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Crime Jun 18, 2022
| Photo courtesy of Scott Rodgerson/Unsplash
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Two former Orange County police officers who made headlines when they lost their jobs have been indicted for kidnapping in a bounty hunter incident, according to court records obtained Friday.
Rodger Jeffrey Corbett and Kevin Pedersen were indicted June 9 on two counts of kidnapping and one count of false imprisonment with sentencing enhancements for being armed in the commission of a felony, according to court records.
Corbett and Pedersen appeared in court in the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana on Friday, but did not enter a plea. They are scheduled to be arraigned June 29.
“My client maintains his innocence and looks forward to the truth coming out,” said Pedersen’s attorney Ed Welbourn.
Corbett was given a sentence of pretrial diversion last year for lying in a police report that then-Fullerton City Manager Joe Felz was not intoxicated at the time of a crash, prosecutors said.
Instead of entering a guilty plea, he was allowed to perform 80 hours of community service, make a $500 payment and agree to no longer work in law enforcement and could have the charge removed from his record if he completes the terms of the deal.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer slammed the plea deal offer from the judge.
Pedersen was involved in a fatal officer-involved shooting during a police pursuit in 2018 in Anaheim. The city settled a federal lawsuit filed by the family of Eliuth Nava Penaloza for $2.9 million.
