A Los Angeles County jury has discovered former Los Angeles Police Division officer Eric Halem responsible of kidnapping and bitcoin theft in a 2024 residence invasion that focused a teenage cryptocurrency holder.
The verdict adopted a two-week trial in Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom, the place prosecutors argued that Halem, 38, and three alleged accomplices posed as cops to achieve entry to a high-rise house in Koreatown.
As soon as inside, they restrained a 17-year-old and his girlfriend and stole a tough drive containing non-public keys to roughly $350,000 in bitcoin.
The sufferer, who testified below his first title, Daniel, informed jurors that the boys threatened to kill him if he didn’t hand over the system. In response to testimony, the group wore vests figuring out themselves as police and used an entry code obtained from a conspirator who had rented the unit to {the teenager}, in response to The Los Angeles Occasions.
They took the elevator to the 18th flooring and entered the house throughout the early morning hours of Dec. 28, 2024.
Daniel’s girlfriend was positioned in LAPD-issued handcuffs, and Daniel was subdued and cuffed earlier than the suspects demanded the exhausting drive with the bitcoin. Prosecutors stated {the teenager} complied below risk of being shot.
Halem served 13 years with the Los Angeles Police Division and left the division in 2022. On the time of the theft, he was working as a reserve officer. Proof offered at trial confirmed that he operated a luxurious automobile rental enterprise, DriveLA, and had pursued different ventures, together with an app for actors to audition remotely and discussions a few actuality tv mission.
Jurors deliberated for lower than a day earlier than returning responsible verdicts on kidnapping and theft prices. Halem is scheduled to be sentenced on March 31. Prosecutors have stated the charges carry the potential for a life sentence.
A policeman’s oath ‘violation’
In closing arguments, Deputy District Legal professional Jane Brownstone informed jurors that Halem violated the oath he took as a police officer. She pointed to textual content messages despatched after the theft wherein Halem wrote that he was monitoring police radio visitors.
After two alleged accomplices had been arrested, Halem wrote in one other message that he knew they had been “speaking” and that “Somebody I do know fed smart referred to as me,” in response to proof proven in courtroom.
Halem’s legal professional, Megan Maitia, challenged the prosecution’s case and criticized the investigation. She argued that detectives relied on chosen textual content messages drawn from giant volumes of information and didn’t corroborate {the teenager}’s account.
Daniel admitted throughout testimony that he had obtained his bitcoin holdings by way of fraud, although that admission didn’t negate the theft cost.
Maitia additionally questioned the prosecution’s portrayal of the group as organized criminals. Trial testimony indicated that the suspects drove to the scene in a inexperienced Vary Rover and an orange Lamborghini Urus registered to Halem’s rental enterprise and geared up with GPS trackers.
If Halem had deliberate the theft, she requested, why use autos that may very well be traced to him.
Halem didn’t testify, and the protection referred to as no witnesses.
His co-defendants haven’t but stood trial and have maintained their innocence. One in every of them, Gabby Ben, 51, has prior fraud convictions.
