Real estate developer Ezat Delijani, owner of numerous downtown properties, including the United Building (pictured), and the guy that wants to donate a statue to Pershing Square, can't be pleased with the front page of today's Los Angeles Times. Or maybe he doesn't care. Either way, the Times reports that Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca's office ordered an investigation of Afshin Nassir, a tenant, who was involved with rental dispute with Delijani. But the dispute was in Beverly Hills, outside of Baca's jurisdiction; additionally, Delijani is a longtime supporter of Baca's. According to the Times, "the sheriff assigned his detectives to the case after Beverly Hills police had concluded that Delijani's allegations did not amount to a crime." More from the paper: "Baca said his relationship with Delijani, and the gifts he's received from him, did not affect his decision to order an investigation. "I like Mr. Delijani," Baca said, adding that he also likes "people who are homeless" and makes no distinction in his policing.
"I get more calls from the Joe Shmoes out on the street than any law enforcement figure in California. So this was one of many," Baca said.
Baca said it is not uncommon for him to personally request criminal investigations into relatively low-level crimes such as forgery, but he could not quantify how many other times he had done so in the past." Maybe Baca was just convinced of Nassir's guilt?
· Baca ordered criminal probe outside jurisdiction on behalf of political donor [LAT]
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