CHP Tells of Bogus Calls Claiming Fund-Raising for Officer’s Family

CHP officials said they received three complaints Tuesday from area residents who reported getting phone calls from people claiming to be soliciting money for the family of slain Officer Don Burt.

The complaints came to the CHP’s San Juan Capistrano office and prompted officers to stage a stakeout at the home of one of the potential victims late Tuesday, to no avail, said Angel Johnson, a spokeswoman for the CHP in Orange County.

“This particular caller told the lady in South County that he was soliciting money for the slain officer and his family, but it’s a fraud,” Johnson said, “And we had a couple of other calls like that [Tuesday].

“Obviously, the California Highway Patrol does not call up people soliciting money.”

CHP officers waited for hours outside the woman’s home in an attempt to catch “the messenger” who told her he would come to her home to pick up a donation, but, Johnson said, the so-called messenger never materialized.

Burt was shot to death during a traffic stop just off the Orange Freeway late Saturday.

Residents wishing to donate to the officer’s family should send contributions to only one place, Johnson said: the Don Burt Memorial Fund, 2031 E. Santa Clara Ave., Santa Ana, CA 92705.