San Francisco Sheriff Paul Miyamoto took an extraordinary step to help a friend get rehired by his department, writing a letter of recommendation that swayed a psychologist who had previously found the man “not suitable” for the job because he had admitted lying to the FBI and had been accused of sexual harassment, newly released records reveal.
The department rehired Sgt. Michael Kim last December even though Kim was convicted by federal prosecutors in 2018 of contempt of court in connection with the FBI’s infamous, decade-old investigation into Chinatown gangster Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow.
Kim’s alleged misconduct was so serious that California officials are now considering whether to permanently bar him from wearing a badge. The new records, however, reveal that Miyamoto praised his friend’s “characteristics of leadership, experience and personality” in a letter of recommendation as he was reapplying for his job.
“Perhaps the closest that I have worked with Mike, and the experience that most exposed me to the content of his character, was our work together on … the Department’s SWAT team,” Miyamoto wrote in the undated letter released by the state regulator overseeing police misconduct. “Mike was a team leader and performed exceptionally well during critical incidents and highly stressful situations.”…