A Los Angeles police officer has been charged with stealing a truck from a dealership in Orange and driving the stolen pickup over a year after changing its status to recovered, prosecutors said Monday.
Matthew Calleros, a 45-year-old Whittier resident, pleaded not guilty Monday to the three felonies and three misdemeanors he’s dealing with. They include the unlawful taking of a vehicle, forging a license plate, false personation and unauthorized disclosure of details from state DMV records, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said.
Calleros reportedly went to B&J Car Co. on Chapman Avenue on Oct. 25, 2019, and drove a 2015 Chevy Silverado off the lot after asking a salesman to pull a Carfax report on the truck.
After stealing the pickup truck, Calleros used another L.A. police officer’s ID to call his department’s Vehicle Warrant Unit to report the pickup had been recovered, according to the prosecutors
Officials also accuse him of accessing the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS), a confidential database connecting public safety agencies statewide, to run checks on his stolen truck’s license plate number and a plate number for a 2014 Silverado that he put on the stolen pickup.
Prosecutors say Calleros drove the stolen vehicle for over a year, including to work as a police officer. The pickup was found in the worker parking lot at Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD)’s Hollenbeck Division when Calleros was arrested last year on November 9.
According to LAPD, it got to know of the investigation in September and “fully cooperated” with Orange police, resulting in Calleros’ identification and arrest.
The department said Monday it has relieved Calleros’ police officer powers and that he has been assigned to home.
Orange County DA Todd Spitzer condemned the alleged crimes.
“Every time an officer’s actions erodes the public trust, it undermines the rule of law,” he said in a statement.
Calleros could face up to four years and four months in state prison if convicted, the DA’s office said.
The defendant has been released on his own recognizance and is set to return to court on April 15.
