LOS ANGELES – A former Montebello Police officer pleaded guilty today to a federal bribery charge for accepting at least $14,000 in cash from a drug trafficker in exchange for escorting narcotics shipments and searching a police database to supply the trafficker information on people suspected of cooperating with law enforcement.
Rudolph Petersen, 34, pleaded guilty to a single-count information charging him with bribery.
Petersen served as a Montebello Police officer for nearly four years, and from December 2018 to August 2020, according to his plea agreement, Petersen solicited and received numerous cash bribes from a gang member and drug trafficker identified in court document as “Co-Schemer 2.”
In mid-2018, Co-Schemer 2 had dinner with Petersen and stated he could put Petersen “on his payroll,” and, through an intermediary, gave Petersen $500.
Co-Schemer 2 met again with Petersen in December 2018. During that meeting, Co-Schemer 2 offered – and Petersen agreed to accept – a $10,000 bribe to escort a vehicle containing a shipment of narcotics and protect it from law enforcement and would-be robbers.
Three months later, Petersen – who was armed and wearing a security guard uniform that resembled an official police uniform – successfully escorted a white U-Haul truck containing what Petersen believed was illegally grown marijuana from Fontana to a location off California State Route 60 near Rowland Heights. Petersen returned to the residence of Co-Schemer 2, who gave him a paper bag filled with $10,000 in cash. Petersen admitted to escorting at least one additional drug shipment for Co-Schemer 2.
Petersen also admitted to accessing a law enforcement database to search for information on an individual whom Co-Schemer 2 believed was a “snitch” who had helped law enforcement intercept a cocaine shipment. In exchange for bribes of $500 to $1,000 per database search, Petersen reported to Co-Schemer 2 the information on the individual, as well as others suspected of cooperating with law enforcement.
In September 2020, Co-Schemer 2 paid Petersen $1,000 to investigate whether tracking devices found on vehicles that he and another co-schemer used were part of a state or federal law enforcement investigation.
Petersen admitted to accepting at least $14,000 in bribes.
United States District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. has scheduled a January 11, 2022 sentencing hearing, at which time Petersen will face a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.
