By Sarah Burge
The Press-Enterprise
A Temecula police officer accused of telling a woman he stopped for running a red light that he would “get rid of” her ticket if she cleaned his house has been charged with soliciting a bribe, court records show.
Deputy Dominic Karl Schreiber, 38, of Temecula, was charged Monday with one count of asking for a bribe in his capacity as a public employee, court records show.
Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez said Schreiber was placed on unpaid administrative leave as of January. Gutierrez said he could not release further details about the case.
Schreiber, reached at his home Tuesday, declined to comment. Schreiber was issued a notice to appear for arraignment Thursday in Riverside County Superior Court.
According to a declaration in support of an arrest warrant, Schreiber was on duty the morning of Oct. 21 when he issued a 37-year-old woman a notice to appear for a red-light violation.
Between Oct. 23 and Oct. 24, Schreiber allegedly called the woman at home at least four times, according to the declaration. During those conversations, one of which was recorded by sheriff’s investigator Thomas Salisbury, Schreiber offered to “get rid of” her ticket if she would clean his house, the declaration said. Schreiber told the woman to throw away her ticket and assured her that he would throw away his copies of the ticket, the declaration said.
During an interview with the investigator, Schreiber admitted what he did was wrong, “stupid” and consistent with bribery, the declaration said. He also admitted that he shredded the official court and station copies of the ticket at his home and told the woman to dispose of her copy, the declaration said.
The woman was not identified by name in court records.
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