D.A.’s Agent Pleads Guilty to Extortion : Courts: Caught in a federal probe, senior investigator admits using his official position to shake down people for money.

A senior investigator in the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office has pleaded guilty to two federal criminal counts of using his official position in an extortion attempt, authorities said Wednesday.

Gary P. Mok, 47, a criminal investigator for 10 years, admitted after his Nov. 17 arrest that he “had been taking money for ‘favors’ for about the past five years,” according to an affidavit filed in federal court by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent John M. Whelan.

Mok was arrested after an elaborate undercover investigation by federal authorities, who said they had knowledge that he was illegally using his badge to collect money from people for a share of the proceeds.

After his arrest, Mok resigned from the district attorney’s office. He confessed to Internal Affairs investigators that that he was deeply in debt to loan sharks. Authorities later found evidence of other illegal money collections during a search of Mok’s Alhambra house, according to the affidavit.

Mok, who did not return calls seeking comment, has agreed to cooperate with authorities in unspecified ongoing investigations, according to court documents. He is scheduled to be sentenced in June.

During the investigation, a federal agent and an informant posed as businessmen, one of whom went to Mok to ask his help in getting the other to give back $60,000 he allegedly embezzled from their international import-export business.

Mok said he would help--for a third of the proceeds and expenses for him and his colleagues, according to an affidavit filed in federal court. Mok eventually got the alleged embezzler to give back about $30,000, and was arrested by federal agents after accepting his 30% cut, about $9,000, according to Whelan. Mok had already received $1,500 for “expenses,” and had cashed the check, the affidavit and criminal complaint state.

Mok pleaded guilty Dec. 4 to wrongfully obtaining $1,500 in cash “under color of official right,” and then illegally attempting to obtain a $9,000 cashier’s check as part of his payment, court records show.

As part of a deal in which Mok agreed to cooperate with federal authorities, U.S. District Judge Harry L. Hupp set sentencing for June to give Mok time to assist authorities.

However, Mok’s lawyer, John Meyers, said Mok would not be cooperating with authorities and that he acted alone in the extortion case. “He sure as hell had a lot of bills and owed a lot of money,” Meyers said.

District attorney’s spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons declined to comment on whether her office would review the last five years of Mok’s record.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Christopher D. Johnson, who prosecuted Mok, declined to comment on the case.

Court documents and two federal agents with knowledge of the case indicated that Mok appeared to work with at least one associate, but that no one else from the district attorney’s office was involved in his alleged extortion attempts. The agents also said they believe no authorities from other law enforcement agencies were involved, and that Mok worked by himself to pay off debts.

Federal agents said they went after Mok after developing information that he was using his authority--and his badge--to intimidate people during the collection of loans and debts in exchange for a cut of the proceeds. Sources close to the investigation and court records indicated that federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents became involved first; one of them served undercover as the businessman who had been cheated by a colleague.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the district attorney’s office also were involved in the investigation.

“The whole [undercover operation] was fictitious,” said one source. “Authorities wanted to see if he went for it, and he did.”

During the investigation, federal and county investigators created a bogus import-export business, including false business license applications, business licenses, bank accounts and other supporting documentation to substantiate the debt that Mok was supposed to collect, court documents show.

Mok told the undercover agent that he would try to collect the debt “the right way--first,” by approaching the alleged embezzler, the affidavit indicates. If that didn’t work, according to the affidavit, then Mok and an associate said they “could get ‘several guys from Santa Ana’ to come up and solve the problem,” Whelan said.

Authorities later determined that to mean Mok would use organized crime members, perhaps from Vietnamese gangs in Orange County.

During many meetings with the undercover agent and an informant, Mok showed his district attorney’s credentials and gave out his work number, authorities said.