Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman just charged an LAPD officer with 16 felony counts of eavesdropping for recording his coworkers making racist, sexist, and homophobic remarks — a prosecution that could send the whistleblower to prison for 13 years while the officers he exposed face only undisclosed "discipline."
The case lays bare a system that punishes the people who expose wrongdoing and shields the wrongdoers. Officer Daniel Flores, 43, recorded fellow officers in the LAPD Training Division in 2024 using slurs and making derogatory comments about Asians, Mexicans, Black people, and women. He didn't leak the tapes. He didn't sell them. He walked them into Internal Affairs as an official complaint.
The department's answer was to investigate him. The DA's answer is to prosecute him.
Flores' defense attorney, Alan Jackson, put it plainly: "Daniel Flores did not leak this material. He did not sell it, post it, or hand it to a reporter. He walked it into Internal Affairs and gave it to his own department, in an official complaint, because he believed the Department would do something about it."
Hochman claims Flores was "personally motivated" — that he wanted to avoid a patrol transfer and cash in on what colleagues called the "LAPD lottery," meaning a civil lawsuit payout. Flores has since filed suit against the city. A 27-page motion from the DA's office, relying heavily on representations from the officers Flores exposed, accuses him of manipulating the recordings by initiating conversations, hitting record, then editing out his own participation. Hochman told reporters the recordings contain evidence Flores made sexist remarks and referred to a group as "f****** Crips" — though how referencing a notorious Los Angeles gang is itself racist was not explained.
CBS News framed the story around Hochman's claim that Flores was "personally motivated," leading with the DA's framing. Arkansas Online led with the backlash — and the backlash is significant.
Mayor Karen Bass called the charges a mistake. "While I understand that it is inappropriate and a crime to record colleagues without their consent, these charges certainly send the wrong message that calling out egregious behavior could land you in prison," she said. "I am worried that this will deter whistleblowers and discourage officers from using the appropriate reporting channels in the future."
Six of Hochman's own prosecutors, speaking anonymously, said they were shocked. One called the filing "insane." Another said the case should have been dismissed in the interest of justice. One questioned whether Hochman was pressured by police unions, which poured heavy contributions into his 2024 campaign.
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell backed the prosecution, saying the 16 recorded officers have been "disciplined" — but the specifics remain unclear.
The money trail matters. Since taking office, Hochman has moved to dismiss a number of violent use-of-force cases against police and resolved others with lenient plea deals. He dismissed charges or offered no-jail deals to four former Torrance officers accused of crimes. The unions that funded his campaign are getting exactly what they paid for.
Criminal defense attorney Diane Bass cut through the noise: "I think that the people who need to be demonized here are these officers who were making racist, sexist and homophobic comments when they're biased against more than half of the population of Los Angeles."
Flores faces arraignment Aug. 10. The question hanging over the case: if a cop can't take evidence of bigotry to Internal Affairs without catching 16 felonies, who exactly is the system protecting?
