Pandora's Box: The Fall of L.A.'s Sheriff

What it is about

Pandora’s Box: The Fall of L.A.’s Sheriff is a six-part podcast exploring the crisis that toppled one of the country’s most prominent lawmen, Lee Baca. Rising from humble beginnings, he presented himself as a reformer when he took over the scandal-plagued agency in 1998. He vowed that he would be sheriff as long as he lived, and voters seemed to approve. But inside the massive jail system he ran, claims of inmate abuse kept surfacing. When a young FBI agent found an inmate willing to talk, it triggered an unprecedented clash between two massive law agencies…and a cover-up that went to the top.

Publisher’s own description, taken unchanged from the podcast feed.

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Latest episodes

Introducing: Call Sign Condor: Latino Soldiers Fighting in Ukraine

2026-10-01 · 4 min

Why would someone decide to risk their life for a country that is not their own? What might they be searching for? Call Sign Condor is a podcast about the thousands of Latin American soldiers who are fighting in Ukraine…
The Other Side of the Door: The Case Against Lee Baca

2025-12-12 · 32 min · Season 1, episode 6

James Sexton endures weeks of solitary confinement in federal prison, as prosecutors finally gear up to take Lee Baca to trial. Baca’s lawyers claim he has Alzheimer’s Disease. It’s late 2016, and the recent…
The Generals: Power, Deception and a Cover-Up that Goes to the Top

2025-12-12 · 28 min · Season 1, episode 5

The feds interview Baca’s flinty #2 man and heir apparent, Paul Tanaka, who professes ignorance about who gave the order to hide Anthony Brown. In 2013, as the FBI probe enters its fifth year, feds finally get a chance…
Inside Man: A Jailer Turns Informant

2025-12-12 · 30 min · Season 1, episode 4

James Sexton thinks Operation Pandora’s Box is behind him. When he reports a superior officer for misconduct, he is branded a snitch and treated as a pariah. Ostracized and scared, he does what he once thought…
Gunning Up: L.A. County’s Top Cop Versus the Feds

2025-12-12 · 29 min · Season 1, episode 3

When Lee Baca took over the LA County Sheriff’s Department in 1998, he inherited a scandal-plagued agency. He built a reputation as a progressive reformer, and his jail-education programs were celebrated. But the feds…
The Ghost: An Inmate Disappears in L.A. County Jail

2025-12-12 · 33 min · Season 1, episode 2

After an inmate sucker-punches James Sexton, he defies the jail’s unwritten rules by failing to exact violent retribution, and finds himself ostracized by his peers. But he becomes an expert in the antiquated jail…
The Dungeon: Inside Men’s Central Jail

2025-12-12 · 33 min · Season 1, episode 1

A young FBI agent named Leah Marx arrives in Los Angeles and receives a tip in 2010 about brutal conditions at Men’s Central Jail downtown. Such complaints have gone nowhere for years, since they pit the allegations of…

Episode details from the publisher’s feed. Playback happens at the publisher.

Publisher details

Owner: Darius Derakshan
Oldest episode in feed: 12/2025
Typical length: 27 min
Format: Serial Meant to be heard in order

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