The San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority (SGVTA) was a small quasi-governmental, public interest corporation operating as a bus transit provider in

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States counties and county equivalents, most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 202 ...

providing free transport services to seniors, poor and

disabled Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physica ...

members of the cities of

Monrovia Monrovia () is the administrative capital city, capital and largest city of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liber ...

and Sierra Madre. The SGVTA entered into a Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with the two cities. Its equipment consisted primarily of five lift-equipped coaches and a 50 passenger bus. Its paid staff included fewer than a dozen coach and bus drivers. Two Swedish nationals,

Carl Freer Carl Johan Freer is a Swedish businessman and technology entrepreneur primarily known for founding the American company Tiger Telematics, which created the handheld game console Gizmondo. Freer is also the founder of Singapore-based medical-de ...

and

Stefan Eriksson Bo Stefan M. Eriksson (born December 14, 1961) is a Swedish video game developer and criminal from Uppsala involved in the British gaming company Gizmondo with his business partner Carl Freer, until it became insolvent in 2005. In February 2006 ...

made donations to the SGVTA under its non-profit corporate status. Freer and Eriksson allegedly presented SGVTA business cards to identify themselves as civilian members of the SGVTA's police department following a well publicized car crash involving Eriksson.

Later developments

The SGVTA was notable for having had a

transit police Transit police (also known as transport police, railway police, railroad police and several other terms) are specialized police agencies employed either by a common carrier, such as a transit district, railway, railroad, bus line, or another mas ...

force consisting primarily of volunteer

commissioners A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a Wiktionary: commission, commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissi ...

and

auxiliaries Auxiliaries are combat support, support personnel that assist the military or police but are organised differently from regular army, regular forces. Auxiliary may be military volunteers undertaking support functions or performing certain duties ...

. Although the SGVTA's "police agency" was not a participating agency in the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards & Training (POST) program, the agency was recognized by POST as an authorized law enforcement agency established in California. Eriksson was a businessman who was found with SGVTA business cards purportedly from its "police agency" after being involved in a high profile traffic accident. During a subsequent court proceeding in Alhambra, California, it was determined that the SGVTA police agency was issued an official ORI number by the California State Department of Justice, and its sworn police officers each possessed Peace Officer Standards in Training (POST) certificates issued by the Rio Hondo Police Academy as well as the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Academy. Therefore, the court determined that the SGVTA's sworn officers met minimum standards as

peace officer A law enforcement officer (LEO), or police officer or peace officer in North American English, is a public-sector or private-sector employee whose duties primarily involve the enforcement of laws, protecting life & property, keeping the peace, ...

s in the State of California. Another Swedish national,

was also arrested after he allegedly flashed a civilian police commissioner's identification card from SGVTA in order to purchase a gun from a dealer without the required background checks. Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives said they found 12 rifles and four handguns during searches at the Swedish national's home in the Bel-Air community and on his 100-foot yacht docked at Marina del Rey. No charges were ever filed against Freer in connection with that arrest, and each of the rifles and handguns taken during the search of his home were returned. The SGVTA founder and operator of an auto repair service in Monrovia was briefly detained while trying to recover two of the agency's vehicles which had been impounded as part of the investigation into the "SGVTA Police" by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Authorities claimed that he had committed perjury in official documents filed with the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), by claiming that the SGVTA was a government entity. Upon presentation of executed MOU's between the cities of Monrovia and Sierra Madre,Memorandum of Understanding between SGVTA & City of Sierra Madre, Dated Sept 28, 2005. https://app.box.com/s/euhspz79r1a2rj78exyj demonstrating that the SGVTA was operating as a political subdivision of two municipalities, the charge was dropped. No other charges have been filed in connection with the SGVTA's operations, and all vehicles were returned to the SGVTA. As a result of the negative publicity, SGVTA's services to the impoverished and disabled members of the San Gabriel Valley Community were discontinued as of July 18, 2006.

References

{{reflist Public transportation in the San Gabriel Valley Bus transportation in California Public transportation in Los Angeles County, California San Gabriel Valley 2006 disestablishments in California