Prosecutors’ error leads to tossed indictments of former OC officers

Indictments related to bounty hunter work were tossed Friday for two former Orange County police officers who made headlines when they lost their jobs.

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. But the indictments were dismissed after the Orange County District Attorney’s Office conceded an error in instructing the grand jury, according to court records.

In a Dec. 20 motion filed in court, prosecutors admitted a failure to properly instruct the grand jury on a “potentially viable defense.”

Officials with the California Department of Insurance said they started investigating the two former officers after seeing a video on social media of the two looking for a suspect who missed court appearances. Investigators accused the two of failing to complete requirements to be bounty hunters and were doing the work illegally.

State investigators alleged they kidnapped and handcuffed the girlfriend of the man they were looking for and drove her around with them for several hours.

Corbett was given a sentence of pretrial diversion in 2021 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.

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