Fired Officer Suspect in Case of Fake IDs

Michael Edelstein lost his LAPD identification card when he was fired from the department eight years ago.

Now, the former police officer turned private investigator is accused of making his own LAPD ID cards--and selling them.

Police use photo IDs, in addition to their badges, for official identification purposes. Investigators have been unable to determine whether any fake IDs were used to compromise department security.

“But they’re very authentic looking,” said Lt. George Rock of the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Valley Division. “They’d be tough to spot.”

Edelstein was fired from the LAPD in 1991 after being convicted on a federal weapons charge. He had also been arrested on suspicion of assault and buying stolen property.

Now a private detective, Edelstein was arrested early this year on suspicion of making and selling phony IDs. Police say they were led to Edelstein after a criminal suspect was arrested and flashed one of the fake cards, claiming to be a police officer.

After an investigation, police say, they searched Edelstein’s house and seized four more phony cards.

After Edelstein’s arrest, Rock said, the suspect approached a clerk at the LAPD’s property room in Van Nuys and offered the employee $10,000 to destroy the ID cards being held as evidence.

The clerk reported the attempted bribe immediately, said Cmdr. Dave Kalish, a department spokesman.

Police said the clerk was approached by Edelstein a second time, and by then had agreed to wear a wire to secretly record the meeting. This time, police said, Edelstein increased the bribe to $20,000.

Edelstein was rearrested March 25 on suspicion of bribery. Police said he has been charged with five counts of manufacturing false police identification cards and bribery, and is being held on $1 million bail.

Edelstein’s earlier troubles with the department began after a series of incidents in which he found himself wearing the handcuffs, instead of slapping them on the bad guys.

In the span of about a year, he was charged with assault in connection with a barroom brawl, was arrested after allegedly buying suspected stolen property in a police sting, and admitted to owning illegal weapons.

He came under suspicion in the weapons case after an undercover police surveillance team watched him and another man firing automatic weapons at an Angeles National Forest firing range.

A search of his home turned up a Colt AR-15 .223-caliber machine gun and a silencer hidden under floorboards and in a safe. He was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison.

After his release, Edelstein returned to the San Fernando Valley and opened Mustang Investigations in Calabasas.

A former LAPD partner, who asked not to be named, described Edelstein as “a smooth operator.”

“He was a talker. He could make you believe,” the source said. “He was real smooth.”

Kalish, the department spokesman, said Edelstein’s arrest on attempted bribery shouldsend a clear message that the LAPD won’t tolerate corruption.

“We didn’t tolerate it in 1991. We don’t tolerate it now. Our employees do the right thing,” Kalish said.