Subject: Cynthia KempfJob Title: Safeway Manager Railroad Ave Pittsburg CA
Incident: Take over robbery
DOD: June 1988
Cause of Death: Murder by execution
This is one that is very personal as we (friends and fiance) knew her via Safeway stores as she was the manager where my then finance and I shopped.
These also happened to be the same officers that I'd filed complaints on the endless thefts from my cabinet shop.
Without going into too much details but this robbery went south when from what I heard she'd recognized Bergen during the robbery.
I remember Bergen clearly - dark glasses even on shift, crystallized blue eyes and one truly bad cop
To this day I'll doubt that others didn't know more but when you read about how my truck was blown up you might consider I've been targeted. The problem is when Dr. Fang was murdered I was discovered living in Danville and they were not happy to see me again.
Read the story from 1995
NOTE: I met with Candidate Mark Peterson under unofficial terms while assisting with his candidacy for office in 2010. He never said that CMDR George Driscoll was the brother of my murdered friend Alicia Driscoll but he would definitely have known that my witness in Bennett v. Southern Pacific was murdered while he was deeply involved in Concord Politics and without a doubt Sheriff Livingston would know all about that murder.
IN 2000, I was hired to work at Wells Fargo which is a long term Bershire Hathaway investment
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Jury-Convicts-Former-Cop-Of-Murder-Slaying-3040059.php
Jury Convicts Former Cop Of Murder / Slaying occurred when he was on Pittsburg force
Erin Hallissy, Chronicle East Bay Bureau
Published 4:00 am, Saturday, April 1, 1995
A former Pittsburg police officer was convicted Thursday of murdering an Oakley woman in 1988 while he was still on the police force.
The guilty verdict came after three of Eric Bergen's confederates -- including another ex-cop -- testified against him about a botched attempt to rob the Pittsburg Safeway store. The plan involved kidnapping assistant manager Cynthia Kempf, who knew the combination to the store's safe, but the plan was abandoned after a police patrol car was sighted.
Kempf, 28, was driven to the countryside and shot.
Bergen, 35, did not react as a Contra Costa County Superior Court clerk read the jury's verdicts finding him guilty of first-degree murder, attempted kidnapping for robbery and conspiracy in the slaying of Kempf on March 14, 1988.
Bergen, who faces life in prison when he is sentenced on May 1, testified that he was not involved, and his attorney said that the real killers were given immunity in exchange for implicating him.
Jurors, who deliberated for three days, hugged Kempf's tearful family outside the court.
Deputy District Attorney Larry Barnes said the crime was particularly grievous because it involved two renegade officers.
Kempf's mother, Merline Plants, told reporters that she was relieved that Bergen was convicted but shocked that a police officer murdered her daughter.
"Right or wrong, I think (police) should be held to a higher level of responsibility," Plants said. "When a police officer kills someone, it's the worst you can get."
Bergen was a SWAT officer on the Pittsburg force in the mid- 1980s, but he quit in June 1988 while under investigation for police brutality. Bergen admitted in court that he was guilty of police brutality and that he had robbed businesses after quitting the force.
Bergen has been in state prison since 1990 on a robbery conviction.
According to testimony, Bergen and his friend Mario Joe Salguero conceived a plot in early 1988 to kidnap Kempf and force her to open the store safe. Both Salguero and Bergen moonlighted as guards for Safeway.
Bergen's brother, Carl, was brought into the plan, as was Bergen's friend Pittsburg police Sergeant George Elzie.
Salguero, Elzie and Carl Bergen testified that Kempf was kidnapped in March -- after an unsuccessful try in February -- but that the robbery attempt went awry.
Salguero, who is serving a 17- year prison sentence for robbery, was given total immunity. Carl Bergen testified in exchange for a 10-year prison sentence, and Elzie, who was an officer until he was indicted last year, testified in exchange for a 12-year sentence.
Eric Bergen's attorney, Chris Weir, said he will appeal the convictions.
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