Eric Halem, a former Los Angeles Police Division officer with 13 years of expertise, was sentenced for orchestrating a faux police raid that ended with the theft of $350,000 in BTC from a teenage crypto investor.
Halem was sentenced to life in jail plus one other 15 years for his position within the violent house invasion, which turned one of the crucial high-profile crypto-related theft instances lately.
Halem remained a reserve officer on the time of the crime and was convicted of kidnapping and theft after a jury discovered that he and several other accomplices impersonated precise law enforcement officials to realize entry to the sufferer’s condominium in late 2024.
Prosecutors argued that the group entered a high-rise condominium in Los Angeles’ Koreatown whereas sporting police-identifying vests and carrying LAPD-issued handcuffs. They restrained {the teenager} and his girlfriend and threatened to shoot them in the event that they didn’t give entry to a tough drive containing $350,000 value of bitcoin.
“It’s not that I’ve a better commonplace for Mr. Halem (as a result of he was a police officer); it’s the info of this case which can be an affront to the court docket and must be an affront to the general public,” commented Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom Decide Mildred Escobedo.
Apparently, the sufferer admitted in the course of the course of that his BTC earnings got here from fraudulent exercise, which was the protection’s primary counterargument. Escobedo, then again, responded that this doesn’t excuse Halem’s actions and should nonetheless be held accountable.
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