Brickbat: Just Keeping Someone Else from Stealing It

Los Angeles Police Department officer Matthew Calleros has been charged with unlawful taking of a vehicle, forging a license plate, false personation and unauthorized disclosure of information from California Department of Motor Vehicle records. Prosecutors say Calleros stole a truck from a dealership in Orange. He later used another officer's ID number to report the truck as recovered and placed a different license plate on the truck. He drove the truck for over a year before being caught. Calleros faces up to four years and four months in prison if convicted.

Comments

[Adans smith]

Blue lives matters version of grand theft auto.

[Brandybuck]

Blue lives matter unless it’s blue lives blocking entry into the capital. So apparently it’s only certain blue lives that matter.

[Jerryskids]

If he stole it from a dealership, he was just cutting out the middleman and avoiding all the hassle of filling out the paperwork for asset-forfeituring it from whoever purchased it so he should be applauded for his efficiency in doing his job.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Gino Gonzalez, a sales manager at the used car lot, told KTLA last November that he remembered Calleros coming in and walking straight to the Silverado, seeming very interested.

Gonzalez says he showed Calleros around the truck, opening the hood and starting the engine. He walked to his office after being asked for the Carfax report, and heard the hood shut before he got to his office door.

Wasn’t that a scene from the 80’s movie The Hidden?

[Bobster0]

Can’t he claim Qualified Immunity? I doubt the courts have a past case where a cop stole a Silverado and drove it for a year. How was the cop to know it was illegal and a violation of anyone’s rights?

[CE]

Sounds like procedures need to be updated and training improved.

[Brandybuck]

The story does not state he has been convicted. He merely faces conviction. It’s up to the police union to decide if they will stand with him or let him claim qualified immunity on his own.

[mad.casual]

Whether he gets convicted or not, he’s a chump for doing it for a used Silverado.

[Reasonably]

This !

Oh, and it’s not clear, but he’s been “assigned to home” which I interpret as he’s still being paid, that’s the real tragedy here.

[A Cynic's Guide to Zen]

“Can I help you find something in your price range, Officer?”
“Lol, okay. Let’s pretend I’m buying this.”

[CE]

Does this still count on the department’s stats for solving crimes?

[DFG]

This is sure to cost him several vacation days. Not to mention the training in anti-theft procedures he’ll have to undergo.