COMPTON : Ex-Officer Sentenced for Stealing From Motorists

An former Compton police officer wept Monday as a judge sentenced her to a year in County Jail and five years probation for stealing from motorists she stopped.

“You want me to sit here and tell you that I committed these crimes,” a sobbing Charmagne Drew told Superior Court Judge Michael Tynan. “If that is what is needed to gain my freedom and see my family, then that is what I will do.

“Somehow, I don’t believe that will even be enough,” said Drew, 28.

Tynan said he was convinced that Drew is “seriously distressed and needs help. The court feels that a state prison sentence would be destructive of Ms. Drew.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Gail Ehrlich wanted the judge to sentence Drew to a maximum 40-month term in state prison.

Drew was convicted in December on three of five grand theft counts of stealing from drivers she had pulled over. The ex-officer, who was sent to state prison for three months of diagnostic testing, was fired by the Compton Police Department in December, 1991.

During her testimony, Drew accused four of her victims of lying. She was caught when officers set up a sting. The jury found her guilty of taking $300.