Former Los Angeles Police Department reserve officer Eric Halem has been sentenced to life in prison plus 15 years for kidnapping and robbing a 17-year-old of a hard drive containing about $350,000 (£262,000) worth of Bitcoin.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mildred Escobedo handed down the sentence on Tuesday after rejecting Halem’s request for a new trial over the December 2024 home invasion in Koreatown, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Court records cited by the newspaper show that Halem received concurrent life sentences for kidnapping and robbery, followed by an additional 15-year prison term.
During the hearing, Judge Escobedo rejected arguments from the defence that Halem’s original lawyers had failed to call witnesses or properly examine important evidence. She said the evidence presented at trial showed Halem had acted out of “sheer and utter greed”, adding that there could have been no other conclusion based on the facts before the court.
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office told the Los Angeles Times that Halem must serve most of the 15-year term before beginning the concurrent life sentences. The spokesperson said he will be eligible for parole after seven years.
The sentence follows Halem’s conviction in March, when a jury found him guilty after a two-week trial.
Prosecutors said Halem and three alleged co-conspirators entered a high-rise apartment in Los Angeles and threatened to kill the victim unless he handed over the hard drive. The device contained approximately $350,000 in Bitcoin.
Evidence presented during the trial showed that the teenager, who was identified only as Daniel during the proceedings, surrendered the hard drive after being threatened.
Although Halem had left the Los Angeles Police Department almost two years before the robbery, the Los Angeles Times reported that he was still working as a reserve officer when the crime took place.
Halem also faces separate criminal cases involving alleged insurance fraud and another crypto-related robbery, according to the newspaper. His three co-defendants have not yet gone to trial.
The case comes as authorities in the United States continue to investigate violent crimes involving cryptocurrency holders.
Earlier this month, federal prosecutors in Connecticut charged three men from Missouri with allegedly planning a home invasion intended to force a victim to transfer Bitcoin. The US Department of Justice said Sedric Louis, John Davis and Martel Williams travelled to Connecticut in August 2024, rented vehicles, obtained air rifles and walkie-talkies, and monitored their intended target and his parents.
Prosecutors said the men abandoned the plan after becoming concerned that security cameras had recorded them.
The Justice Department said that conspiracy investigation forms part of a wider inquiry connected to a later kidnapping in Danbury. In that case, another group allegedly targeted the parents of a person linked to the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin.
Louis, Davis and Williams have pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors have secured guilty pleas from Adam Iza and Saif Faiq in related Hobbs Act conspiracy cases.
Several months earlier, federal prosecutors charged three men from Tennessee over another alleged cryptocurrency robbery operation in California.
The Justice Department alleged that Elijah Armstrong, Nino Chindavanh and Jayden Rucker posed as delivery workers to gain entry, or attempt to gain entry, to homes in San Francisco, San Jose, Sunnyvale and Los Angeles. Prosecutors said victims were restrained with firearms, duct tape and zip ties before being ordered to provide access to cryptocurrency accounts.
In one alleged incident, a victim was forced to log into crypto accounts while another participant transferred about $6.5m in digital assets to a wallet controlled by the group. All three defendants have pleaded not guilty and remain presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
The California and Connecticut cases are among a number of recent investigations in which authorities say cryptocurrency investors were targeted because of their digital holdings rather than conventional valuables.
Federal prosecutors have increasingly used Hobbs Act robbery charges in cases involving alleged kidnappings and forced cryptocurrency transfers. State prosecutors have also brought separate robbery and kidnapping charges where the evidence supports them.
Authorities outside the US have reported similar attacks. French prosecutors have charged dozens of suspects in separate investigations involving alleged kidnappings and attempts to force victims to surrender access to cryptocurrency wallets. Investigators have warned that organised groups are combining violence with digital theft methods.
