LAPD Officer Charged With Extortion Plot

A Los Angeles Police Department motorcycle officer faces extortion and robbery charges for allegedly plotting with five people to steal $1 million from a Lakewood real estate broker, authorities said Monday.

Melvin Boyd, 37, was the only law enforcement officer involved in the alleged scheme, according to the Sheriff’s Department, which investigated the case. The others, two women and three men, were detained, then released. No charges have been filed against them.

Boyd, a 12-year veteran, is the third LAPD officer this month to be arrested in a series of unrelated cases. Another LAPD officer on Saturday fatally shot his former girlfriend’s new boyfriend before committing suicide.

“For a department like the LAPD, it’s heart-wrenching,” said LAPD spokesman Lt. Horace Frank, referring to the recent spate of bad news. “It’s just not the kind of thing we stand for. People of this community depend on us. . . . Anything that detracts from our ability to provide service is not good.”

Frank said the LAPD is conducting an internal affairs investigation into Boyd’s alleged conduct, in addition to the Sheriff Department’s criminal probe.

Sheriff’s detectives launched their investigation after a Lakewood real estate agent called authorities May 24 to report that he had been robbed in his office. The man, whose name was not released, said his watch and some cash were taken by two men posing as police officers. One of those men was Boyd, authorities allege.

The victim said he was told to meet the robbers the next day at a Los Angeles police station with $1 million in cash, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

Authorities would not disclose why the victim would have considered obeying their alleged demand.

On May 25, sheriff’s investigators arrested five suspects when they allegedly attempted to pick up the money: Kristina Dillon, 18; Milargo Santamaria, 20; Walter Duarte, 38; Arturo Castro, 37, and Terrayne Evans, 26.

Boyd was arrested June 15 at his Inglewood home after a Sheriff’s Department investigation. He remains on paid leave from the LAPD.

“We did not want to believe a police officer was involved,” said Det. Edward Godfrey of the sheriff’s major crimes unit, who investigated the case. “But if they’re bad, they have to go down.”

Boyd, who most recently worked in the department’s West Bureau Traffic Division, was released on bond and faces arraignment July 6. He could not be reached for comment Monday.

According to internal LAPD documents, Boyd had been involved in a few incidents that resulted in recommendations that he be disciplined. The most serious occurred Oct. 24, 1998, when Boyd, while off duty, allegedly “engaged in activity which was not consistent with [his] duty status,” records show. Although the misconduct is not detailed in the police documents, records show that department officials recommended a 10-day suspension for Boyd. It is unclear whether the suspension was imposed.

Boyd also was involved in a shooting while patrolling the Rampart area in May 1997. Boyd shot at a suspect who was allegedly trying to run him off the road, records show. The suspect was uninjured but was later arrested by Rampart’s anti-gang CRASH officers.

The recent LAPD arrests began June 8 when Officer Ruben Palomares was arrested on federal drug trafficking charges after allegedly trying to purchase 10 kilograms of cocaine from an undercover drug agent. Palomares, who is in custody in San Diego, also is a suspect in the stabbing death of a Huntington Park man, police said. Once assigned to the troubled Rampart Division, Palomares was stationed in the Northeast Division at the time of his arrest.

On the same day, LAPD Sgt. Kurt Blodgett allegedly tried to steal electronic equipment from an Anaheim store. Department spokesman Frank said Blodgett had an undercover assignment. Two weeks later, Officer Geno Colello, who worked in Rampart, fatally shot a Simi Valley man before committing suicide.

Frank said the incidents have a demoralizing impact on the entire police force. “The last thing I want to be doing is to be responding to this kind of stuff,” he said.