25 Facts About Paul Tanaka

Paul K Tanaka was born on 1959 and is an American convicted felon, former politician, and former law enforcement officer who served with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department until his conviction in 2016.

Paul Tanaka was convicted April 4,2016, in Federal Court of conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice.

Paul Tanaka's tenure has provoked controversy due to allegations of violence, corruption, and alleged membership in the Lynwood Vikings, a deputy gang, which was described as a "neo-Nazi, white supremacist gang" by a federal judge.

Paul Tanaka was born at the Queen of Angels Hospital in Los Angeles.

Paul Tanaka received an accounting degree from Loyola Marymount University and was a Certified Public Accountant.

Paul Tanaka served as Chief Financial Officer for the Go For Broke Foundation and the East West Players, and served on the board of the Harriet Buhai Center for Family Law.

Paul Tanaka was married to Valerie Paul Tanaka, with whom he has 2 children.

Paul Tanaka was active in local government since his election to the Gardena city council in March 1999.

Paul Tanaka was re-elected to a second term in 2009.

Paul Tanaka then rose from lieutenant to captain in 1999, commander in 2001 and chief in 2002.

Paul Tanaka is the first Japanese American in the position.

Sheriff Lee Baca acknowledged Paul Tanaka still has a tattoo related to the group.

Paul Tanaka was tattooed as a member of the Vikings deputy gang in 1987, while serving as a sergeant at the Lynwood station.

On March 7,1988, Paul Tanaka was involved in a controversial killing of a Korean American in Long Beach, sparking outrage among Korean American community leaders.

Paul Tanaka was appointed Undersheriff, the second-in-command at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in June 2011 by Sheriff Lee Baca.

Paul Tanaka was in charge of the Department's Patrol Division and its budget.

The report noted that Paul Tanaka had accepted campaign contributions from many department employees, furthering perceptions of patronage and favoritism in promotion and assignment decisions.

On March 6,2013, Paul Tanaka announced that he would retire as the Undersheriff, effective August 1,2013, during an ongoing federal probe conducted by the FBI into widespread allegations of abuse, misconduct and mismanagement in County jails.

On May 13,2015, Paul Tanaka was indicted on federal conspiracy and obstruction charges in the ongoing Los Angeles County Men's Jail corruptions investigation.

Paul Tanaka was the eighth LASD official to be criminally charged based on actions taken in the summer of 2011.

On June 27,2016, Paul Tanaka was sentenced to five years in prison, for civil rights abuses inside the nation's largest urban jail system.

Paul Tanaka was sentenced to serve two years of supervised release after he is discharged from prison and pay a $7,500 fine.

Paul Tanaka faced a maximum of 15 years in federal prison.

Paul Tanaka surrendered Monday, January 16,2017, to federal authorities in Colorado, to begin serving the prison sentence at a minimum-security camp in Englewood, Colorado.

Paul Tanaka lost the election to Jim McDonnell, McDonnell received 49.4 percent of the vote and Paul Tanaka received 15.1 percent to come in second.