives McMahon and O’Dowd learned the two suspects were convicted and currently incarcerated in Central California prisons for crimes committed after they killed Deputy Rosa. With the assistance of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, detectives coordinated a complex undercover operation to contact the suspects in prison, transport them back to L.A. County Jail, utilize expert undercover detectives to elicit incriminating statements from the suspects, and record every moment of the operation.
An extremely sensitive and confidential operation, only the 15 undercover officers, LBPD Homicide Detectives McMahon, O’Dowd, Robbins and Moss, LASD Homicide Detectives Lillienfeld, Housos, Retzlaff, and Kerfoot, supervisors from LBPD and LASD Homicide Bureaus, key personnel from L.A. County Jail and CDC personnel inside Wasco and Delano State Prisons were aware of the plan. Had details of this covert operation been leaked, the consequences for the undercover officers could have proved deadly.
Undercover officers, wearing wires and posing as inmates, were secreted into Wasco and Delano State Prisons. They contacted Frank Gonzalez and Justin Flint, the two suspects who shot and killed Deputy Maria Rosa. En route back to L.A. County Jail on a bus with audio and video recording capabilities, undercover officers elicited statements from the two suspects regarding the details of the murder.
Once back at L.A. County Jail, suspects Gonzalez and Flint and undercover officers were placed into holding cells, furnished with hidden audio and video recording equipment. Undercover officers continued to engage the suspects in conversation, elicited more incriminating statements and obtained irrefutable evidence that the two suspects were responsible for the murder of Deputy Maria Rosa.
One of the most painful, loathsome and repulsive moments recorded on video was inmate Flint singing, “I Shot the Sheriff,” to the undercover officers.
After feeble attempts to create alibis for the suspects, several family members finally admitted to detectives that the suspects had confessed their involvement in Deputy Rosa’s murder, and gave specific details of the crime. They were arrested for conspiracy. The case against Gonzalez and Flint, consisting of thousands of pages of police reports, documents and transcripts of recorded interviews, hours of recorded telephone conversations, wiretap calls, and audio/video recordings of the undercover operation were meticulously compiled and presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
In December 2007, defendant Flint was convicted of the murder of Deputy Maria Rosa. He was sentenced to 29 years to life in prison. On May 8, 2008, defendant Gonzalez was convicted of the murder of Deputy Maria Rosa and was sentenced to death. He is awaiting transport to death row at San Quentin State Prison.
Detectives McMahon and O’Dowd devoted more than two years to the investigation and prosecution of the murder of LASD Deputy Maria Rosa. Their commitment to honoring the memory of Deputy Rosa resulted in a complex, sophisticated and successful multi-jurisdictional operation.
Detectives McMahon and O’Dowd exemplify all the best in law enforcement by demonstrating a positive attitude and an unwavering commitment toward their work. They consistently set the finest example of professionalism, ethics, and personal integrity. They are highly regarded and admired by law enforcement personnel from numerous agencies, including the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
For their immeasurable personal sacrifices and outstanding accomplishments the Golden Badge Foundation awards Detectives Bryan McMahon and Patrick O’Dowd the 2008 Exemplary Performance Award.
Exemplary Performance Award
Joshua Sewell
Police Officer II, Los Angeles Beach Police Department
Jeremy Duncan, Police Officer II+2
Police Officer II, Los Angeles Police Department
On November 16, 2007 , at approximately 4:45a.m., West Traffic Division Police Officer II Joshua Sewell was riding his police motorcycle northbound on Interstate 5 approaching Atlantic Boulevard en route to roll call when he observed a vehicle totally engulfed in flames in the southbound lanes. A second vehicle was spinning across the southbound lanes and there were no other emergency personnel at the scene. Officer Sewell observed a man covered with flames partially protruding from the open driver’s window of the burning vehicle. Officer Sewell, without hesitation and disregarding concern for his own safety, vaulted over the center divider and ran to the burning victim. Officer Sewell reached around, grasped the victim, and pulled him from the vehicle’s flames.
Just as Officer Sewell began dragging the victim away, the vehicle exploded. At this time West Traffic Division Police Officer II Jeremy Duncan , also on his way to roll call, arrived at the scene on his police motorcycle. The victim was temporarily unconscious as Officer Sewell used his gloved hand to remove the victims burning clothing and extinguish the flames that were burning the victim’s skin off. Suddenly the victim, still on fire, regained consciousness, jumped up and ran into the lanes of traffic. As other motorists continued to drive through the collision scene, (CI officers, sound familiar?), past the victim engulfed in flames and the officers, Officer Sewell caught the victim and used his own body to smother the flames as he pinned the victim to the ground. Officer Duncan assisted Officer Sewell during the second attempt to extinguish the flames. During the attempts to extinguish the flames on the victim, the thickly padded palm areas of each of Officer Sewell’s gloves were burned away. It was determined that the burn victim had been a passenger in the burning vehicle, and due to the violent impact, the driver had been ejected and landed 100 feet away. Although the burn victim lost a large amount of skin and other tissue that was burned away (scalp, ears, face and other body parts), he was last reported to be recovering in a hospital. Officer Sewell also inhaled a large amount of smoke during the rescue. A Commendation was prepared and the management of the West Traffic Division has requested that the Department consider awarding Officer Sewell the Medal of Valor. Sewell’s actions, above and beyond the call of duty, reflect his incredible desire and ability to protect and serve the people who are members of, or who are visiting, our City and the nearby communities. Officers Sewell and Duncan, we extend our most sincere thanks to each of you for your quick response and lifesaving actions!
For staying calm and steadfast under duress, and for their valiant actions that saved a life, the Golden Badge Foundation is proud to present Officer Joshua Sewell and Officer Jeremy Duncan the Exemplary Performance Award.
Exemplary Performance Award
Matt Ricci
Field Training Officer, Los Angeles Beach Police Department
Thomas Aguilar
Police Officer, Irvine Police Department
On July 4, 2007, dispatch received a call from a female who related that there was a disturbance in her apartment complex. The reporting party, later determined to be the victim’s mother, was crying hysterically and could not articulate the nature of the disturbance as she herself had fled the scene. She was eventually able to name the suspect and state that she feared he had killed her daughter. Dispatch received additional calls from persons in the apartment complex advising that “someone is about to kill somebody”. It was apparent that the event was escalating.
Officers Ricci and Aguilar were the first to arrive on the scene and were met with residents of the apartment complex, who pointed out the apartment but could not give details of the situation or information about the suspect. Officer Ricci determined that the female victim was in serious danger. Officers Ricci and Aguilar found the door to the apartment closed but unlocked. Based on the exigency of the situation, they entered the apartment. After clearing the initial area, they continued through the apartment and located blood smears on a closed bedroom door. Officer Ricci forced the door open and found the room in disarray, revealing obvious signs of a struggle and fresh blood stains and smears. Officer Aguilar heard gurgling sounds coming from the bathroom area and attempted to push the door open but felt resistance. They attempted to kick the door but the suspect was wedged against it. Finally a hole was kicked through the door and they were able to force their way in.
Both subjects were covered in blood and both subjects had multiple stab wounds. Despite his severe injury, the suspect was still aggressively resisting the officers. In addition, he continued to attack the victim, trying to strangle her as they all struggled in the tight quarters of the small bathroom. Officer Ricci deployed the taser, temporarily subduing the suspect long enough to secure the scissors used in the assault. The suspect continued to resist but officers were able to handcuff him without further incident and make the scene safe for the medics to render aid to the victim.
Officer Aguilar distinguished himself by properly following the lead of his Field Training Officer during this highly stressful and violent incident. Officer Ricci’s actions were decisive in assessing the situation and took the necessary action to preserve life, demonstrating bravery and superior service to the community.
The Golden Badge Foundation is proud to present Officer Matt Ricci and Officer Thomas Aguilar the Exemplary Performance Award.
