Solicitations for Slain Officer in Torrance End in Arrest

Torrance police have made one arrest in an investigation into alleged fraudulent solicitations on behalf of Torrance Police Officer Thomas Keller, who was killed during a confrontation with a gunman last week, a police spokesman said.

The solicitations, which are not authorized by the Police Department or by Keller’s family, have touched raw spots in the department, which is still in mourning for the first officer killed in the line of duty since 1968.

“It is one of the most outrageous things I have ever heard,” Sgt. Mike Dersham said.

Arrested was James Russell Herman, 56, of Wabasso Way in Glendale. Herman was charged with operating a business without a license and soliciting without a license--both misdemeanor violations, according to Sgt. Wally Merkur. The investigation is continuing.

‘Started Getting Inquiries’

Merkur said that Herman was a courier sent out by the Francis N. Mitchell Advertising firm of Burbank to pick up checks solicited over the phone for advertisements in a magazine called the Fraternal Order of Police Journal.

Efforts to reach a representative of the magazine or locate the advertising agency were unsuccessful.

“We started getting inquiries from local businessmen in Torrance (about) people calling them for solicitations to advertise. . . . They also said that Officer Thomas Keller would be memorialized in the upcoming edition,” Merkur said.

Herman was arrested Thursday after he came to pick up a $95 check from Bay Central Lumber in Torrance.

Bay Central Lumber’s bookkeeper, who asked not to be named, said she had been called the day before by a “deep-voiced” man, who identified himself as “Officer Jennings of, I believe he said, the Torrance Police Department.”

The bookkeeper said the man was “a very smooth talker” who asked if the company wanted to take out a full-page ad in Fraternal Order of Police magazine for $695. “We could afford only the business card size, which was $95.”

The bookkeeper said she wondered that night if the man was legitimate, and called the police in the morning. “Plainclothes men were here in 10 minutes,” she said.

Merkur said the only authorized memorial fund for Keller is being handled through the city credit union. Contributions may be sent to the Thomas Keller Memorial Fund, care of the Torrance City Employees Federal Credit Union, 2820 Sepulveda Blvd., Torrance 90505.