Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles on Monday unsealed charges against former law enforcement officers and military personnel accused of using threats and violence in an attempt to extort nearly $37 million in assets from an Irvine man.
The four men allegedly entered the victim’s home in 2019 under the guise of a legitimate police operation and detained the victim, his wife and two children for hours, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles. Fearing for his safety and that of his family, the victim signed documents relinquishing his multimillion-dollar stake in a company, identified by prosecutors as Jiangsu Sinorgchem Technology Co. Ltd., a China-based rubber chemicals manufacturer.
The raid was allegedly financed by a wealthy Chinese national, an unindicted accomplice, with whom the victim shared the business. The two had an ongoing business dispute over their property interests, prosecutors said.
The indictment, filed Aug. 1, charges Steven Arthur Lankford, a retired Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy who left the department in 2020; and Glen Louis Cozart, 63, of Upland, a former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy, with conspiracy to commit extortion, attempted extortion, conspiracy to violate rights, and deprivation of rights under color of law.
Lankford was previously involved in a shooting in 1993, which the Sheriff's Department determined was within policy. In 1993, Cozart, who was working at the Temple City sheriff's station at the time, was arrested on suspicion of planting false evidence on people who had been arrested, filing a false report and lying in court under oath. He initially pleaded not guilty to three counts of perjury, but withdrew his plea as he was about to be sentenced.
Also charged in the federal case are Max Samuel Bennett Turbett, 39, a U.K. citizen and former member of the British military; and Matthew Phillip Hart, 41, an Australian citizen and former member of the Australian military.
The men were scheduled to be arraigned Monday afternoon and could face up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted.
“It is critical that public officials, including law enforcement officers, be held to the same standards as the rest of us,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. “It is unacceptable and a serious violation of civil rights for a sworn police officer to take the law into his own hands and abuse the authority of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.”
