#Deputy allegedly stole suspect’s credit card and gave it to her son

A California sheriff’s deputy is accused of snatching a suspect’s credit card — and then gifting it to her son, prosecutors said.

Angelina Cortez, of the Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Office, was busted on a  charge of filing a false police report nearly two years ago, prosecutors said Wednesday.

On Nov. 19, 2018, Cortez, 41, and an officer in training responded  to a report of a man stealing wine and batteries from a 7-Eleven in San Clemente.

Once at the store, Cortez, a seven-year veteran of the force, confronted the suspect, and allegedly snatched his credit card, placing it in her uniform shirt pocket instead of booking it into evidence, prosecutors contend.

She later handed over the card to her son, who used it to make purchases, prosecutors allege.

“The public has an absolute expectation that their law enforcement officers will carry out their duties lawfully,” District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement.

“When laws are broken by the very people who are sworn to uphold them, the public trust is eroded, and society as a whole suffers. The entire criminal justice system relies on the trust that those sworn to uphold the law are following it themselves.”

Cortez, who has been on administrative leave since June 2019, is set to be arraigned Nov. 18.

If convicted, she faces up to three years in prison.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department said it would be conducting an internal probe,  the Los Angeles Times reported.