Police Officer Accused of Pocketing Hit Man Fee

A Santa Monica police officer faces arraignment today on charges he masqueraded as a contract killer and pocketed a $7,500 hit fee, authorities said.

Kenneth Maurice Scott, 41, was arrested Thursday by Beverly Hills police after a five-month investigation. Scott was ordered held on $250,000 bail and scheduled for arraignment in Beverly Hills Court this morning.

Police, who described the case as a bizarre mix of double-dealing and embezzlement, said it began with a bank employee’s efforts to hide her theft. It culminated in the arrest of an officer whom colleagues described as a well-liked patrolman who specializes in DUI cases and plays on the department’s basketball team.

According to the district attorney’s office, Sheila Holden Hamilton, 42, an employee of City National Bank in Beverly Hills, encouraged her mechanic to open a $40,000 savings account, and then embezzled more than $33,000 of it. She then appealed to a friend, Cynthia Lockhart, 43, for help finding someone to kill the mechanic, authorities said.

Lockhart allegedly suggested Scott, her former boyfriend. Scott, who assumed the persona of hit man “Lorenzo Wright” on the phone to Hamilton, agreed to do the job for $7,500, authorities said. After Hamilton had mailed him the cash, Scott revealed himself to be a police officer, refused to kill the mechanic and kept the money, the district attorney’s office said.

Scott and Lockhart have been charged with conspiracy to defraud another of property, grand theft and receiving stolen goods. Hamilton has been charged with solicitation of murder and grand theft.

Arrangements have been made for the two women to surrender to police at a later date, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.

Scott had been placed on administrative leave during the investigation and was not in uniform when he was arrested, Gallinot said.