Ex-Police Officer Gets Probation on Extortion Conviction

LOS ANGELES —  A former Santa Ana police officer convicted of extorting money from a liquor store owner was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court to two years’ probation.

Sang H. Masog, 36, demanded $2,500 from a Santa Ana liquor store owner in July, 1992, to intercede on the merchant’s behalf with the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. The payoff was tape-recorded by an undercover officer from the Santa Ana Police Department.

At that time, Masog was being investigated by the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, which had received complaints that he was also extorting money from business owners in Los Angeles’ Koreatown, Assistant U.S. Atty. Mark A. Byrne said. He declined to say whether a federal investigation had been launched as a result of the Koreatown allegations.

Masog pleaded guilty last year to “extortion under color of official right,” which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. In sentencing Masog to probation Monday, Judge Consuelo B. Marshall cited Masog’s acceptance of responsibility and lack of a criminal record. Masog resigned from the Police Department in July, 1992.