Radar’s Jeff Bercovici and Daniel Riley are reporting a friendly-money connection between Sheriff Lee Baca, the Los Angeles law-enforcement glad-hander who ordered Paris Hilton released from jail after serving only three days in her 45-day sentence, and her grandfather William Barron Hilton, who last year contributed $1,000 to Baca’s election campaign.
A grand is the maximum amount allowable under California campaign rules. Baca became a worldwide laughing stock yesterday for deciding to let Hilton serve out the remainder of her sentence under house arrest, in apparent defiance of the orders given by the judge who sentenced her last month. Baca was quoted as saying that he let Hilton go home with an ankle bracelet because she was suffering from a “medical condition,” an explanation that resulted in universal scoffing.