RANDY ECONOMY: MY WORLD: OFFICER JEFF STENROOS: LAUSD Officer Convicted in Hoax Shooting that caused chaos all over the San Fernando Valley.

Monday, September 12, 2011

OFFICER JEFF STENROOS: LAUSD Officer Convicted in Hoax Shooting that caused chaos all over the San Fernando Valley.

Image via WikipediaVAN NUYS – The LAUSD police officer charged with staging a shooting hoax in January that launched a massive manhunt was found guilty today on five counts in a non-jury trial, the District Attorney’s office announced.

Deputy District Attorney Paul Nunez with the Justice System Integrity Division said Judge Richard Kirschner found Jeff Stenroos guilty of insurance fraud, workers’ compensation fraud, preparing false documentary evidence and planting false evidence – all felonies. He was also found guilty of one misdemeanor count of falsely reporting an emergency.

The 31-year-old officer, who has been free on bond during the court trial, was taken into immediate custody. Judge Kirschner ordered that he be sent to state prison for a 90-day evaluation on whether he should be sentenced to prison or receive probation. Stenroos returns to court Dec. 14 for sentencing.

Judge Kirschner has not ruled on count 1, preparing a false police report. The judge ordered both the prosecution and defense to file written briefs on whether the law states that preparing a false police report has to be written or given orally.

Stenroos was convicted of faking his own shooting while he was on duty at El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills on Jan. 19. Shortly after 11:30 a.m., a Good Samaritan spotted Stenroos lying on the ground near his open car door and called for help.

Stenroos allegedly told fellow officers that a car burglary suspect shot him once in the chest as he was patrolling the campus perimeter. More than 550 law enforcement officers throughout Southern California responded and conducted a 10-hour search, shutting down an eight-square-mile area in the Valley.

An indictment charged Stenroos, who was treated and released from Northridge Medical Center the day of the alleged hoax, with insurance fraud for seeking medical treatment for injuries he never sustained. The following weekend, Stenroos checked himself into Henry Mayo Hospital in Santa Clarita for ongoing complaints of pain.

An investigation by LAPD”s Robbery Homicide Division determined there was no shooting at the school as Stenroos first described and that he allegedly created false evidence when he claimed he was shot.

Nunez told the judge that the city is seeking $361,289 in restitution, and LAUSD is seeking $58,000 in medical costs. The district is still compiling full restitution costs for keeping students in lockdown at eight campuses for up to 10 hours.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Meet Randy Economy

You may know me from my role as the Senior Advisor and Official Media Spokesman for the Recall Gavin Newsom campaign that established a worldwide blitz of interviews. I conducted more than 2,200 media interviews on behalf of “The People’s Recall” during a 10-month period from November 2020 to September 2021. The iconic magazine Mother Jones in a dramatic feature article called me “A ‘Superhero Pirate’ Radio Host, (and) Gavin Newsom’s Strangest—and Most Dangerous—Threat. Meet Randy Economy, the man behind the effort to recall California’s governor.” I appeared on more than 330 media outlets around the world in my capacity with RecallGavin2020. Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, Newsmax, NBC Nightly News, ABC News, as well as the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Politico, and dozens of other media outlets aired featured reports on my work on behalf of “The People’s Recall.” I am and will always consider myself to be a journalist. Sometimes I think I bleed ink. My talents as an Investigative Journalists in California earned me FIVE top awards from the prestigious Los Angeles Press Club in 2013, 2014, and 2016. I am tenacious. My reporting over the years has led to the prosecution of several elected officials in California. While working for a tiny community newspaper in Southeast Los Angeles County, I worked doggedly to expose the biggest public corruption case in Los Angeles County history when I unearthed a massive pay to play scheme inside the Assessor’s Office that led to the arrest of then Assessor John R. Noguez and four others. However, politics has been in my DNA since I was a child. I have worked on more than 300 political campaigns as a consultant and advisor since 1982 for candidates from all sides of the political spectrum including Democrats and Republicans, and even Libertarians. I am also a small business owner, serving as the President and CEO of Hot Water Studio & Production, LLC. My company works with media outlets across the state, nation, and world exposing public corruption via several new media platforms. I have also overcome personal challenges. I am legally blind with zero vision in my right eye and only 40 percent vision remaining in my left eye. I sometimes wear an eyepatch due to my failed vision. (Hence the nickname of “America’s Political Pirate.”