3 Deputies, Man Charged in Credit Card Case : Crime: The suspects ran up more than $55,000 on cards stolen from elderly drivers in trumped-up traffic stops, prosecutors say.

Three Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies and an Alhambra computer technician were charged Tuesday with running a stolen credit card ring that pilfered cards from elderly motorists and used them to buy stereos, skis and even a U. S. Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal.

Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner said the deputies, operating out of the Temple City substation, charged more than $55,000 to stolen cards that belonged to 19 victims, most of them elderly men stopped on trumped-up traffic offenses.

One 81-year-old victim said he was pulled over and robbed on his way to the mortuary to pick out music for his wife’s funeral. Another, a retired San Gabriel schoolteacher, said he suspected foul play when the deputy asked him to empty his pockets, but complied because “it was only a week or two after the Rodney King beating, and I was a little afraid.”

The charges--which capped a five-month investigation--were the latest in a wave of misconduct allegations against members of the Sheriff’s Department. The department has been involved in four controversial fatal shootings in the past month, and trials are under way in a massive money-skimming scandal that already has brought prison terms for seven narcotics deputies.

Nonetheless, Undersheriff Robert Edmonds, who discussed the credit card case at a joint press conference with Reiner, reiterated Sheriff Sherman Block’s opinion that the department has no need for an audit of the sort made of the Los Angeles Police Department by the Christopher Commission after the beating of King.

“I believe the vast majority of the public still trusts law enforcement,” Edmonds said.

Named in the 56-count complaint were deputies Steven Switzer, 31, of Glendale; Brent Mosley, 27, of Rancho Cucamonga, and Edward A. Perez, 35, of Rialto, along with Mario Rendon, a 35-year-old Dow Jones computer technician described by authorities as a friend of Perez.

All four are scheduled to be arraigned today in Los Angeles Municipal Court on charges of grand theft and forgery. Each faces a maximum penalty of six years imprisonment.

Authorities said the investigation began in April with a letter from retired schoolteacher Robert Wick, who was pulled over by Switzer on his way home from the bank.

“He told me a blue Volvo had been reported to be driving recklessly down Rosemead, and was that me, and did I drink,” recalled the 68-year-old Wick in a telephone interview. “Then he said, ‘Empty your pockets and get out of the car.’ Well, I knew that was wrong, but he had his hand on his gun, and it was only a week or two after the Rodney King beating, and I was a little afraid.”

Wick said he initially suspected the deputy was posing as a law enforcement officer, but he didn’t call the police because, when he counted his cash, no money was missing. It wasn’t until 10 days later, he said, that he realized he had been robbed: His bank called to say he had exceeded the limit on his Visa card, which he said he rarely used.

A review of his bill revealed that $7,851 worth of merchandise had been charged to Wick, beginning the evening of the traffic stop with a $997.11 shopping spree at a Sports Chalet.

“The credit card company told me it would cost me nothing and they’d take care of it,” he said, “but I was just so incensed at being conned that I wrote to Sheriff Sherman Block.”

The letter, along with complaints from another motorist, prompted an investigation that led in late June to the arrests of Mosley, Switzer and five members of Switzer’s family, including his wife and in-laws. Prosecutors said the five family members have not been charged with any crime but remain under investigation.

Perez and Rendon were arrested Aug. 12. All of those charged Tuesday are free on bail.

Seized in the wake of the arrests were truckloads of electronics gear, appliances, toys and other items, including a Good Conduct Medal bought from the Naval Quartermaster in Long Beach and a photograph of Perez wearing it, prosecutors said.

“They hit every Silo (discount electronics outlet) from San Bernardino to Burbank,” Reiner said, adding that Switzer charged his children’s beds on a stolen card.

Reiner said the deputies sometimes had Rendon make the purchases so that if a sales clerk questioned the validity of the charge card, they could flash their badges, announce a “sting” operation was under way and pretend to arrest Rendon. However, Reiner said, sales clerks never questioned the use of the cards.

“These are bad cops . . . but they were ferreted out by good cops,” Reiner said--a sentiment with which at least one victim agreed.

“You can’t blame a whole department just because one person does a wrong thing,” said 81-year-old Earl Fraisl of Covina, whose credit card was taken after a deputy stopped him en route to a San Gabriel Valley funeral home on the pretext that he had been seen tossing beer bottles out of his car window. “I surely do want that man punished,” Fraisl said, “but we still have to have law and order.”