Ex-LAPD Officer Found Guilty in $350K Bitcoin Robbery and Abduction Case
Eric Halem, a former officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, has been found guilty of restraining and issuing death threats against a 17-year-old victim in order to obtain Bitcoin.
An ex-officer from the Los Angeles Police Department has been found guilty of abducting a teenager aged 17 and making off with cryptocurrency valued at $350,000 during a home invasion that took place in 2024.
On Monday, following a trial that lasted two weeks, a jury in Los Angeles County Superior Court delivered a guilty verdict against Eric Halem for charges of both kidnapping and robbery, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.
Evidence presented during the trial revealed that Halem, along with three accomplices, impersonated law enforcement officers who were purportedly executing a search warrant at an apartment that was being rented by the young victim, who had allegedly accumulated substantial cryptocurrency holdings.
According to prosecutors, the teenage victim, who provided testimony using only his first name Daniel, surrendered a hard drive that contained Bitcoin (BTC) after being subjected to death threats from Halem and his associates.
This case represents another example of an emerging worldwide phenomenon known as "wrench attacks," in which criminals employ violence or the threat of violence against cryptocurrency owners to forcibly take their digital assets. According to a report issued last month by cryptocurrency security firm CertiK, there were 72 such incidents recorded globally throughout 2025, representing a 75% surge compared to the previous year of 2024.
Men allegedly broke into apartment, cuffed victim for crypto
According to reports, Halem along with his three alleged accomplices wore vests bearing police identification and successfully entered the teenager's residence by using an access code that had been provided by a conspirator who had rented the apartment unit.
According to testimony from the victim, the men proceeded to restrain the teenage victim's girlfriend using handcuffs issued by the LAPD, then similarly handcuffed the 17-year-old himself and made threats to shoot him unless he surrendered his hard drive that stored his cryptocurrency holdings.
Halem's tenure with the LAPD spanned 13 years before his departure in 2022, though he continued to work in the capacity of a reserve officer with the department when the robbery occurred. In addition to his police work, he operated several side ventures, including a business that rented out luxury vehicles and an application designed to enable actors to conduct remote audition sessions.
During her closing arguments, Megan Maitia, who represented Halem as his attorney, contended that investigators had failed to independently verify the account provided by the 17-year-old victim, noting that he had acknowledged during his testimony that his cryptocurrency had been acquired through fraudulent means.
According to Maitia, law enforcement officers simply accepted his account at face value when he reported being the victim of a Bitcoin robbery.
Halem chose not to take the witness stand during the trial and is scheduled to receive his sentence on March 31. The co-defendants in the case, one of whom reportedly has connections to organized crime operations in Israel, have yet to face trial and continue to assert their innocence.