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A veteran Los Angeles Police Captain who was accused of leaking information about women who filed sexual abuse allegations against ex-CBS President Les Moonves – will not be prosecuted because the statute of limitations had run out connected to his alleged crimes, according to court records released by Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman’s office Friday.
Retired LAPD Captain Cory Palka was accused by New York Attorney General Leticia James of tipping off executives at CBS about a confidential sexual assault complaint against Moonves that was filed on Nov. 10, 2017. The alleged victim told a female LAPD officer “she had been sexually assaulted by Moonves” and pleaded with the investigators to keep the report confidential, Leticia said in a 2023 complaint.
But on that same day, James alleged, Palka called CBS’s Senior Vice President of Talent Relations and Special Events Ian Metrose and left a voicemail regarding the confidential complaint.
“Somebody walked in the station about a couple hours ago and made allegations against your boss regarding a sexual assault. It’s confidential, as you know, but call me, and I can give you some of the details and let you know what the allegation is before it goes to the media or gets out,” Palka said on the call, according to the AG’s office. According to James, Palka then shared the report, which had been marked confidential three times.
Metrose had worked with the Hollywood Division’s top officer after Palka had been hired for outside employment to work for CBS at the Grammy Awards ceremony from 2004 to 2008.
Text messages that were recovered by investigators between the LAPD captain, a CBS executive, and Moonves reveal that the captain had not only shared confidential information; he also “worked with CBS executives for months to prevent the complaint from becoming public,” James said.
Several CBS executives then began circulating the report, which contained the accuser’s name, and started to investigate the “victim’s personal circumstances and that of her family, including her children, her brother, and her former spouse,” James said. They went as far as to see if the neighborhood in which she resides would indicate a need for money, according to the report.
Former LAPD Chief Michael Moore called Palka’s alleged behavior a breach of trust and vowed to launch an investigation into whether any other active or former officers may have been involved in the cover-up. When the accusations against the LAPD captain were made public in 2023, Palka had been retired for two years. Still, his case was referred by the LAPD’s Internal Affairs unit to the Justice System Integrity Division within the L.A. District Attorney’s office in 2023, recommending charges for Penal Code charges of soliciting a bribe, disclosure of confidential information for a financial gain, and obstructing a police investigation.
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“What is most appalling is the alleged breach of trust of a victim of sexual assault, who is among the most vulnerable, by a member of the LAPD,” Moore said at the time. “This erodes the public trust and is not reflective of our values as an organization.”
But, according to court records, the alleged breach cannot be prosecuted because of “insufficient evidence,” and the filing of the complaint to the Los Angeles District Attorney in 2023, when the crime occurred in 2017.
The court records pertaining to Palka’s case were first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Palka has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing and was well known in the entertainment industry. He was nicknamed Captain Hollywood, and he fit the image. Tall and swarthy with wavy dark hair and a toothy white smile, he got small roles in TV series like Bosch, playing a police commander, and moved about his celebrity-choked division like a diplomat. He was behind the velvet rope at Hollywood star unveilings, an LAPD commander who could speed-dial celebrities and corporate titans alike.
The allegations against him arose during James’s investigation into insider trading at CBS under Moonves’s tenure. The New York case was sparked when the late Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Communication Officer Gil Schwartz, who knew about the allegations against Moonves, dumped 160,700 shares of CBS stock six weeks before the allegations swirling around Moonves became public. In making that move, which netted Schwartz close to $9 million, the executive “intentionally concealed those allegations from regulators, shareholders, and the public for months.” Schwartz died in 2020 of natural causes. That investigation uncovered Palka’s troubling behavior.
“CBS and Leslie Moonves’s attempts to silence victims, lie to the public, and mislead investors can only be described as reprehensible,” James said of the interactions between Palka and CBS.
As the #MeToo movement grew over the next few months, Palka actively worked with CBS to contain the woman’s allegation from both the media and fellow LAPD investigators, James said. Palka went as far as to provide “status updates” on the woman’s accusation, she added.
“He assured CBS executives that he had spoken to his contacts within the LAPD and implemented controls to prevent news of the police report from leaking to the press from the LAPD,” James said.
As the #MeToo movement spread, Palka reassured his contacts, writing: “I think at this point CBS should feel better than they did last week. The key is that NO other accusers come forward.” James added that Palka told the detective assigned to the woman’s complaint to admonish her against talking to the press, according to the report; the woman complied with this advice from authorities.
Moonves stepped down from the helm of CBS on Sept. 9, 2018.
Palka sent a text message to Metrose that same day, writing: “I’m so sorry to hear this news Ian. Sickens me. We worked so hard to try to avoid this day. I am so completely sad.” He also reached out to Moonves that week, writing: “Les–I’m deeply sorry that this has happened. I will always stand with, by and [sic] pledge my allegiance to you. You have embodied leadership, class and the highest of character through all of this. With utmost respect…”
But Moonves was not the only man in Hollywood Palka was accused of working to protect, and CBS was not the only entity he enjoyed questionable relationships with, a Los Angeles investigation uncovered. The Hollywood Division also covers the Church of Scientology’s Celebrity Center, and they donated extensively to various activities run by the LAPD’s Hollywood Division. When accusers went to the LAPD with allegations against Scientologist Danny Masterson, one woman testified, those accusations were immediately relayed to church officials.
One accuser, Jenn B., testified that she walked into the Hollywood Division on June 6, 2004, to report that Hollywood star Danny Masterson had drugged and raped her. And within minutes, the Church had been notified by someone in the LAPD, and many, including former Scientologist Leah Remini, pointed to Palka. He denied interfering in the case.
But the accuser testified, she had barely made it out of the building when her phone rang. It was a church ethics officer telling her that “police officers from the Hollywood Division had just called.” Not only had she gone outside the church to make an accusation against a prominent Scientologist, but she had also given up the names of the high-ranking Church leaders whom she went to for help. And someone at the Hollywood Division dropped a dime to the very people she says were protecting Masterson.
Masterson wouldn’t be arrested until June 2020 – sixteen years later. It remains unclear who in the LAPD called the Church. A Scientology spokesperson declined to answer questions about the Church’s long relationship with the LAPD’s Palka. He was found guilty on rape charges in 2023 and is serving a 30-year sentence.
He continues to insist on his innocence on the decades-old rape claims, and last month, he filed a writ of habeas corpus saying his attorneys provided ineffectual counsel.
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Michele McPhee
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