A Los Angeles police officer was arrested on suspicion of stealing money from an employee at an unlicensed cannabis growing operation during a raid of the facility Monday, officials said.
Surveillance video implicated Officer Louis Mota after a worker reported money missing from her backpack, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a news release.
LAPD didn’t say where the business involved is located, but said Mota is assigned to the department’s Northeast Division that covers Echo Park, Silver Lake and Highland Park, among other communities.
While officers were going through the facility, an employee told an LAPD supervisor that cash was missing from her backpack. The supervisor secured the scene and ordered a review of video, which led officials to believe Mota was responsible, according to LAPD.
Mota was stripped of his LAPD badge, gun and ID as he was taken into custody. He was booked on suspicion of misdemeanor theft then released on his own recognizance, the department said.
The officer has been assigned to home, pending the results of an internal and criminal investigation.
“No employee of this Department is above the law, and we will not tolerate any individual who betrays the public’s trust through this type of behavior,” LAPD Chief Michel Moore said in a written statement.