Officer Allegedly Was Planning to Steal More Drugs

A Long Beach police officer accused of stealing six kilograms of cocaine from an undercover law enforcement agent was contemplating two other narcotics thefts before his arrest, a federal prosecutor said Friday.

Officer Julio A. Alcaraz, 36, was taken into custody early Thursday following a nearly three-year investigation into allegations that he was stealing narcotics from drug dealers while on patrol in his police cruiser.

At a bail hearing Friday, Assistant U.S. Atty. Jeffrey Rawitz called the 11-year police veteran a danger to the community and a flight risk.

If convicted, he noted, Alcaraz faces a mandatory term of at least 15 years in prison.

U.S. Magistrate James McMahon agreed with the prosecution and ordered Alcaraz held without bond.

In wiretapped conversations with a government informant, Rawitz told the judge, Alcaraz spoke about luring a known drug dealer to Long Beach where he planned to stop him for a bogus traffic violation and steal his narcotics.

Alcaraz also confided to the informant that he planned to burglarize the home of a neighbor where he thought he would find at least 10 kilos of cocaine, the prosecutor said.

Neither crime occurred, but Rawitz cited the conversations to rebut a defense argument that Alcaraz had no predisposition to commit a crime and that Alcaraz was “set up” by government agents only after a fruitless 34-month investigation.

Also held without bond Friday was Alcaraz’s alleged confederate, Ismael Rodriguez, 35, of Compton, who was arrested after a high-speed police chase.

Both men are charged with conspiracy to possess cocaine for sale and use of a gun in the commission of a crime.