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Posted on 09/09/2001 12:30:23 PM PDT by Mark

James Beck: From cop to criminal

By Bhavna Mistry

Staff Writer

STEVENSON RANCH -- Fired as a rookie cop, James Beck turned to crime -- spending a decade impersonating police officers, stealing from those he befriended and collecting weapons, police and court records show.

Beck's life -- from August 1988, when he lost his job as an Arcadia police officer, to the day last month when authorities say he gunned down an sheriff's deputy in Stevenson Ranch -- is detailed in hundreds of pages of court documents. They paint a picture of a heartless man who stole cash from schoolgirls and stashed high-powered guns.

The records tell of a man who outfitted a sedan with red lights and a police scanner and who bragged to neighbors that his German shepherd, Fende, was a police dog. They tell of his masquerade as a UCLA student who stole cell phones while working with volunteers helping victims of the Los Angeles riots.

"He lied to the victims to gain their confidence in order to steal from them," Deputy Probation Officer Robert Jeffress wrote in an April 1990 report. "His criminal activity is opportunistic and for personal gain to achieve a status and lifestyle he has been unable to achieve through legitimate means."

In the end, authorities say Beck was a cop killer who died a fiery death while barricaded in his Stevenson Ranch home.

Sheriff's Deputy Hagop "Jake" Kuredjian, who wore the badge Beck so coveted, was mourned as the hero. The popular lawman was shot as federal agents tried to serve Beck with a search warrant following reports that he was a convicted felon collecting weapons and posing as a U.S. marshal.

A danger to society

It was in the early 1990s that probation officers determined that Beck was a danger to society and needed psychological treatment.

"The theft and possession of guns is an integral part of his conduct (that) renders the defendant's behavior an ongoing threat to the community," Deputy Probation Officer Carol Traylor wrote. "Considered with his apparent psychological dysfunction, the defendant's behavior is exceedingly dangerous."

From 1990-92, Beck was arrested three times and charged with a variety of offenses, including impersonating a peace officer possessing stolen property, including a shotgun owned by the Arcadia Police Department.

He pleaded no contest to reduced charges in each case, in which he was represented by a public defender, records show.

His father, a prominent Westside attorney, now retired, testified in one of the cases -- for the prosecution -- to discount Beck's contention that a gun found in his possession belonged to a brother.

Robert Beck testified that he had just one son. In 1988, Beck was fired for lying after 14 months as an Arcadia policeman, according to witnesses quoted in a probation report. He applied for police work with the Sheriff's Department, the Los Angeles Police Department and departments in Pasadena, Alhambra and Covina.

They all turned him down.

It was a short time later that he became friendly with Van Williams, a reserve sheriff's deputy, and Judd Swearing, a gun store owner. Posing as a sheriff's deputy, Beck asked the two for help, saying he had been threatened by a parolee, according to probation reports.

They later learned he had lied and also had stolen weapons and other items from their homes, the reports say.

For a brief time, Beck coached the girls track team at Immaculate Heart High School in Pacific Palisades. Money he collected for sweat suits, he pocketed, never delivering the garments, according to a police report.

Police were called again in 1992 when Beck posed as a student at the University of California, Los Angeles, helping volunteers with a riot relief program and helping himself to the group's cell phones and the use of their vehicle.

When asked why, he told a probation officer that he was "stupid and dumb."

Impersonating police

Swearing, the gun store owner who had helped Beck find work as a part-time security guard, turned him in to police when he learned the man he had helped had lied about being a sheriff's deputy.

During a search of Beck's bedroom at Swearing's home, police found several weapons belonging to Swearing and a shotgun that had been stolen from Arcadia police, court records show. He stole a credit card from Swearing's employee, and charged up to $2,545 on it, buying among other things a camera and a blue parrot.

Swearing told a probation officer he had trusted Beck but realized he was a con artist, the officer reported.

Beck pleaded guilty to two counts of receiving stolen property in June of 1990 and was sentenced to house arrest and probation.

But June 1991, he again posed as a deputy when he met Williams, the reserve deputy with the Sheriff's Department and business owner who gave Beck security work and a place to live.

Three months later, his scam was exposed when a 911 hang-up led Santa Monica police to Beck's 1986 Chevy Caprice.

The sedan was equipped with emergency lights, a cache of weapons, two bullet-proof vests, riot gear, handcuffs, a sheriff's uniform jacket, a police scanner and paperwork identifying Beck as an undercover sheriff's sergeant with the narcotics bureau.

Books including "Deadly Masquerade," "Green River Killer" and "Burden of Proof" were found inside along with ammunition and other weapons paraphernalia.

Again Beck pleaded guilty, this time to possession of an unlawful assault weapon and possession of stolen property. He was sentenced to six years in prison, which was suspended. He ended up serving a six months in county jail and three years of probation.

After six month in jail, Beck was released on Feb. 26, 1992.

A 'gun nut'

In 1993, Beck was arrested on suspicion of breaking into the home of his onetime friend Williams and taking two guns, two cameras and three photo albums, court records show.

In a probation report, Williams described Beck as a "gun nut" who would "flip out."

Beck was arrested for a third time at UCLA, where volunteers accused him of stealing their cell phones.

An anonymous phone call led police to the men's locker room on campus where Beck had keys to three lockers. Inside, police found papers listing various guns by manufacturer, serial number, model and barrel length, a police patch and reports and court transcripts from a homicide investigation.

Williams identified several items, including the patch and a certificate of appreciation from the Olympic Organizing Committee, as items stolen from his home.

Seven months after that arrest, Beck pleaded no contest to charges of burglary and was sentenced to six years in prison.

He was released in Aug. 27, 1998. He was living with his parents in Brentwood a year ago when agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms served a search warrant, responding to complaints that Beck was impersonating a federal prosecutor. He agreed to the search. Nothing was found.

On Aug. 31, the ATF returned, this time seeking to search his Stevenson Ranch home, purchased by his mother.

This time there were weapons inside -- Beck fired several shots, killing Deputy Kuredjian, and dying in his home with his dog and his guns after a four-hour standoff.

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