A judge will review some Los Angeles police personnel records to determine if any of the files should be turned over to attorneys for a detective who alleges he suffered retaliation for reporting alleged financial misconduct by a supervisor.
In his Los Angeles Superior Court whistleblower retaliation lawsuit, Detective Jilvee Abalos alleges he was downgraded and prevented from doing FBI work for blowing the whistle on the supervisor. On Thursday, Judge Mark C. Kim limited the records he will peruse to those involving Internal Affairs materials concerning the investigation that resulted in Abalos being disciplined as well as those Internal Affairs files concerning Abalos’ complaints against the supervisor.
Abalos alleges the LAPD inadequately investigated his complaints and that the manner in which the grievances were handled supports his retaliation argument.
On multiple occasions, Abalos documented times when the boss came into office where the plaintiff worked despite being on a Metro overtime shift, according to the plaintiff’s attorneys’ court papers, which also state Abalos took photos of the supervisor sitting at a desk while wearing the uniform he donned for Metro duty.
Metro overtime is cash offered to LAPD officers and supervisors who sign up to work shifts policing the agency, according to the Abalos attorneys’ pleadings.
In their previous court papers, the City Attorney’s Office denied Abalos’ allegations and cited multiple defenses, including violation of the statute of limitations and that the city has immunity from the plaintiff’s claims.
Abalos was hired by the Los Angeles Police Department in 2009 and was promoted to detective eight years later. He served for the next five years in the Major Crimes Division’s online criminal intelligence section and became a cybercrime expert.
Abalos also served a year as a fellow with the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security’s Cyber Mission Center in Washington, D.C., and in March 2022, he was chosen to be a task force officer with the FBI’s Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force in Los Angeles. Later that year, Abalos was upgraded to a Detective 2 in the LAPD’s Office of Constitutional Policing and Policy and was allowed to continue his FBI work outside of his LAPD hours, the suit states.
After Abalos began working at OCPP, he became aware that his boss was coming into the OCPP office while working MTA overtime shifts offered to LAPD officers and managers, the suit states. LAPD members doing MTA overtime work were not supposed to be doing LAPD work at the same time, the suit states.
Abalos reported to a unit acting lieutenant that the supervisor was changing his days off at the last minute so he could work MTA overtime shifts, which other workers were not allowed to do, according to the suit.
Abalos believed his boss was violating local, state and federal statutes and he took photos of the supervisor wearing attire associated with his MTA work and also made copies of OCPP sign-in sheets to support his suspicions, the suit states.
After Abalos was seen photographing MTA-related clothing in October 2023, other OCPP supervisors told him to report to them at the end of his shift and he was told to surrender his FBI take-home car, FBI credentials and all FBI property, according to the suit, which also alleges he was downgraded to a Detective 1 and removed from the FBI cyber task force.
Abalos has lost income and benefits and his ability to receive promotions and obtain highly desired positions have been impaired by the department’s actions against him, the suit filed in December 2024 alleges.