NORTHRIDGE : Charges Sought Against Ex-LAPD Officer in Sting

Sheriff’s investigators are seeking criminal charges against a former Los Angeles Police Department detective who was caught during a sting operation targeting the illegal purchase of confidential criminal justice information from police, sources said Wednesday.

County prosecutors have been asked to file felony charges against 26-year LAPD veteran Robert Muldrew, a robbery detective at the Devonshire Division in Northridge until he retired 10 days after the sting, sources said.

Muldrew is suspected of illegally obtaining two driver’s license photos from the Department of Motor Vehicles, which he allegedly sold to a confidential informant through Investigations West, a private detective agency that has since closed.

The Sheriff’s Department is in charge of the case because Investigations West was based in Calabasas and Westlake Village.

The investigation is at least the third of its kind in recent years.

LAPD Officer Walter Ray Bentley also retired earlier this year while under investigation for allegedly selling information to a firm headed by Daniel Sullivan, a former deputy police chief. Sullivan pleaded no contest in September to five misdemeanor counts involving illegal possession of criminal records at his company. Bentley is awaiting trial.

In the Muldrew case, deputies set up a sting operation after gathering evidence of what they said was a pattern of illegal activity by Investigations West.