Felony Charges Were Planned in Airport Theft

A concessionaire at Los Angeles International Airport decided to press felony theft charges last month against a Japanese dignitary, but then dropped the complaint after conferring with a top aide to Mayor Tom Bradley, according to a police supervisor’s log.

The document indicates that Jeffrey A. Matsui, the mayor’s executive assistant, held discussions with the vendor, Duty Free Shoppers Ltd., that led to the release of Yukio Umemura, chairman of the Nagoya City Assembly and a member of a Los Angeles sister city group.

The Times reported on Tuesday that Umemura was caught taking two Gucci wallets and a leather purse valued at $450 on April 14, one day after he had exchanged gifts with Bradley during a visit to the mayor’s office. Umemura was released after Bradley contacted airport police, records show.

The airport police log obtained by The Times shows that a Duty Free security officer had “requested that the suspect be prosecuted because it was a felony and her supervisor requested the same.”

Sgt. Vince Garcia, the supervisor whose remarks appear in the log, said Wednesday: “We had a righteous (crime). What it boiled down to is we had a booster bag and the whole nine yards.”

But the Duty Free officials suddenly changed their minds and dropped the case after Matsui arrived at the airport, according to Garcia’s notes in the supervisor’s log.

“Mr. Matsui explained the situation and who the person was,” Garcia said. “At that point, they declined prosecution.”

Matsui refused to comment on the matter and the mayor’s office would not provide an account of his discussions with Duty Free officials. Bradley also has refused to discuss his involvement in the case.

“The decisions in this incident have always been up to the authorities involved--the airport police, Duty Free and the city attorney,” said Bradley spokesman Bill Chandler. “The mayor’s office advocated no particular course of action then or now.”

Duty Free officials also declined to comment on the case. At Umemura’s request, the company agreed “not to make any public statement” about the incident, according to a waiver.

When informed that the police log indicates that Duty Free had intended to prosecute Umemura, corporate executive Baker Salleh said: “I think the report is pretty much factual. We have nothing to add to that.”

A newspaper in Nagoya, however, quoted Umemura Wednesday as saying: “I did not commit any theft.” But the newspaper, Chunichi Shimbun, said Umemura indicated that he would resign his chairmanship of the Nagoya City Council.

Umemura told the newspaper that the incident happened because he went into the duty-free shop without his boarding pass or passport.

He said he intended to buy three wallets and was looking for his credit card when the clerk asked him for his boarding pass and passport. When he couldn’t produce either, he said, police were called.

When he finally found his passport, Umemura said, officers became more suspicious because it did not have an entry stamp. He said immigration officers failed to stamp his passport when he entered the country.

Airport police, however, said Umemura was observed putting the articles in his pocket and a bag and was not arrested until after he had left the shop.

Duty Free officials and Bradley have maintained a cordial relationship the last several years. Records show that in 1985, the mayor visited the concessionaire’s operations in Hawaii and appointed Duty Free President John L. Reed to the Mayor’s Business Advisory Council the same year. Between 1984 and 1988, Duty Free contributed $44,100 to Bradley political campaigns, records show.