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Hayward: Bail kept at $420,000 for ex-cop accused of scamming mentally ill woman

Daily Review (Hayward, CA) - 4/25/2015

April 24--HAYWARD -- Calling it a very serious case, an Alameda County judge on Friday refused to lower bail for a retired Hayward police sergeant charged with nine felonies, in which he's accused of scamming a mentally ill woman out of a half-million dollars starting six years before his retirement.

Michael Scott Beal, 55, of Modesto, appeared in custody in a Hayward courtroom. He has been held in lieu of $420,000 bail since his arrest Monday.

Prosecutors say that Beal, who retired from the Hayward Police Department as a patrol sergeant in 2013, persuaded a schizophrenic and depressed woman whom he arrested in 2002 in a prostitution sting to give him more than $450,000 between 2007 and earlier this year.

She also provided "sexual favors" to Beal in his police car while he was on duty over a period of several years, according to court documents. The two used the code name "power bar" to describe the sexual favors the woman performed on Beal, the documents read.

"The victim is particularly vulnerable," said Judge Scott Patton. "Mr. Beal took advantage of the trust in him as a police officer."

Beal told the woman, identified in court documents as Hayward resident Nancy Joe, that he used the money to buy and make payments on a house in Alameda and that they would get married and share in the house's equity once he retired from the police force, prosecutors said.

Beal never did buy a house with Joe's money. She reported the scam to police in February when she called the police department and learned that Beal had retired two years ago, contrary to his statements to her that he was still on the force, authorities say.

Prosecutor Connie Campbell sought to have bail increased.

"We have a police officer that, while a police officer, committed fraud," she said.

The victim fears for her safety, Campbell said. Beal physically abused the woman at least twice, the prosecutor said.

"He knows she, to use her term, 'snitched' on her. The defendant knows where she lives," Campbell said. Joe is afraid Beal will burn her house down, the prosecutor said.

Beal also presented himself as a police officer after he retired, she said. A search of Beal's home turned up a bag with a folded police uniform, his badge, boots and a holster with a fake gun placed at the end of his bed, the prosecutor said in court.

"He has a to-go bag for posing as a police officer," Campbell said.

More charges are possible, she said, after investigators found that Beal did not report any of the money Joe gave him on his income tax filings.

Beal's attorney, Jesse Garcia, said the retired officer attended local schools and Chabot College and still has ties to the community.

"The government has elected to distribute a news release that I think is designed to inflame passions and prejudices, and I think that's unfortunate," he said.

Alameda County Public Defender Brendon Woods said that allegations against Beal puts into question the integrity of the cases he worked on. He is asking the Alameda County District Attorney's Office for a review of current and past cases associated with Beal.

The district attorney's office declined to comment Friday regarding its course of action regarding a review of Beal's past cases.

The case was continued to May 7.

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(c)2015 The Daily Review (Hayward, Calif.)

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