LOS ANGELES : Ex-American Samoa Police Chief Sentenced for Theft
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A former chief of police of American Samoa has been ordered to serve a 30-day sentence and repay $7,400 that prosecutors say he stole from a Los Angeles Police Department fund before he retired from that force and went to work on the Pacific island.
Municipal Judge Jon M. Mayeda, without opposition from the prosecution, allowed Victor Siaki Liu, 55, to remain free until next month, when he is to surrender to authorities.
Liu retired from the LAPD last year after working 14 years as then-Chief Daryl F. Gates’ officer in charge of a community relations account. An audit revealed irregularities that resulted earlier this year in Liu’s indictment on six counts of forgery and falsifying city records and one count of embezzling $22,000.
Had he been convicted on the original charges, he could have been sentenced to a four-year term. Instead, Liu pleaded no contest to single felony count of misappropriation of money. He retired from the Samoa police force after his indictment.
Prosecutors said Liu was required to pay only a portion of the $22,000 because he repaid some of the money he took.
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