Unidentified LAPD Officer Reportedly Placed On Leave After Allegedly Taking More Than $700 From Unlocked Tesla.
An unidentified officer with the Los Angeles Police Department has reportedly been placed on administrative leave while officials investigate allegations that he took more than $700 from an unlocked Tesla while responding to a call for service.
The allegations were first reported by the Los Angeles Times, which cited an LAPD official familiar with the matter. According to the report, video footage allegedly showed an officer assigned to the LAPD Transit Services Division entering the vehicle while responding to a call for service during the week before March 9, 2026.
The ABC7 Los Angeles report stated that the officer was seen rifling through the unlocked Tesla and had allegedly switched off his body-worn camera before doing so. The owner of the vehicle later reported that $700 in cash was missing.
When confronted, the officer reportedly admitted taking the money but claimed he intended to book it into evidence and forgot to follow through. Officials reportedly placed him on administrative leave while the internal investigation continues.
Body Camera Questions Make The Allegation Even More Serious
The allegation is not only that money disappeared from a vehicle during a police response. The additional claim that the officer switched off his body-worn camera before entering the vehicle raises a major accountability issue.
LAPD’s own body-worn video materials state that body-worn cameras are intended to help collect evidence, assist in investigations and prosecutions, promote accountability, and help resolve complaints involving officers. LAPD policy materials also describe body-worn video as a tool for recording investigative and enforcement contacts with the public.
That makes the reported decision to turn off the camera especially troubling if the allegation is proven true. When an officer is accused of entering a person’s vehicle, removing money, and then offering an explanation only after being confronted, the public is left to wonder what would have happened without outside video footage.
The Officer Has Not Been Publicly Named
As of the reports reviewed for this story, the officer had not been publicly identified. The reports also did not indicate that criminal charges had been filed. The case was described as an internal investigation, with the officer reportedly placed on administrative leave.
The officer was reportedly assigned to the LAPD Transit Services Division, which LAPD says is responsible for safety and security on Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority buses and rail lines within the city.
Why This Case Matters
Police officers routinely enter homes, vehicles, businesses, and personal spaces under circumstances where the public is expected to trust them. That trust depends on officers not abusing access, authority, or the benefit of the doubt that comes with the badge.
If the allegations are accurate, this was not a complicated split-second policing decision. It was an allegation of an officer entering a citizen’s vehicle, handling private property, turning off a recording device, and walking away with cash that was not properly booked into evidence.
Whether the officer is ultimately disciplined, fired, charged, or cleared, the case is another reminder that body cameras only help the public when officers are required to keep them on and departments take missing or interrupted footage seriously.
