Dignitary’s Shoplifting Case Dismissed

Despite objections by the prosecutors, a Municipal Court judge Wednesday dismissed a grand theft charge against a former Japanese dignitary whose shoplifting case was initially dropped after Mayor Tom Bradley contacted police at Los Angeles International Airport.

Judge Ronald Schoenberg granted a request for a “civil compromise” by defense attorneys representing Yukio Umemura, 59, and ordered him to pay $300 in court costs. Lawyers for Umemura, who resigned in disgrace as chairman of the Nagoya City Assembly after the April 14 incident, told Schoenberg that an agreement had been worked out between Umemura and the airport vendor, Duty Free Shoppers Ltd., not to prosecute the case.

Umemura, who did not qualify for diplomatic immunity as a Japanese city official, was detained by airport police after he allegedly took two Gucci wallets and a brown leather purse valued at $450 from the duty-free shop at the airport. Within hours of the arrest, the case was dropped after a phone call by Bradley to police and a meeting between a top Bradley aide, Umemura, two police sergeants and Duty Free officials.

City Atty. James K. Hahn said Wednesday that his office wanted to prosecute Umemura on a misdemeanor count that would have carried a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

“The public interest is not vindicated by civil compromises in shoplifting cases because shoplifting burdens all consumers who have to ultimately pay the bill for losses caused to businesses by shoplifters,” Hahn said. “And in this case, where the property was recovered, the damage clearly was not to the victim, Duty Free Shoppers, but to the public.”

Umemura did not appear in court Wednesday. He had planned to fly to Los Angeles if the judge had ordered a trial, said his attorney, Jeanne Rowzee.

Umemura’s relationship with Bradley was the prime motivation behind the city attorney’s decision to file the theft charge, Rowzee said. “We think the case took on a life of its own,” she said. “I’ve never seen so much ado about an alleged misdemeanor.”

And, according to a court declaration filed in July by a lawyer for Duty Free, the firm did not want to pursue the theft case against Umemura.

But Duty Free officials should have had no say in deciding whether to prosecute Umemura, said Deputy City Atty. Asha Saund, who handled the case.

“This isn’t the first time we have prosecuted a case with unwilling victims,” Saund said. Duty Free officials had initially wanted to press charges against Umemura, according to police reports, but changed their minds after conferring with Jeffrey Matsui, a top aide to the mayor who arrived at the airport to assist Umemura.

Matsui and Bradley have refused to discuss their involvement in the case. A spokesman for the mayor has said that Bradley did not seek to influence the case in any way.