Sheriff's investigators are trying to find two men claiming to be "homeland security" officers from a small San Gabriel Valley transit authority who showed up at the site of the crash last week of the $1-million Ferrari Enzo.
The two men spoke with the owner of the car, Stefan Eriksson, who told investigators that he, too, was a commissioner of the transit authority.
Eriksson refused to be interviewed Wednesday by investigators from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which is looking into the puzzling case. He did comply with the request for a sample of his blood, a sheriff's spokesman said.
Eriksson survived the crash of the Ferrari, which was traveling at more than 160 mph, investigators said. When emergency workers arrived at the scene, Eriksson produced a card identifying him as "deputy commissioner" of the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority police department's antiterrorism unit, according to the Sheriff's Department.
A few minutes later, two unidentified men arrived at the crash site on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu and flashed cards and said they were from "homeland security," according to a Sheriff's Department report.
The men were allowed by deputies onto the crime scene, where they spoke to Eriksson before leaving, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Phil Brooks.
Brooks appealed to the public for help in identifying the two men.
As sheriff's detectives try to unravel the mystery of the crash, their attention is turning to the obscure nonprofit organization that provides disabled people with transportation in cities such as Monrovia and Arcadia.
Eriksson, a former video game executive who, according to Swedish newspapers, was convicted of counterfeiting a decade ago in Sweden, has volunteered his time with the agency's antiterrorism unit, helping them with camera technology for the paratransit vehicles, said an agency official who asked not to be identified.
Eriksson's civil attorney, Ashley Posner, is the chairman of the agency. He declined comment today.
Officials in cities where the agency does business said they were mystified over why a small transit authority needs its own police department.
"We do not see the need for a ground transportation system for handicapped and disabled folks to have a police agency," said Monrovia City Manager Scott Ochoa. "We warned them that if the police agency operated with them in the city Monrovia, it would jeopardize their [transit] agreement with us."
According to the transit authority's website, the department has a chief, detectives, marked police cruisers and an "antiterrorism" division.
Monrovia Police Department Chief Roger Johnson said he checked out the department recently and found it is less than meets the eye.
"My impression at the time was that they were trying to get a police agency off the ground to go with their transit business," Johnson said. "I don't know if they have a police department to go with the website."
Eriksson has insisted he was a passenger in the Ferrari when it crashed. He said the driver was a man named "Dietrich" who fled from the scene. Officials are skeptical of that explanation, mainly because Eriksson had a bloody lip and there was only blood found on the driver's side airbag.
So who were the mysterious "Homeland Security" men? Do these "agents" of Homeland Security report to a mysterious Cigarette-Smoking Man? Or are these agents looking for Dietrich? And where does Eriksson fit into all this, considering he's the "deputy commissioner" of the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority police department's antiterrorism unit? Perhaps Eriksson was trying to stop Dietrich from taking over the "obscure nonprofit organization that provides disabled people with transportation in cities such as Monrovia and Arcadia." I mean--the space aliens probably need an alternative mode of transportation, besides their flying saucers. Especially if they plan to colonize Monrovia and Arcadia.
More creepy music to come.
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