It must have been one heck of a set of golf clubs.
Former Atherton police officer Clark Yee, 29, is facing four felony charges stemming from the sale of a set of clubs stolen from an unlocked car parked in an Atherton driveway.
Mr. Yee, a Daly City resident, pleaded not guilty in Redwood City Municipal Court on May 19 on two counts of filing false police reports, one count of possessing stolen property, and one count of selling stolen property.
Mr. Yee’s attorney, William Rapoport of Redwood City, did not return The Almanac’s calls seeking comment. Mr. Yee is free on $100,000 bail.
While there is no evidence that Mr. Yee took the golf clubs from the car in October, surveillance camera footage identified him as the man who brought the clubs to Golf Mart in South San Francisco and traded them in for store credit, said San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
“He must be a golfer,” Mr. Wagstaffe said, adding that stolen property is usually sold for cash, not store credit.
The victim, who was looking to replace his 14 stolen clubs, recognized 12 of them among the used golf clubs for sale at Golf Mart, Mr. Wagstaffe said. “It’s not like they were monogrammed or anything. He just recognized them right away,” he said.
When the victim reported his discovery to police, Mr. Yee was one of the police officers involved in the investigation, Mr. Wagstaffe said.
“The main charges are for filing false police reports while investigating his own crime,” Mr. Wagstaffe said.
Once Mr. Yee became the suspect, he told investigators that he unknowingly purchased the stolen clubs online from someone named Omar who posted them on Craigslist, Mr. Wagstaffe said.
“I can’t tell you how many times crimes get blamed on some guy named Omar,” Mr. Wagstaffe said. “I don’t know why they pick that name.”
Mr. Yee’s home computers were seized and searched, and investigators concluded that the golf clubs were not purchased online, Mr. Wagstaffe said.
While the investigation was going on, Mr. Yee resigned from the Atherton Police Department. The department had placed him on paid administrative leave and been running a parallel personnel investigation, said police Chief Bob Brennan. Mr. Yee was an Atherton police officer for more than five years and had no other complaints against him, Chief Brennan said.
Mr. Wagstaffe could not give an exact value of the stolen golf clubs, but said that they were worth at least $1,000 and possibly quite a bit more. The two other stolen golf clubs are still missing, he said.
Mr. Yee is scheduled to appear in Superior Court on June 4 for a case review conference, Mr. Wagstaffe said.
