Former Inglewood police officer convicted of selling cocaine evidence

John Abel Baca arrived at the meeting in a Ferrari carrying a gram of cocaine in a medical glove.

The man he was there to meet was a customer, and Baca, an Inglewood police officer and then the department's union representative, said he still had a kilogram of the product that he could sell for $22,000.

But Baca was not working on an undercover case. Instead, the meeting was recorded by the FBI in 2021.

On Tuesday, Baca, 48, was sentenced to 30 months in a federal prison after pleading guilty to cocaine trafficking and was fined $40,000.

In a settlement with federal prosecutors, Baca admitted that he stole drugs from the Inglewood Police Department's evidence room and sold them on the side for a profit.

“Former Officer Baca tarnished the badge and dishonored the majority of those who serve and protect our communities with integrity,” said Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office.

U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada echoed this view in a statement, saying Baca “abused his position as a law enforcement officer to advance his drug trafficking activities.”

Baca bragged to a potential buyer in September 2020 that he had stolen drugs and money during routine traffic stops, prosecutors said. According to his plea agreement, he offered to sell him “White China” heroin, an unlimited supply of Black Tar heroin and a kilogram of cocaine. The buyer informed the FBI of Baca's statement in February 2021.

The buyer, later identified in court records as a confidential witness, asked Baca what he should say if someone asked him where he got the cocaine.

According to court documents, Baca told him, “Tell them it came from fucking Mexico.”

Prosecutors focused on two meetings in their case against Baca.

In April 2021, Baca drove his 2012 Ferrari FF to a buyer's home, carrying a small sample of cocaine in a medical glove. The meeting was recorded by federal agents, according to court documents.

The buyer then handed the cocaine over to the FBI. According to prosecutors, the product had a purity of 75%.

In a follow-up conversation, Baca agreed to sell the confidential witness a kilogram of cocaine. He met the buyer at his store on May 4, 2021. During that visit, he drove up in a Nissan Maxima without license plates.

He delivered a brick of cocaine wrapped in a plastic bag and duct tape, which he transported in a Target shopping bag, court records show. He demanded $22,000 from the buyer, which the FBI provided as part of his operation. Baca claimed he earned only $1,000 as part of the deal, but the government never received the money back.

According to court documents, Baca told a federal informant that he often traveled to Las Vegas to gamble in casinos and launder his money.

Baca was also accused of recruiting a second person to help him in his drug trafficking operation. That person, Gerardo Ekonomo, 42, of South LA, was arrested in Las Vegas in June 2021 with 3 kilograms of heroin in his car, prosecutors said.

According to federal prosecutors, Baca called Las Vegas police and tried to intervene in Ekonomo's case, claiming he was Ekonomo's “handler” and suggesting he could “work up” the case by helping them.

Ekonomo was eventually charged with intent to traffic heroin. On October 28, 2021, the FBI dug in his yard and found large quantities of drugs wrapped in black plastic, including 1,258 grams of fentanyl and about 462 grams of heroin, court records show. FBI agents also found evidence of drug trafficking in his home.

Ekonomo claimed he was working as an informant for Baca and was authorized to transport the drugs to Las Vegas as part of a law enforcement operation, prosecutors said. But he also claimed he had no knowledge of the drugs in the yard.

Prosecutors said Baca had $300,000 in his bank accounts and a similar amount in investments at the time of his arrest in October 2021. The amount of money in his accounts exceeded his household income, prosecutors said. He also owned or partially owned several homes in California and Arizona, along with a 2018 Audi Q7, a 2001 Chevy pickup truck and the Ferrari.

According to a statement by his lawyer Victor Sherman, Baca offered a “sincere apology” in court.

He said he acknowledged that he had “brought shame on the police badge that he will live with for the rest of his life.”