Ontario Police Museum holds car show to raise money after alleged embezzlement
As life-long first responders, the retired law enforcement officers running the Ontario Police Museum are accustomed to giving help, not asking for it.
But ever since their funds were allegedly stolen in what authorities describe as a clever embezzlement scheme, they’ve had to close for months, cancel school field trips and dig into their own pockets to keep the place afloat.
On Saturday, Nov. 2, they’ll host their annual car show, the first since they realized that between $10,000 and $13,000 — all their money — was gone. And they are asking the public to come, have a good time, and contribute to the museum’s future.
“This is a recovery effort to get some of our money back,” said Bob Kallas, organizer of the event and museum operator.
From 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., car enthusiasts will show off their hot rods, street cars, racing cars and vintage models, while DJs entertain and bands play live music. Food trucks plus the In N Out Mobile Kitchen, will be on hand to feed the crowd of an expected 400 people.
The event is held in the parking lot of the museum, at 2500 S. Archibald Ave., Ontario, which is located within the Ontario Police Department’s Archibald Avenue station. Kallas will be there to personally offer tours of the place, filled with police relics, old photos and a fallen officers’ wall.
Admission is free. Those who would like to display their cars are charged a $30 fee. The museum also receives a flat fee from vendors.
In July, Donald Alvin Driftmier, 72, the group’s treasurer, was charged with three felony counts of grand theft by the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office.
Driftmier, of West Covina, is accused of draining the funds of the police museum and two other related charities: Law Enforcement Ontario (L.E.O.) and Freedom’s Flame 9/11 Memorial Foundation from June 2016 through February 2019, according to the criminal complaint.
He was not only the museum treasurer but a CPA who served as president of the California Board of Accountancy and chaired its ethics committee. In 2017, pictures published in this newspaper show Driftmier posing with other guests during a museum fundraiser.
“That is someone you trust. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out,” said Albert Vande Steeg, president of the police museum during an interview Thursday, Oct. 31.
Vande Steeg, 78, was a detective with the Ontario Police Department. He said Driftmier was well trusted throughout the community. At past museum car shows, he always handled the cash, he said.
It’s hard to know exactly how much was stolen, since Driftmier handled all the transactions, even directing donors to send checks to his personal address, Vande Steeg said.
“I know we lost $10,000, that we can prove. But I’m guessing there’s $3,000 more missing we can’t prove,” he said.
The final blow came shortly before Driftmier’s arrest by Ontario PD: When board members noticed funds were missing, he sent the museum a check for $10,000. But when Vande Steeg went to cash it, the bank said the check was worthless, drawn on insufficient funds.
The museum’s balance had fallen to $42, he said.
“I am just disgusted. He talked a good talk and then rips you off. That is not honorable,” Vande Steeg said.
In March, April and May of this year, the museum was forced to close. School field trips were also canceled. This was a low point for the little museum, which began as a way to teach children respect for the law and for law enforcement.
Vande Steeg said the down times “got us derailed for months.” Many board members spent their own money to keep the museum running. He paid for a new set of tires for the 1951 Plymouth police cruiser with Ontario PD markings.
He said the museum has reopened albeit on a shoestring budget. “We are stretched thin,” he said.
On Sept. 11, Driftmier was arraigned in San Bernardino Superior Court, where he pleaded not guilty to the charges. Pre-preliminary hearings have been postponed several times since then. A hearing on Oct. 24 was waived and moved to Dec. 4, court records show.
For more information, visit the museum’s website at https://ontariopolicemuseum.org.
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