Chief: Arrested former Arlington Hts. cop left force voluntarily

A former Arlington Heights police officer arrested last week on accusations he tried to shake down a Los Angeles area massage parlor left the village without any known disciplinary issues, Chief Gerald Mourning said Monday.

Ex-cop Edward J. LaPorte resigned voluntarily from the Arlington Heights force in 2001 to pursue other career opportunities, Mourning said.

“He left to enter into the private sector,” the chief said, adding he is not aware of any disciplinary actions against LaPorte at the time of his resignation or during his tenure with the department.

Orange County Sheriff’s police arrested LaPorte after an investigation into claims someone flashing an Arlington Heights police badge attempted to get a free massage and $200 from a spa in the Los Angeles suburb of Lake Forest.

LaPorte, 47, is charged with impersonating a police officer and burglary, though more charges are pending, said Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the Orange County sheriff’s office.

Mourning confirmed Monday that LaPorte worked as a patrol officer in the village from 1997 to 2001. He previously was a military policeman in the Marine Corps, according to Amormino.

He is accused of going into the massage parlor Jan. 31, flashing an Arlington Heights police badge and identifying himself as a police officer sent over to conduct an inspection.

The badge, Mourning said, was a commemorative “Millennium” badge purchased by some of the department’s officers in 2000 to mark the new millennium. It was not intended to be used in any official capacity, he added.

During the phony inspection, Orange County authorities said, LaPorte began complaining of shoulder and back pain and insisted on a massage. The manager eventually agreed to have a masseuse perform the massage.

Amormino said the masseuse told investigators that at one point during the massage LaPorte requested the masseuse do something the woman found objectionable. She refused and told LaPorte to get dressed, Amormino said.

LaPorte later continued the inspection and then demanded $200 from the manager, police said. The manager became suspicious and called county government officials who said they couldn’t find any record indicating an inspection was planned that day.

A county employee caught up with LaPorte as he was leaving the massage parlor, but Amormino said the former officer became belligerent under questioning, then ran to his car and drove away. A parlor employee got a partial license plate number, which authorities used to track LaPorte down at his home in Mission Viejo, a neighboring suburb southeast of Los Angeles.

Amormino said LaPorte reported that he’d been living in California since he left the Arlington Heights police force in 2001. He listed his job as “security” on arrest documents, sheriff’s police said, but his name does not appear in a database of licensed security guards, private patrol officers, repossessors and private investigators maintained by the California Department of Consumer Affairs.

LaPorte is free after posting bond last week. Information about when he must appear in court on the charges was not available Monday morning.

In the meantime, Mourning said he’s heard little reaction about LaPorte’s arrest from village police officers.

“I’m certain everybody wishes it hadn’t occurred,” said Mourning, who was not with the department when LaPorte worked there. “It’s been a decade since he worked here, so much of our current staff didn’t know him.”