Canyon Country woman sentenced in cop case

Suspect gets three years of probation for using badge

A Santa Clarita Valley woman was sentenced Friday to three years of probation for unlawful use of a badge in conjunction with a “fake cops” case that originally involved three defendants.

Tonette Hayes, 59, of Canyon Country pleaded no contest Friday to misdemeanor unlawful use of a badge, according to Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Sarah Ardalani.

Hayes was originally charged with four misdemeanor counts of impersonating a police officer.

Judge Hayden Zacky ordered Hayes to pay a $1,000

fine, undergo 26 weeks of counseling and serve 30 days of community service in addition to the probation.

Hayes, David Inkk Henry, 46, of Canyon Country, and Brandon Kiel, 31, of South Los Angeles, were arrested April 30, 2015, on accusations they were pretending to be police officers.

Charges were dismissed April 18 against Kiel, an employee of the California Department of Justice,

“after the judge granted a defense motion to suppress,” District Attorney’s Office spokesman Ricardo Santiago said at the time.

Henry died of a pulmonary embolism at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital after the April 18 hearing.

Prosecutors had alleged the three masqueraded as police officers and operated the fake Masonic Fraternal Police Department. On their website, which has since been removed, they claimed to operate police forces around the world.

At the time of the arrests, deputies with the Santa

Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station searched the residence of Henry and Hayes on Loma Vista Drive in Canyon Country. They also searched a former store for the bogus police force on Sierra Highway east of Soledad Canyon Road. The storefront was boarded up at the time.

During the search, police recovered badges, identification cards, weapons, uniforms, police-type vehicles and other law enforcement equipment, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.