Defense Grills Witness at Trial of 2 Officers : Credibility: Alleged victim of robbery by police admits being a liar, drug addict, burglar and robber.

An illegal alien in jail for burglary testified Thursday that he was kidnaped and robbed by two San Diego police officers last year, but his testimony was sharply attacked by defense attorneys, who challenged his credibility because of his past drug activities and his habit of lying to police and on the witness stand.

Arturo Romero Garcia was the first in a series of undocumented workers to testify in San Diego Superior Court in the trial of officers Lloyd J. Hoff and Richard P. Schaaf.

Wearing blue jail garb, with a chain around his waist, Garcia spoke through an interpreter as he described how he was detained by the officers and later robbed of his money last August. He said that, although Schaaf did not speak to him or rob him, Hoff took his money, throwing five one dollar bills into the air before pocketing the remaining $30.

“He gestured like he was throwing the other $30 in bills away, but then he turned around and put them in his pocket,” Garcia said. “And then he was laughing.”

The district attorney’s office contends that the officers, who are now on voluntary leave from the Police Department, kidnaped Garcia and two other undocumented workers downtown, drove them in the patrol car to remote areas and then robbed two of the undocumented workers.

If convicted on the felony charges, the officers could receive sentences of life in prison.

The officers’ attorneys insist that no robberies took place, and that Hoff and Schaaf drove them out of downtown as part of a Police Department policy to rid the commercial district of transients, homeless and illegal aliens.

The defense attorneys also questioned Garcia closely about his past activities as a drug user and his admission that he has lied in the past to police and committed perjury in earlier court hearings.

During long periods of cross-examination, Garcia admitted being a heavy user of heroin and cocaine, and sometimes would smile coyly when acknowledging his drug activities. At one point he displayed needle “tracks” on his left forearm, then admitted that he mostly shoots heroin into his right arm.

Garcia also acknowledged that he has used dozens of aliases, and that he frequently has lied to police and court officials about his true name, his date of birth, his place of birth and even whether he is from Mexico or Guatemala.

He said he was arrested three times last year for burglarizing cars in San Diego, Los Angeles and Glendale, and that he is serving a four- to six-month sentence. He said he was convicted in 1988 of robbery in Yakima, Wash., and that over the last two years he was arrested for possession of heroin and cocaine.

He said he once was held several days on “a serious matter” in San Diego last summer, which attorneys said outside the courtroom was the murder of a transient in Balboa Park. But they said that Garcia never was charged with the slaying.

Garcia also acknowledged on the stand that he lied to police Internal Affairs investigators probing the Hoff and Schaaf case when he misspoke about some details, such as how much money was taken.

“You lie to the police, don’t you?” asked Everett Bobbitt, the attorney representing Schaaf.

“Yes,” Garcia said, squirming in his chair and declining to elaborate.

During a break in the proceedings, Craig Rooten, an assistant district attorney, said that, although Garcia does have character flaws, there is no doubt that he is speaking the truth about being robbed by Hoff and Schaaf. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t be going through all this,” he said.

The trial continues at 10 a.m. today with testimony from another of the alleged victims, Rolando Carrera Reyes. He also is in jail on drug charges, and in fact was arrested on outstanding warrants when he appeared in the courthouse to testify in the preliminary hearing in the case.

Rooten said the third alleged victim, Ramiro Rodriguez, cannot be located and therefore will probably not testify.