Former LAPD reserve officer Eric Halem has been sentenced to life in prison plus 15 years for kidnapping and robbing a teenager of a hard drive containing approximately $350,000 worth of Bitcoin during a 2024 home invasion in Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mildred Escobedo imposed the sentence on Tuesday after rejecting Halem's request for a new trial in the December 28, 2024 robbery targeting a 17-year-old in Koreatown. The judge noted she wrestled with her decision, changing her mind several times before sentencing Halem to concurrent life terms for kidnapping and robbery, along with the additional 15-year prison term. Escobedo acknowledged receiving letters from Halem's family and friends that described him as an honorable, caring man and a loving father, but stated the trial evidence showed Halem acted out of 'sheer and utter greed.' Halem becomes eligible for parole after seven years, according to the district attorney's office.
Prosecutors told the court that Halem and three alleged co-conspirators entered a high-rise apartment in Los Angeles and threatened to kill the victim unless he handed over the Bitcoin hard drive. The teenager, identified only as Daniel, surrendered the device after being threatened, according to evidence presented during the trial. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, Halem and his co-conspirators posed as police officers executing a search warrant at the apartment rented by the teenager. They drove to the apartment in a green Range Rover and an orange Lamborghini Urus owned by Halem's luxury car rental company, Drive L.A. Wearing what appeared to be police vests, they took the elevator to the 18th floor and entered the apartment using an access code illegally provided to them by the person who rented out the unit. The men arrived around 2:30 a.m. on December 28, 2024, handcuffed two victims, moved funds out of their cryptocurrency account, and took cash and jewellery. The judge noted that although the victims were criminals themselves, it was heinous and egregious for Halem to masquerade as a police officer and abuse his authority.
According to a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, Halem must complete most of the 15-year sentence before serving the concurrent life terms. The sentence follows Halem's conviction in March, when a jury found him guilty after a two-week trial that took less than a day to deliver a guilty verdict on charges including robbery, kidnapping and other crimes. Halem continues to face separate criminal cases involving alleged insurance fraud and another crypto-related robbery, while his three co-defendants have not yet gone to trial. His attorneys had requested leniency at the August 4 sentencing, arguing that he was his family's sole breadwinner, but prosecutors countered that he committed the crimes during the holiday season. Halem's family disputes the outcome, with his mother Randi telling the Los Angeles Times she believed the truth had not emerged at trial, calling it 'a miscarriage of the law.'
The sentencing comes as U.S. authorities continue pursuing multiple violent cases involving cryptocurrency holders. Earlier this month, federal prosecutors in Connecticut announced charges against three Missouri men accused of planning a home invasion to force a victim to transfer Bitcoin. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Sedric Louis, John Davis and Martel Williams allegedly traveled to Connecticut in August 2024, rented vehicles, obtained air rifles and walkie-talkies, and watched their intended target before abandoning the plan after becoming concerned they had been captured by security cameras. CertiK verified 52 wrench attacks worldwide in the first half of 2026, with recorded losses of $124.1 million. So-called 'wrench attacks,' where criminals use violence to coerce crypto holders, are on the rise globally, with Remy St. Felix sentenced to 47 years in September 2024 for running a violent crypto home-invasion ring, at the time the longest term handed down in a U.S. crypto case.
The California and Connecticut prosecutions represent part of a larger pattern where investigators say cryptocurrency investors were selected because of their digital asset holdings rather than traditional valuables. Federal prosecutors have increasingly relied on Hobbs Act robbery charges in cases involving alleged kidnappings and forced cryptocurrency transfers, while state prosecutors have pursued separate robbery and kidnapping charges. Outside the United States, authorities have also reported an increase in physical attacks targeting crypto holders, with French prosecutors charging dozens of suspects in separate investigations involving alleged kidnappings and attempts to force victims to surrender access to cryptocurrency wallets. In Ukraine, prosecutors in May accused four police officers and a civilian of kidnapping crypto entrepreneurs at gunpoint and extorting $2.2 million using fabricated debt claims. Impersonating police has become a recurring technique for crypto criminals, with three men posing as officers holding a French couple at knifepoint in March, forcing a $1 million Bitcoin transfer.
