METAL DETECTORS TURNED METAL DETECTIVES PROSPECTOR'S CLUB FINDS WHAT LAWBREAKERS HIDE.

Byline: Carol Rock Staff Writer

They probably were dismissed as roadside volunteers picking up trash along Interstate 10, but the men and women working the shoulders of the road a few years ago were intent on finding treasure.

Members of the elite Crime Scene Search Unit of the Prospector's Club of Southern California are more than volunteer public servants. On that summer day, Canyon Country resident Joe Keeley and a handful of other searchers combed an eight-mile stretch of the deserted highway, looking for parts of a gun dismantled and thrown out of a car window.

``We took the team all the way to the Arizona border and searched all along the freeway,'' said George Johnson, who coordinates law enforcement requests with team response. ``The fellow threw pieces up and down, but we were able to find some valuable pieces, including the magazine that came out of the weapons, and bullets that had fingerprints on them.''

The Crime Scene Search Unit has about 35 active members, all of whom have undergone background checks and fingerprinting and carry identification cards as volunteers of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. But their beat isn't restricted to the county borders; Johnson gets calls from more than 24 other law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, Riverside and San Bernardino county sheriff's departments and the Los Angeles Police Department, when detectives come up empty-handed and need some help.

Keeley has responded to a variety of incidents, including two officer-involved suicides, the ambush of sheriff's Deputy Steven Sorensen and a major crimes call in Canyon Country where he searched the area of an underground bunker.

``If we find a weapon or evidence, we flag it and let a law enforcement officer recover it,'' Keeley said. ``It prevents subpoenas so we don't have to go to court.''

The unit organized in 1990 when a member thought the hobbyists might be able to help police in their investigations.

``The president of the Prospector's Club saw the advantage we had knowing about metal detectors, so he sent out letters offering our help,'' Johnson said. ``Our first callout was in Downey. They had two officers wounded in a shootout at the Pace warehouse and wanted to know if we could find any expended rounds or brass. After that, we started getting calls from different police departments.''

The searchers work primarily with homicide and narcotic units from the respective agencies, and answer anywhere from 100 to 200 calls a year. They provide their own equipment, pay for their own gas and respond to calls any time of the day or night.

``At times they are absolutely essential,'' said Sgt. Paul Mondry, a sheriff's homicide investigator. ``They make themselves available and roll whenever the desk calls them out. We had a victim shot in La Habra, they found shotgun casings so we were able to tie the gun to the murder suspect. They worked on that three days in the summertime.

``They're a good crew - selfless people who pull all the punches out to help us.''

Johnson remembered the La Habra case vividly.

``The victim was a personal friend of Governor Davis,'' he said. ``He had been fishing in Mexico and came home early, surprising a burglar, who shot him. The guy then set fire to the house to destroy evidence. Once the firefighters put the fire out, they found the body, and we were called out to see if we could find anything. We sifted through the residue and found a gasoline can and shotgun shells that tied into a gun found on the man who did the killing. In the meantime, he had killed someone else. He got 99 years.''

One of the more interesting cases they worked was the murder - still unsolved - of a young boy in Buena Park. He was walking through a park with his brother on the Fourth of July when he complained that his stomach hurt and fell over, dead.

``He had bled out internally. We searched the park and finally located the bullet, a .22. They were able to find the boy's DNA on the bullet and determined someone had shot a gun into the air and the bullet came down through the boy.''

Keeley said he's also seen his share of stupid crooks.

``We went out with the SWAT team in South Central L.A. looking for weapons. A lot of people think they can get away with hiding stuff in the ground,'' he said. ``Including the gentleman who used ammunition cans to hide the coke.''

For information on the Prospector's Club of Southern California and the Crime Scene Search Unit, visit their Web site at www.prospectorsclub.org.

Carol Rock, [phone]

carol.rock(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(color) When he's not hunting for buried treasure, Joe Keeley uses his metal detector to help law enforcement find hidden evidence. He is a member of the Prospector's Club, who answer anywhere from 100 to 200 calls a year.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer