former times

In 2019, he returned to the Sheriff’s Department to join then-Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s controversial public corruption squad, a shadowy unit accused of targeting the sheriff’s critics — including oversight officials, county leaders and a former Times reporter who had received a leaked list of problem deputies.

A slew of former Ridley-Thomas aides also donated, including former Times journalist and now Capital & Main Editor in Chief Peter Hong with $200.

Former Times jazz critic Don Heckman contributed to this story prior to his death in 2020.

Marble is a former Times editor.

One line of questioning for which Lillienfeld provided few answers focused on the Villanueva administration’s investigations into journalists, including a former Times reporter who wrote a story in 2017 about a leaked list of problem deputies.