Ex-Compton Police Officer Charged With Stealing Money From Motorists

A former Compton police officer was charged with five counts of theft Tuesday for allegedly stopping motorists while on duty, asking for their wallets and then stealing their money.

Charmagne Yvonne Drew, 25, is expected to surrender this morning at the Compton police station. On Tuesday, the district attorney’s office issued a warrant for her arrest.

Drew was a rookie officer who had been with the Compton Police Department for less than a year when the alleged thefts began in August, 1991. She was fired in December after an administrative hearing.

The charges against her are similar to a recent case involving three Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who were convicted of stopping elderly motorists, stealing their credit cards and racking up thousands of dollars of purchases. But authorities were reluctant to label the Drew case a copycat crime.

“I have no idea,” said Compton Sgt. Barry Lobel, who investigated the Drew case. “They were taking credit cards. She was taking cash.”

According to Lobel, most of Drew’s alleged victims were Spanish-speaking immigrants. He said he was not sure if Drew trumped up the charges on which she stopped the alleged victims, although in only one case did she issue a ticket.

The thefts were brought to the attention of the Compton Police Department in September, after one of the alleged victims complained.

In November, the department conducted a sting operation in which an undercover officer from another department posed as a stranded motorist. When Drew stopped to assist the “motorist,” she allegedly asked to see his wallet and then took $300 in marked money.

The five-count criminal complaint against Drew alleges that she committed similar thefts against four civilians, taking anywhere from $80 to $310 in each instance.