A former LAPD assistant chief spirals online after an activist calls him out, amplifies a video made by a man with a warrant for stalking a minor, then deletes it and blocks critics.
Former Los Angeles Police Department Assistant Chief Alfred “Al” Labrada did not slip quietly into retirement after leaving the department in 2024. In November 2025, he returned to public attention when activist William Gude (@FilmThePoliceLA) used public comment at a Los Angeles Police Commission meeting to revive allegations that Labrada had stalked an LAPD officer using an Apple AirTag.¹
Gude’s remarks were direct and unsparing. He referred to Labrada as “that deviant… the guy who put AirTags on a woman’s car and stalked her,” and accused LAPD of turning its investigations against the victim rather than the man who was found guilty by a disciplinary board of attaching the tracker. The clip spread rapidly, drawing tens of thousands of views. Not long after, Labrada’s account—which had been largely inactive—surged to life.²
What followed this epic public comment was a very public meltdown from a man who had spent the past year trying to rebrand himself as a critic of Internal Affairs and a would-be whistleblower.
In the wake of Gude’s comments, Labrada began posting about the AirTag case, about the LAPD officer who reported him, and about the activists raising questions. In the middle of this activity, he even amplified a video about Gude created by Anthony R. “ZeroDarkTony” D’Amato Jr., a fringe YouTube personality who—according to Los Angeles County criminal court records—has an active bench warrant in a case involving charges related to stalking and harassing a minor, as reported by Eric Levai of Permanent Record.³
Why a former LAPD assistant chief would resurface online to spin out and then promote the video of a man his former colleagues will arrest remains a mystery. But the overlap drew swift scrutiny, in part because D’Amato is wanted on a warrant, and also because he has been repeatedly accused within anti-Scientology circles of operating in the orbit of the Church of Scientology’s Office of Special Affairs (OSA).⁴ OSA functions as Scientology’s intelligence and operations arm, historically tasked—according to critics and defectors—with surveilling, discrediting, and interfering with anyone the church perceives as an enemy.
The optics were unmistakable: a retired LAPD command officer, facing new public criticism, suddenly boosting a video produced by a man activists have accused of acting as an OSA-aligned online OSA agent.
When I publicly asked why Labrada was promoting a video made by someone wanted for stalking a minor, he replied with a laughing emoji and, “Yeah, ok,” before deleting the post and blocking me. After his meltdown, he changed his X handle from @LabradaAL22288 to @Al30398, potentially attempting to make prior mentions of him lead to an inactive account.
Before this spiral, Labrada had been curating a very different persona. In May 2025, he appeared on a YouTube program called THE IA GUY – A Police Podcast, hosted by former Internal Affairs investigator Marlon Marrache. Labrada was introduced as a retired assistant chief, a Marine Corps veteran, and a 31-year LAPD officer.⁵ During the interview, he portrayed Internal Affairs as politicized and weaponized, argued that complaints were used to destroy officers’ careers, depicted himself as a casualty of institutional double standards, and promoted his forthcoming book, Unwavering Strength.⁶ The tone was calm, reflective, almost pastoral—an elder statesman of policing offering hard-won wisdom.
The image he was going for collapsed again the moment he was triggered, this time by Gude’s comments which revied the AirTag allegations. Labrada responded to the posts with a clown emoji. Gude then shared screen shots from disturbing texts Labrada had allegedly sent.
Labrada continued to engage and began posting screenshots he claimed supported his innocence: a District Attorney memo declining to prosecute him and private text messages exchanged with the woman who reported him.⁷ In several posts, he belittled her appearance, calling her a “scarred scarecrow,” and suggested she was only upset because she had been “dumped and served with termination of domestic partnership.”⁸ Then, after essentially getting the boot, he still had the audacity to suggest that Gude “try getting a job.” A bold move from someone whose own career screeched to such a sudden halt that he had to rebrand it as “retirement.”
He then shifted his attention to anti-Scientology activist Enri Marini, who had raised questions about Labrada’s relationship with known Scientologists—including Janet Weiland, a longtime Church of Scientology official who has held influential roles within OSA. Marini asked, pointedly, whether the interactions were intentional. Labrada responded not with an explanation but with an explosive and baseless allegation: “Yeah, you still abusing that child you take to protests?”⁹
Marini’s pointed response to Labrada’s false accusation captured a broader suspicion shared by many critics of both Scientology and LAPD: “It’s always good to confirm suspicions that LAPD colludes with Scientology’s human-trafficking cult to protect their agents. The cult thanks you for your service.”¹⁶ It also brought into focus an unusual coincidence: that Labrada had chosen to promote a video created by someone long accused of advancing OSA-like objectives online.
His online behavior is easier to understand in the context of the AirTag case that preceded his departure from LAPD.
In 2023, The Los Angeles Times reported that LAPD officer Dawn Silva alleged that Labrada had secretly attached an Apple AirTag to her vehicle during their relationship and tracked her location.¹⁰ Silva sought a temporary restraining order against him. She reported the alleged crime, but prosecutors in San Bernardino County declined to file charges—citing insufficient likelihood of conviction, a standard that does not equate to an exoneration.¹¹
LAPD’s internal disciplinary process continued. In 2024, a Board of Rights panel found Labrada guilty of multiple counts of misconduct, including tracking Silva and discouraging a witness.¹² Before termination could be finalized, he retired, preserving his pension. Silva continued her employment with LAPD.
In February 2024, Silva filed a civil lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles and LAPD alleging retaliation, discrimination, and that her confidential complaint had been leaked inside the department, resulting in harassment and medical leave.¹³ Her attorneys told CBS News and the Los Angeles Times that LAPD “failed one of their own,” allowing victim-blaming to spread after the leak.¹⁴ That lawsuit remains ongoing.
As attention returned to the AirTag scandal, a website called The Current Report published an article casting Labrada as a whistleblower exposing internal corruption and political retaliation within LAPD.¹⁵ The narrative echoed the story he presented on THE IA GUY: Internal Affairs as a corrupt instrument used to discipline officers selectively, with Labrada positioned as one of its casualties. Labrada posted the article several times in response to posts critical of him.
His claims are not inherently incompatible with the documented misconduct. Both can be true: institutions can be deeply flawed, retaliatory, or inconsistent, like the LAPD, and individuals within them can also violate rules or abuse authority, like Labrada. Labrada’s online meltdown blurred those narratives together in a way that made his self-styled whistleblower image difficult to sustain.
Beyond the Scientology overlap, the meltdown revealed an unsettling parallel between Labrada’s online behavior and the conduct documented in his disciplinary case. In the internal investigation, LAPD noted that incriminating screenshots were recovered from his deleted items folder—evidence he had attempted to discard. Now, on X, the pattern repeated itself: he posted damaging content and attacked critics, then deleted the evidence, changed his handle, and attempted to reframe the narrative.
Break the rules, lash out, delete the record, deny the consequences. It is a rhythm familiar to anyone who has spent a career believing that consequences are negotiable.
Today, Labrada supposedly runs a private security company—Assured International Protection—advertising threat assessments and security consulting by a “former LAPD Assistant Chief.”¹⁷ Whether he has clients is unclear. His book, Unwavering Strength, has yet to materialize. His “whistleblower” rebrand appears stalled. The only thing moving quickly is the erasure of posts that raised questions about his judgment.
Whether that matters to him is another question entirely. Labrada retired before LAPD could finalize his termination. He kept his pension. And like countless officers involved in misconduct scandals, he transitioned into private-sector consulting with all the authority of his former title and very little of the accountability. The lawsuits on file target the LAPD, not him personally.
But now, thanks to journalists and transparency and accountability activists, the evidence and screenshots are not locked in filing cabinet. They are public, archived, and preserved, and at least the internet holds the receipts.
Footnotes
1. Los Angeles Police Commission Meeting – Public Comment, November 2025.
Video posted by William Gude (@FilmThePoliceLA) on X.
https://x.com/FilmThePoliceLA/status/1994867237069680957
2. Transcript derived from the same public-comment video by Gude, in which he references the AirTag case, internal investigations, and LAPD’s treatment of the reporting officer.
3. “Arrest Warrant Issued For Zero Dark Tony,” Permanent Record, October 31, 2025. https://www.permanentrecordx.com/p/arrest-warrant-issued-for-zero-dark
4. Scientology Money Project: “Zero Dark Tony (a/k/a Anthony D’Amato) Arrested in Los Angeles Courthouse,” detailing allegations of harassment campaigns and discussion of possible OSA involvement.
https://scientologymoneyproject.com/2025/02/20/zero-dark-tony-a-k-a-anthony-damato-arrested-in-los-angeles-courthouse/
5. THE IA GUY – A Police Podcast (YouTube), “Truth Behind Internal Affairs: Explosive Insights on LAPD’s Broken System!” featuring retired Assistant Chief Al Labrada. Published May 16, 2025.
https://youtu.be/xCkB4x1jOHE
6. Ibid. Timestamp references:
– 18:52 → Discussion of “double standards”
– 31:51 → “Weaponized Internal Affairs”
– 44:31 → Preview of Labrada’s book Unwavering Strength
7. Screenshots posted by @LabradaAL22288 (later changed to @Al30398) on X in late November 2025 including:
– District Attorney’s declination memo marked “CONFIDENTIAL”
– LAPD internal messages
– Text messages with the reporting officer
8. X post from @LabradaAL22288 referring to the reporting officer as a “scarred scarecrow” and insulting her over the dissolution of their domestic partnership. Archived screenshot.
9. X reply from @LabradaAL22288 to activist Enri Marini reading: “Yeah, you still abusing that child you take to protests?”
Archived screenshot; no evidence supports the allegation.
10. Los Angeles Times, July 2024:
“Former top LAPD official found guilty of tracking officer with AirTag – Los Angeles Times.” https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-07-12/former-top-lapd-official-found-guilty-of-tracking-a-fellow-officer-with-airtag
11. San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office – Declination of Charges Statement (2023–2024) regarding the AirTag complaint against Labrada. The office cited insufficient likelihood of conviction. (Declination memo posted on X: https://x.com/Al30398/status/1994500125285388798)
12. Los Angeles Times, July 13, 2024:
“Former top LAPD official found guilty of tracking a fellow officer with AirTag”
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-07-12/former-top-lapd-official-found-guilty-of-tracking-a-fellow-officer-with-airtag
13. Silva v. City of Los Angeles, Case No. 24STCV03524 (L.A. County Superior Court).
Complaint filed Feb. 9, 2024. Docket available at:
https://www.lacourt.org
14. Statements from Silva’s attorneys (McNicholas & McNicholas LLP) in:
– CBS News Los Angeles report (Dec. 2023)
https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/lapd-officer-accuses-assistant-chief-of-stalking-harassment/
– https://www.mcnicholaslaw.com/lapd-sued-for-discrimination-and-retaliation-officer-alleges-she-was-stalked-by-assistant-chief-alfred-labrada/
15. The Current Report, November 24, 2025:
“Former LAPD Deputy Chief Al Labrada Blows the Whistle on a Protected Captain, a Suppressed Racial Slur Investigation, and a Culture of Fear Moore Built and the LA Times Refused to Touch.”
https://thecurrentreport.com/former-lapd-deputy-chief-al-labrada-blows-the-whistle-on-a-protected-captain-a-suppressed-racial-slur-investigation-and-a-culture-of-fear-moore-built-and-the-la-times-refused-to-touch/
16. X post by @RealEnriMarini responding to Labrada’s accusation:
“It’s always good to confirm suspicions that LAPD colludes with Scientology’s human-trafficking cult to protect their agents. The cult thanks you for your service.”
Archived Nov. 29, 2025.
17. Assured International Protection – Labrada’s private security company.
Corporate website: https://aipsec.com
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/al-labrada-5384b5109/
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