Ex-LAPD Officer Gets Life in Prison for Posing as Police to Steal $350K Worth of BTC
A former Los Angeles Police Department officer has been sentenced to life in prison plus 15 years for orchestrating a fake police raid that ended with the theft of $350,000 worth of BTC from a teenage crypto investor.
Eric Halem, who had 13 years of experience as a LAPD officer, remained a reserve officer at the time of the crime and was convicted of kidnapping and robbery after a jury found that he and several accomplices impersonated actual police officers to gain access to the victim's apartment in late 2024.
Prosecutors argued that the group entered a high-rise apartment in Los Angeles' Koreatown while wearing police-identifying vests and carrying LAPD-issued handcuffs. They restrained the teenager and his girlfriend and threatened to shoot them if they didn't give access to a hard drive containing $350,000 worth of BTC.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mildred Escobedo commented that Halem's actions were 'an affront to the court and should be an affront to the public.'