Former LAPD officer found guilty of kidnapping teen in crypto robbery: report
A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury on Monday found Eric Halem, a 38-year-old former Los Angeles Police Department officer, guilty of kidnapping and robbery for stealing $350,000 in bitcoin from a 17-year-old in 2024.
The verdict followed a two-week trial detailing a home invasion in which Halem and three other men posed as police officers to gain entry to the victim's high-rise apartment in Koreatown, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times. Halem was first charged in the case in August last year.
Prosecutors said the 17-year-old, who testified under the first name Daniel, handed over a hard drive containing the bitcoin after the men threatened to kill him.
According to trial testimony and evidence cited by the LA Times, Halem and his alleged accomplices arrived at the building wearing vests identifying them as police. The group then took the elevator to the 18th floor and entered the apartment using an access code provided by a conspirator who had rented the unit to the teenager.
Once inside, the men restrained the teenager's girlfriend with LAPD-issued handcuffs, subdued Daniel, and placed him in cuffs before demanding for the hard drive, per the report.
Halem's attorney, Megan Maitia, said during closing arguments that the teenager admitted on the witness stand to obtaining his crypto fortune through fraud, though that admission did not alter the robbery charge.
Halem served 13 years in the LAPD and left the department in 2022. At the time of the robbery, he was still serving as a reserve officer and was also running car rental business DriveLA, developing an app for actors, and exploring the idea of a reality television show about his life, according to the report.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 31. His co-defendants in the case have not yet stood trial, and prosecutors have alleged that one of them is affiliated with the so-called "Israeli mafia."
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