SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A former Navy detective and El Cajon police officer who choked a handcuffed Navy sailor at Naval Base San Diego to the point of unconsciousness was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in prison.
Jonathan Christopher Laroche pleaded guilty to using unreasonable force on the man, as well as lying on his application to the Navy's Criminal Investigations Division regarding why he left the El Cajon Police Department.
Prosecutors said Laroche resigned from ECPD in 2018 after learning he was going to be fired from the department for using excessive force against civilians on two separate occasions the prior year. He was also reprimanded by the department in 2015 for a separate excessive force incident.
In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors wrote, "The details of each of those incidents eerily foreshadow defendant's improper use of force against (the victim) in this case," as each involved either placing a person in a headlock or shoving them into a wall or to the ground. El Cajon police investigators also sustained allegations against Laroche that he lied about the incidents and improperly turned off his body-worn camera.
On his application to the Navy in 2022, Laroche said he left the El Cajon Police Department because he had been "hired by U.S. Department of Defense police" and had never received an official reprimand or any other discipline for misconduct from ECPD.
In the November 2023 incident at Naval Base San Diego, prosecutors said that after the sailor was arrested and handcuffed, Laroche was working on a unrelated matter, but pushed his way past other officers to grab the victim.
The victim was intoxicated and didn't resist, but Laroche placed him in the banned carotid restraint neck hold for 17 seconds, causing the sailor to lose consciousness, according to prosecutors, who said Laroche later struck the victim, then grabbed him by the neck and shoved the sailor's head into a wall, all while the victim was handcuffed to a bench.
As part of his plea agreement, Laroche resigned from his position and is prohibited from seeking future employment with law enforcement agencies, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
In court, Laroche told U.S. District Judge John Houston that the incident stemmed from longstanding, unresolved anger issues that he's only recently come to terms with.
He said that he hails from a family of police officers and felt becoming a law enforcement officer was his calling, though he told the judge, "I shouldn't have been a cop. I should have done anything other than this job."
Laroche said he lied on his Navy application because he was fixated on getting back into law enforcement. "I let my entire identity become that badge," he said.
He also said, "I am exceedingly sorry for what I did to (the victim). Should have never happened. I was completely out of line. Hundred percent, I don't deny it one bit."
Houston imposed a prison sentence that was nearly double the recommendations of eight months from both the prosecution and defense. The sentence was comprised of a five-month term for a felony count of making false statements, and a 10-month term for a misdemeanor count of deprivation of rights under color of law.
The judge said that deterring other law enforcement officers from similar conduct was an important factor in the sentence.
"It's disgusting. It's violent. It's extremely disturbing," Houston said of the Navy base incident, which he noted could never have occurred had Laroche not lied on his Navy application.
"You got a pass in order to apply for another law enforcement job," Houston said. "You lied your way into that job and set yourself up to harm someone else."
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