TWO FERRARI 'ENZOS' AND ONE MCLAREN - $2.6 MILLION; CRIMINAL ARREST - PRICELESS! PHONY BADGES, ID CARDS BEING INVESTIGATED BY STATE A.G.

WHEW! INCREDIBLE "ONLY IN LOS ANGELES" STORY INVOLVES:

"CLUBBY WORLD" OF WEALTHY COP WANNA-BE'S, L.A. SHERIFF, C.H.P. AND WORLD'S FASTEST CARS ALL COME TOGETHER ON A MALIBU ROAD AND BEL-AIR MANSION.

TWO FERRARI "ENZO" MODELS ($1 MILLION APIECE) OF 400 EVER BUILT, A MCLAREN ($600,000), ONE ENZO WRECKED AT 162mph, THE OTHER CARS  IMPOUNDED; MYSTERIOUS OFFICERS FROM "HOMELAND SECURITY"; APPARENTLY PHONY BADGES AND ID CARDS FROM THREE DIFFERENT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SHERIFFS, A FORMER SWEDISH VIDEO GAME KING LIVING IN A BEL AIR MANSION RAIDED BY THE COPS SATURDAY NIGHT; SWEDE ARRESTED AND HELD ON 'NO BAIL' IN FILTHY, DANGEROUS L.A. COUNTY LOCK-UP; SWEDE DID JAIL TIME FOR COUNTERFEITING AT HOME, SAYS HIS GOVERNMENT; ENGLAND-BASED BANK SAYS ALL THE CARS INVOLVED LISTED WITH "SCOTLAND YARD" AS STOLEN...AND MORE!

Stefan Eriksson, 44, was arrested at his Bel-Air, Calif., home Saturday night after detectives served a search warrant, the LA Sheriff's Department said in a statement. Eriksson was being held without bail because of a Federal US immigration hold placed on him, authorities said.

The arrest, detailed here in the LOS ANGELES TIMES of April 10, also details how, minutes after the high-speed wreck which Eriksson miraculously survived, two men with badges, identifying themselves as being from "Homeland Security", arrived at the scene and spoke at length with Eriksson. Evidently, the LA Sheriff officers at the crash scene did not interview these men, typical for the clubby world of Malibu and Hollywood, where the police, the very rich and fast cars often intersect. Eriksson also reportedly had a "security" ID card of some type for an obscure but official policing agency which serves a small public transit outfit in the San Gabriel Valley, just outside Los Angeles.

That agency was started recently by a body-and-fender repairman who raised money for LA Sheriff Lee Baca and also organized fund-raisers for the Sheriff. The LA TIMES later reported that this same person had printed at least 80 of these official-appearing ID cards with a realistic-appearing Sheriff's badge on the card, and that he had also forged Sheriff Baca's signature on the cards which he handed out to friends and Baca supporters.

According to news reports, Eriksson, a former senior executive at the Swedish game maker, was in a red 2003 Ferrari Enzo that was traveling at about 162 mph when it struck a pole and disintegrated on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, Calif., in February. Eriksson, who resigned from Gizmondo last year, suffered only a cut lip. Photos of the accident scene which appeared in THE LA TIMES were snapped by our good friend, former Assignment Desk Editor at KTLA/TV5 in Los Angeles, Hans Laetz, now a photog for the Malibu Times local paper.

Erikson was legally drunk at the time of the crash, according to the LA Sheriff's Department.

The incident prompted the LA TIMES to begin a series of stories on the issuing of official-looking badges and identity cards to political supporters of LA County Sheriff Lee Baca, Orange County (CA) Sheriff Michael Corona and Riverside County (CA) Sheriff Bob Doyle.

All three, according to the LA TIMES, had issued the badges and ID cards to political and monetary supporters. THE TIMES in their series has noted several times when holders of the cards and badges have clearly misused them for their own purposes, for instance to intimidate, to impress others, to use them to "get out" of police citations and more. The California State Attorney General is now investigating the badges and ID's and police "support" groups such as the California Highway Patrol's "11-99 Foundation", which issues ID cards and license plate frames to contributors. Many California "car people" consider the license plate frames "de rigueur" for avoiding being pulled-over by the CHP and local police for traffic infractions.