L.A. County Sheriff’s Department officials confirmed Thursday that a case was presented to the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office for a senior LASD official who was placed on administrative leave due to allegations that he illegally photographed the body bags containing the victims of a Monterey Park explosion that killed three deputies, including one from the Santa Clarita Valley.
The July 2025 explosion was the agency’s deadliest accident in more than 150 years.
Department officials confirmed in October that Cmdr. Thomas Giandomenico, a 35-year member of the Sheriff’s Department who was recently named acting chief for the Transit Services Bureau, had been put on leave.
He remains on leave as of this story’s publication, according to a Sheriff’s Department official who communicated on background.
There’s no record of Giandomenico being placed in custody for the allegation, according to LASD records available online.
Detectives served a search warrant at the seventh-floor Downtown L.A. office of Giandomenico, a decorated department veteran, according to court records obtained by The Signal. LASD officials had tried initially to seal the records, but a judge denied the request.
The charges presented this week were the result of a monthslong investigation, according to the LASD.
The DA’s Office did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Sworn statements from a sergeant in the LASD’s Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau reported a conversation between another commander and the agency’s director of communications, indicating a reporter saw Giandomenico take an illicit photo of the crime scene in front of another LASD official, who saw the pictures being taken.
Two weeks later, the sergeant interviewed the commander who witnessed the incident. That commander stated he was standing next to Giandomenico at the scene of the explosion, “just prior to the commencement of a procession,” according to the documents supporting a request to search Giandomenico’s office.
The three detectives killed in the blast last year were Joshua Kelley-Eklund, a Santa Clarita Valley resident; Victor Lemus; and William Osborn.
“There were three gurneys containing the deceased persons, who had been placed inside body bags,” according to the summary from the commander’s interview. “The physical remains of the deceased persons were not visible. As personnel began to cover one of the body bags with an American flag, suspect Giandomenico recovered a cell phone out of his pant pocket, pointed it towards the deceased, and said, ‘This is going to be a good picture,’” according to the investigator’s affidavit. “Commander Torres immediately told suspect Giandomenico to stop out of respect for the deceased. Suspect Giandomenico agreed and put his cell phone away.”
The commander also told the investigator that he did not know if Giandomenico took any photos.
During another interview nine days later, the original LASD informant indicated to investigators that rumors were circulating about photographs taken by the suspect, although no evidence of the photographs was indicated.
“Penal Code 647.9 states a first responder, operating under color of authority, who responds to the scene of an accident or crime and captures the photographic image of a deceased person by any means, including, but not limited to, by use of a personal electronic device or a device belonging to their employing agency, for any purpose other than an official law enforcement purpose or a genuine public interest is guilty of a misdemeanor,” according to the California Penal Code.
The misdemeanor offense officially was added to state law in 2024, in part due to an embarrassing incident for the Sheriff’s Department, which cost the agency dearly.
Los Angeles County was forced to pay out nearly $29 million to victims after four deputies were embroiled in a scandal over photographs from the 2020 helicopter crash that claimed the life of Kobe Bryant, his daughter and eight others.
Sheriff’s Department officials said there have been no arrests made at this time and the incident is part of an active investigation.
Giandomenico was given one of the agency’s highest honors, during the annual Valor Ceremony, for heroic actions performed at a crime scene nearly 11 years ago. He was part of a Special Enforcement Bureau team that helped an officer who was severely wounded in an Oct. 28, 2014, shootout with a motorcycle gang during the service of a search warrant.
Giandomenico has also served as a governor’s appointee to the state’s Emergency Medical Services Commission since 2019.
