The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is asking a judge to overturn a Civil Service Commission decision to reinstate a refrigeration mechanic who was arrested along with his brother after marijuana plants and a cache of firearms and ammunition were seized at three locations.
The petition involves the punishment levied on Manuel Scagliotti, who museum attorneys state was discharged because of convictions for illegal possession of assault weapons, larceny and a marijuana-related charge.
“The bottom line is that reinstating Scagliotti is a significant risk to LACMA’s reputation, a risk to billions of dollars’ worth of art and the safety of LACMA employees and patrons,” museum attorneys state in their brief filed Thursday in advance of a May 7 hearing on the case before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant.
Not only did the commission overlook the gravity of the felony convictions, but the panel also excluded evidence of a nearly $552,000 default judgment entered against Scagliotti for unpaid electrical power he used via a wiring bypass from 2000-2016 to illegally grow marijuana, the museum attorneys further state.
“The significance of this evidence is that it shows Scagliotti used his skill to commit a crime — stealing public property for his private gain worth hundreds of thousands of dollars — and (shows) that Scagliotti is an untrustworthy and dishonest employee …” according to the museum lawyers’ court papers.
In their court papers, Scagliotti’s attorneys stated that the commission “correctly determined that there was no nexus between Scagliotti’s convictions and his job duties and that discharge was not the appropriate penalty.”
After Scagliotti was discharged, he petitioned the commission for a hearing and an officer was appointed to hear the evidence, according to the petition originally filed last July 17. The officer recommended upholding the firing.
“The hearing officer further prepared a statement of facts and conclusions of law that found Scagliotti’s claims that he committed the crimes out of ignorance not credible …” the petition states.
The officer additionally found that Scagliotti’s termination was appropriate considering that the department would be continuing to employ someone who was found to have “intentionally acted in such a reckless manner,” the petition states.
After Scagliotti objected to the commission’s adopting of the hearing officer’s report, the panel by a 3-2 vote overturned the discharge in April and determined he should be reinstated to his position with a 30-day suspension, the petition states.
“This order came despite adopting the hearing officer’s report with findings reflecting Scagliotti’s behavior outside of work unbecoming of a county employee,” according to the museum attorneys, who further argue in their court papers that Scagliotti’s reinstatement was an “abuse of discretion.”
The Los Angeles Police Department said at the time of the arrests that warrants were served in April 2016 in the 800 block of Terrace 49 in Mount Washington, the 6000 block of Tipton Way in Highland Park and the 13000 block of Bradley Avenue in Sylmar.
Various types of firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition were seized along with about $4,500 in cash from the Mount Washington address, police said. The seized marijuana allegedly had an approximate street value of $500,000.
Manuel Scagliotti, then 44, was arrested at the Terrace 49 location and his brother, Livio Scagliotti, then 49, at the Tipton location, police said.