D.A. Probes Possible Fraud by Police Assn.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office is investigating whether the head of a police officers association fraudulently solicited donations from thousands of people over the last 2 1/2 years.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Julie Sergojan said Thursday that criminal charges may be filed within a few weeks against David Bruce Deluca, president of the Los Angeles County Police Officers Assn. Ball.

Deluca’s group raised about $300,000 or more using “deceptive” techniques, said Sergojan, a member of the district attorney’s major fraud division. She said the group’s solicitors would telephone people at random and claim to be a charitable group holding a ball or variety show that would raise money for organizations such as the City of Hope or the Crippled Children’s Fund.

“The money actually went to fund a gym and equipment” in the San Gabriel Valley for members, Sergojan said, “where they could work out,”

Athletic Contest

The money also sponsored some members’ participation in the Police Olympics, which is an athletic contest for police officers, Sergojan said.

But there were not many members, she noted.

“From what we can tell, the people receiving money or benefits were a handful of six to 12 people,” Sergojan said.

She believes that the group raised “perhaps $10,000 a month” over a 30-month period. The rental costs for the gym ran “about $500 to $600 a month.”

Using what she described as “boiler-room techniques . . . use of 40 to 50 people (hired to sit) in a room all day long phoning the public at random,” Sergojan said, “representations were made that this was a nonprofit charitable organization.”

“At this point, we can find no verification that they were a nonprofit, charitable organization. We believe they were not,” she said.

The organization is not listed in state or federal records required for such groups, she said.

Prosecutors believe, she added, that the hired telephone solicitors “led people to believe they were police officers.” The group also used a name that was similar to the Peace Officers Assn. of Los Angeles County, Sergojan added, a benevolent organization “which is run by the Sheriff’s Department union.”

“People (they contacted) felt it was the same organization. A lot felt they were giving to that organization,” she said.

Worked for RTD

Attempts to reach Deluca Thursday were unsuccessful. Sergojan described him as a former Rapid Transit District police officer currently working in Los Angeles for the U.S. inspector general.

No other officers involved with the group are being considered for prosecution “at this time,” Sergojan said. Records of the group show that members have included two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, one U.S. marshal and one Whittier police officer, she said. Investigators have been told that “some of them have claimed to have resigned,” Sergojan said.

The allegedly bogus solicitations came to the attention of the district attorney’s office through the City of Hope, Sergojan said.

“We received a complaint from them that their name was being used,” she said. “They said this group was not authorized to solicit in their behalf nor were they receiving any money from them.”