L.A. Now Live: Discuss secret sheriff's clique, city legal fees

Times reporter Robert Faturechi will join City Editor Shelby Grad for a chat about his latest investigative report into the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and a secret clique known as the Jump Out Boys.

Faturechi, who has written extensively about Sheriff Lee Baca and troubles at Men's Central Jail, reports on an internal probe into a deputy clique within the department's elite gang unit. The Jump Out Boys are a clique of hard-charging, aggressive deputies who gain more respect after being involved in a shooting, sources told Faturechi. 

The talk will begin at 9 a.m PDT at www.latimes.com/lanow. Questions can be submitted live during the chat or by using the button above.

Reporter Abby Sewell will also join the chat to discuss how much cities in Los Angeles County spend on legal fees. In a story she wrote with reporter Jessica Garrison, Sewell noted that cities that face municipal corruption are often left paying for it long after the wrongdoing has been uncovered.

The biggest toll on city coffers, she reported, is not mismanged or stolen funds -- but the enormous bills from attorneys who are paid by the hour to clean up the mess.

Sewell and The Times' Data Desk also compiled a database of legal spending for all 88 of the cities in L.A. County.