{"id":34313,"date":"2026-08-09T09:40:57","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T04:40:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=34313"},"modified":"2026-08-09T09:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T04:40:57","slug":"ex-lapd-officer-gets-life-sentence-for-crypto-home-invasion-robbery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=34313","title":{"rendered":"Ex-LAPD officer gets life sentence for crypto home invasion robbery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/4399159\/2147483647\/strip\/false\/crop\/3861x2832+0+0\/resize\/1500x1100!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3c%2F7c%2Fdcc2bb0540aabd9959b3212c7133%2F1545428-me-crypto-robbery-lapd-halem-05-mjc.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div data-element=\"story-body\" data-subscriber-content=\"\">\n<p>A former Los Angeles Police Department officer was sentenced Tuesday to life plus 15 years in state prison for his role in a 2024 home invasion robbery in Koreatown in which he and a group of co-conspirators stole $350,000 worth of cryptocurrency from a teenager.<\/p>\n<p>The ex-officer, Eric Halem, made a last-ditch request for new trial that was rejected by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mildred Escobedo. The judge said she wrestled with her decision on Halem\u2019s punishment, changing her mind several times before sentencing him to concurrent life terms for kidnapping and robbery.<\/p>\n<p>Escobedo acknowledged receiving letters from Halem\u2019s family and friends that described him as an honorable, caring man and a loving father. But she said the evidence presented in trial suggested otherwise, revealing a man willing to resort to violence out of \u201csheer and utter greed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, she said, \u201cthere could\u2019ve been no other conclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As she explained her rationale, Halem, who appeared in court in an orange jumpsuit, sat with his head bowed, eyes downcast. <\/p>\n<p>Halem\u2019s attorney, Joseph Weimortz, argued that his client is entitled to a new trial based on several legal missteps by his former lawyers, claiming their lack of familiarity with the state court system led to a failure to call any witnesses or examine key evidence. After the judge forbade them from using certain PowerPoint slides, Halem\u2019s former attorneys decided against presenting an opening statement to jurors, scuttling any possibility of a favorable outcome, Weimortz said.<\/p>\n<p>Escobedo disagreed, saying that the previous attorneys \u201cperformed well above the standard of a reasonably competent attorney\u201d given Halem\u2019s insistence on a speedy trial \u2014 a risky gambit in any criminal case.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe dilemma in this case was not counsel\u2019s ability to perform,\u201d she said. \u201cThe dilemma in this case was the extremely overwhelming evidence against Mr. Halem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Watching from the gallery were several detectives from the LAPD\u2019s Robbery-Homicide Division and Halem\u2019s sister, who wiped tears from her eyes as the sentence was read aloud.<\/p>\n<p>The sister, Alison Halem, said the detectives\u2019 presence in court seemed like an intimidation tactic on what was already a difficult day for their family.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re all devastated and heartbroken and I believe that the truth didn\u2019t come out at the trial,\u201d said Halem\u2019s mother, Randi. \u201cIt was a miscarriage of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Halem will have to complete most of his 15-year term before he begins serving concurrent life sentences, the district attorney\u2019s office said. He will be eligible for parole after seven years, according to the district attorney\u2019s spokesperson.<\/p>\n<p>Halem, 38, was convicted in March, following a two-week trial. A jury found that in December 2024, Halem and three other men posed as police serving a search warrant to enter a high-rise apartment in Koreatown rented by a teenager who had amassed a small fortune in crypto in part by scamming others.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors said the 17-year-old \u2014 sworn in to testify under just his first name, Daniel \u2014 gave up a hard drive containing bitcoin after Halem and his alleged accomplices threatened to kill him.<\/p>\n<p>After deliberating for less than a full day, a jury found Halem guilty of kidnapping and robbery, among other crimes. <\/p>\n<p>Halem had already been gone from the LAPD for nearly two years at the time of the robbery. But the 13-year department veteran was still serving as a reserve officer and had several lucrative side businesses, including renting luxury cars and launching an app that allowed actors to audition remotely. He was also flirting with the idea of developing a reality show about his life, former associates told The Times.<\/p>\n<p>During her closing argument at trial, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jane Brownstone told jurors that Halem had broken the oath he took as a officer to protect and serve the public. According to trial testimony and evidence, Halem and his alleged accomplices drove to Koreatown in a green Range Rover and an orange Lamborghini Urus owned by the former officer\u2019s car rental business, DriveLA.<\/p>\n<p>Wearing vests that identified them as police, they took the elevator to the 18th floor and punched in the access code to the teenager\u2019s apartment, which they\u2019d obtained from a conspirator who\u2019d rented out the unit.<\/p>\n<p>After restraining the teenager\u2019s girlfriend with LAPD-issued handcuffs, the men subdued Daniel, cuffed him and threatened to shoot him if he didn\u2019t give up his hard drive, the two victims testified.<\/p>\n<p>During Tuesday\u2019s sentencing, Escobedo noted Halem had preyed on individuals who \u201cperhaps shouldn\u2019t be seen as victims, because they were criminals themselves,\u201d but that that didn\u2019t excuse his actions. To abuse his power, by masquerading as a police officer, \u201cis heinous and egregious,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>But it didn\u2019t factor into her decision, she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is not that I have a higher standard for Mr. Halem (because he used to be a police officer),\u201d she said. \u201cIt is the facts of this case that are an affront for the court and should be an affront to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Halem still faces pending charges in a separate case for insurance fraud and for another similar crypto-related robbery that was said to have occurred a few days before the Koreatown incident.<\/p>\n<p>Halem argued for leniency through his attorney, telling the court he was a father and the sole breadwinner in his household. Brownstone, the lead prosecutor, questioned the sincerity of that argument, pointing out that the former officer is charged with two serious crimes around Christmastime 2024.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo he was not with his family during the holidays \u2014 he was doing this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>During trial, Halem\u2019s legal team argued that the LAPD had run a sloppy investigation. Investigators cherry-picked from terabytes of data a handful of text messages that they showed to jurors, Halem\u2019s former attorney Megan Maitia argued in her closing remarks.<\/p>\n<p>His co-defendants have yet to stand trial and maintain their innocence. One, Gabby Ben, has twice been convicted of fraud and is alleged to have ties to Israeli organized crime. <\/p>\n<p>At a bail hearing in November, Ben, 51, shrugged and shook his head when Brownstone said he was affiliated with the \u201cIsraeli mafia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After handing down the sentence Tuesday, Escobedo urged Halem to use his time behind bars as an opportunity to grow as a person and earn a college degree.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not going to pretend that this is going to be a lovely experience \u2014 it will not be,\u201d the judge said, but said she wished him luck before asking a deputy to take him away.<\/p>\n<p><i>Times staff writer James Queally contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A former Los Angeles Police Department officer was sentenced Tuesday to life plus 15 years in state prison for his role in a 2024 home invasion robbery in Koreatown in which he and a group of co-conspirators stole $350,000 worth of cryptocurrency from a teenager. The ex-officer, Eric Halem, made a last-ditch request for new&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/c648455\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/3861x2027+0+402\/resize\/1200x630!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3c%2F7c%2Fdcc2bb0540aabd9959b3212c7133%2F1545428-me-crypto-robbery-lapd-halem-05-mjc.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}