Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed a comment. It was actually made by Judge John Houston.
Jonathan Laroche, a one-time El Cajon police officer and a former detective with the Navy Criminal Investigations Division, was ordered Wednesday to spend 15 months in prison — a harsher sentence than originally sought by federal prosecutors.
Laroche had choked a handcuffed Navy sailor to “within inches of his life,” said U.S. District Court Judge John Houston.
Wednesday’s court hearing followed a previous sentencing date in December when Houston told defense and prosecuting attorneys that he disagreed with their sentencing recommendations.
Houston’s sentence was motivated by what he described as a “disgusting,” violent and “extremely disturbing” crime.
Laroche, who pleaded guilty last year to deprivation of rights under color of law, had inserted himself into a prisoner’s processing unit at Naval Air Station North Island when he brutalized a prisoner who never posed a threat.
The Navy man was handcuffed and helpless when Laroche beat him and put him in a carotid hold, Houston said.
The chokehold he used was banned following the fatal beating of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.
A videotape of the Laroche incident showed younger officers watching as Laroche dragged the victim from one room to another and “hog-tied” him like a “piece of meat,” said Houston.
After a supervisor stopped him, he went back to the counter where other law enforcement agents were and “began doodling” —acting as if nothing had happened.
Houston said he did not understand why none of the officers watching intervened to stop the beating.
Houston had previously advised Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Askins and Laroche’s Los Angeles lawyer, Michael Schwartz, that their suggestion of eight months of home confinement was “disingenuous,” perhaps given his own handling of excessive force cases by law enforcement officers against civilians.
“I’ve learned through that experience that everyone charged for those things are not properly charged,” Houston said.
The 15-month sentence should be a warning, Houston said, particularly for law enforcement officers who make a promise to protect and serve.
“There needs to be a deterrence for other law enforcement officers with respect to what occurred here,” he said.
Schwartz on Wednesday changed his initial argument for home confinement to an eight-month prison sentence. Schwartz noted that his client suffered from PTSD and had a serious drinking problem.
Laroche told the court he should have quit policing a long time ago but couldn’t.
“I let that badge become everything,” he said. “When I looked in the mirror, all I saw was a cop. I come from a family of cops.”
He said his father was a deputy chief, and his stepmother a detective. He felt that leaving law enforcement was never an option.
His problems began, he said, after doing four tours in Iraq — three of them in a row. He says he has PTSD but never addressed it. Instead, he turned to alcohol and handled it by “just going to work” and not dealing with anything else.
As part of his plea agreement, Laroche can never again work in law enforcement.
Askins on Wednesday referred to other recent cases consistent with his office’s sentence recomendation. However, Houston responded that Laroche’s behavior was “substantially more egregious” than what occurred in those other cases.
While Laroche’s time with the El Cajon Police Department played no part in the sentencing, it was referenced by Houston in describing the other crime Laroche pled guilty to, which was intentionally concealing his prior record of excessive force.
“You lied your way into that job” at NCID, Houston said, by “presenting himself as a very good law enforcement officer.”
He was what criminal justice experts call a “wandering officer.”
It’s considered a nationwide issue, where an officer transfers between policing agencies despite a history of poor job performance or misconduct.
That was the case with Laroche when the El Cajon department offered him the opportunity to quit instead of being fired.
The department’s Internal Affairs records show he beat up, punched and slammed the heads of three different prisoners, each one handcuffed, none of them a threat. He applied to NCID, where apparently no one was familiar with his history of excessive force with El Cajon.
The judge told Laroche: “You got a pass after three incidents with the police department. You got a pass in order to apply for another law enforcement job. You set yourself up to harm someone else.”
The defendant was ordered to surrender to the Federal Bureau of Prisons by April 21. His request to serve his time at Terminal Island will be considered by the Bureau of Prisons.
Updated at 1:27 p.m. Feb. 13, 2025
