LAPD Officer In Hot Water For "Bling Ring" Case
One LAPD officer's actions during the making of Sofia Coppola's "Bling Ring" may have compromised the whole investigation that the film was based upon. Now, it's the police officer who finds himself on the other side of the law.
"Bling Ring" is a story based off of the three young people's heist of jewelry and other valuables from the homes of Orlando Bloom, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and others. They reportedly stole roughly $3 million worth of goods.
Officer Brett Goodkin, who was a central figure in the investigation, has been charged with not properly informing his department of his involvement with the movie. His role in the movie could constitute a conflict of interest in any testimony that he would give against the alleged robbers.
"You should all write a thank you letter to Goodkin, because his judgment is as poor as it gets," Judge Larry P. Fidler said while addressing the attorneys for Roy Lopez Jr., Courtney Ames and Diana Tamayo at a hearing last July. "You can have a field day with his credibility during trial.... It's a shame what he did. It's harmful to the people's case."
The defendants have all since accepted plea deals that will only see them be put on probation for three years, with a couple of them also receiving 60 days worth of community service.
"You got a break because of what's happened with this case," Fidler told Lopez when he was sentenced in November.
Additionally, Goodkin is now also being investigated for improper conduct in his dealings with lingerie designer Jennifer Issa, who was a potential witness against one of the defendants of the case, Alexis Neiers.
"He was so confident that he was going to put Alexis in jail that he said, 'You wanna make a bet? If she goes to jail, then I get to sleep with you,' " Issa recalled in an interview with The Times. "He kind of started to stalk me. He'd text me and say, 'I just saw you walking your dog. I liked the top you were wearing.' "
But it didn't stop there. Reportedly, Goodkin even went so far as to try and use the fame he was receiving from the case to lure one of the case's potential witnesses into a sexual relationship.
"They say that the Bling Ring kids were fame-obsessed, but so was he. He was always bragging about celebrities he met," Issa said of Goodkin. She added that after he appeared in a courtroom scene featured on Neiers' 2010 E! reality show "Pretty Wild," he sent her a text message: "Did you see me on their show? Did I look hot?"
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