Sheriff’s Sergeant Arrested on Molestation Charges

A Los Angeles County sheriff’s sergeant and Antelope Valley school board member was arrested Friday after a 14-year-old girl accused him of molesting her, authorities said.

Sgt. Kevin Wright Carney, 48, of Palmdale was booked at the Lancaster station where he works.

A 23-year veteran of the department who once supervised the sheriff’s child abuse detail for the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys, Carney is also a candidate in next week’s Palmdale City Council race, officials said.

Sheriff’s officials said they do not believe the allegations are linked to Tuesday’s election, in which Carney is seeking one of two open four-year council seats.

The 14-year-old Palmdale girl went to the Lancaster station Thursday night and made her allegations, said Capt. Doyle Campbell of the sheriff’s headquarters bureau. She is an acquaintance of the Carney family, Campbell said.

Deputies declined to release other details of the case. “At this point, there is adequate information and it is verifiable enough to conclude in his arrest,” Campbell said.

About 2 1/2 years ago, the district attorney’s office investigated similar allegations against Carney by two young females but did not file charges, Campbell said. A sheriff’s internal investigation was also unable to substantiate the claims, he said. Other details about that investigation were not available Friday.

Carney, who served last year as school board president of the Antelope Valley Union High School District, could not be reached for comment. He is being held at the sheriff’s Inmate Reception Center in Los Angeles on $100,000 bail.

His wife declined to be interviewed.

Wilda Andrejcik, the school board president, described Carney as a conscientious school board member who “always did his homework.”

“He’s worked on the school board for four years, and this year he determined he would run for City Council,” she said. Carney’s school board term ends in December.

On Oct. 8, patrol Deputy Steven Brown of the Palmdale station was arrested in West Los Angeles after allegedly sending an undercover FBI agent, who posed as eighth-grader “Laura,” a sexually explicit photo and suggesting a tryst at a hotel.

Brown, 41, accused of using the Internet to meet someone he believed to be a 13-year-old girl for sex, pleaded not guilty Monday. His trial is set for Dec. 14. He is being held without bail.