By Brittny Mejia, Keri Blakinger and Matthew Ormseth | LA Times
Federal prosecutors unveiled charges Monday against four former law enforcement and military officers accused of using threats to extort an Irvine man for nearly $37 million, plus his lucrative business.
The men, whom officials dubbed a “mercenary group,” allegedly entered the victim’s home in 2019 under the guise of a legitimate law enforcement operation. They detained the victim, his wife and their two sons for hours, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.
Their target — identified only as Victim 1 — was allegedly slammed against a wall, choked and threatened with being deported.
The raid was allegedly financed by a wealthy Chinese national — an unindicted co-conspirator — with whom the victim shared the business. The two had an ongoing dispute regarding their ownership interests, prosecutors said.
The indictment, filed Aug. 1, charges Steven Arthur Lankford, 68, a retired Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy who stopped working for the department in 2020; and Glen Louis Cozart, 63, of Upland, a former Sheriff’s Department deputy, with conspiracy to commit extortion, attempted extortion, conspiracy against rights and deprivation of rights under color of law.
Read the full indictment here.
Read more at: LA Times
