LOS ANGELES — The embattled Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is under fire once again, this time in a scathing 70-page report by a special counsel tasked with investigating secretive groups, or deputy gangs, that have operated within the agency for decades. The report said that although the groups may have started decades ago with "benign intentions," they have evolved into deputy gangs "whose members not only use gang-like symbols but engage in gang-type and criminal behavior directed against the public and other Department members," the report stated. Members often sport matching tattoos and use language and gestures associated with street gangs