Man Denies He Stalked LAPD Officer

One day after his arrest for allegedly harassing and threatening an LAPD detective, a 23-year-old Encino man strongly denied the accusations Wednesday, saying he is the one being unfairly targeted by police.

In a lengthy interview from the Parker Center Jail, Assaf Waknine said he believes detectives are afraid that information he has uncovered about “a major police informant” will unravel hundreds of cases, jeopardize others and possibly lead to criminal charges against police officers themselves.

“They’re scared that their informants’ names will come out,” Waknine said. “They think I have information about LAPD investigations. . . . If there is even a hint of evidence--and there isn’t--I will plead guilty and go to jail.”

Los Angeles Police Department officials, however, allege that Waknine engaged in an aggressive campaign against an Organized Crime and Intelligence Division detective, whom they refused to identify. They say Waknine, among other things, cloned the detective’s pager number, stalked him, eavesdropped on the officer’s conversations and threatened him.

When asked about the information Waknine says he obtained on police informants, Capt. Bob Ruchhoft, who oversees the LAPD’s organized crime unit, responded: “That’s interesting, but totally inaccurate. When someone’s sitting in jail, they suddenly know all sorts of things.”

While Ruchhoft declined to discuss the case in detail, he said that police have solid evidence and have been closely watching Waknine.

“This guy has a lot of connections to people we know about,” Ruchhoft said. “He can do all kinds of nefarious things. But I’d be totally remiss to discuss anything he said.”

But Ruchhoft said detectives were not involved in an investigation of Waknine when he began to harass his officers. He was one of thousands of people either connected to or directly linked to organized crime who are periodically monitored by the division, Ruchhoft said.

“This is not some big organized crime investigation,” Ruchhoft said. “This is not going to unveil some big organized crime ring.”

In the interview, Waknine--who grew up in the San Fernando Valley and owns a Studio City telecommunications company--described a tangled series of interactions he had with detectives from the organized crime unit dating back several years. He says they helped federal authorities convict him in a credit card forgery case in New York City for which he served 10 months in prison.

According to Waknine, it was the same LAPD detective who helped the federal authorities who the LAPD is now accusing him of stalking.

Based on suspicions he had about the New York case, Waknine said, he hired private investigators here to determine whether police used an informant in that case. He said he uncovered a great deal of information about Los Angeles police detectives in the course of that investigation.

Police, he said, became aware of the information and launched an effort to squelch it and to punish him.

“They’re mad,” Waknine said. “They want to seize any evidence I have.”

To that end, Waknine said, the police searched five homes of relatives and friends last week. Police said they also searched four of Waknine’s expensive cars, including a Ferrari.

The warrant authorizing the search remains under court-ordered seal.

Ironically, the search warrant was issued the same day--in early April--that Waknine was convicted in federal court in Los Angeles on two counts of check forgery. In that case, Waknine made bail and was scheduled to be sentenced in June.

Waknine was convicted of passing two counterfeit checks, totaling $120,000, in exchange for South African gold coins, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Waknine said he would appeal that verdict.

The district attorney’s office is expected to file formal charges against Waknine in the stalking case today when he also probably will be arraigned, a spokeswoman said. Waknine insisted that his $1-million bail in that case should be reduced, pledging he would not flee.

Ronald Richards, Waknine’s Century City attorney, said he was “tricked” by police when Richards allowed Waknine to surrender on Tuesday. Believing bail would be $100,000, the attorney and Waknine were met at the jail by a bondsman. But they were then informed the bail had been increased by a court commissioner at the request of detectives on the grounds that Waknine is a threat to the safety of the detective he allegedly threatened.

“He’s out on bail [in the federal case], he’s not going anywhere,” Richards said, adding that he sent a letter to LAPD officials criticizing the bail increase, saying it was obtained in an underhanded way.

Another reason for high bail is Waknine’s alleged link to illegal weapons dealers, police said.

Waknine denied that he is a potential threat to any officers.

“I’ve never had any connection to anyone selling guns,” Waknine said. “When they searched my home, my cars, they never found guns. I don’t even know how to shoot a gun.”

Waknine has had other troubles with the law, dating back to six misdemeanor charges seven years ago involving terrorist threats and stalking. In a plea bargain, Waknine received probation and a fine.

His brother, Hai Waknine, was questioned by police in the 1989 slaying of Grant High School teacher Hal Arthur, and released. A year later, he unsuccessfully sued the detectives for detaining and questioning him.

“They ruined his life,” Waknine said. “They’re trying to hurt me.”