Robberies Los Angeles County

Two men were in custody Friday as the suspected gunmen who shot an unarmed, off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy execution-style during a robbery of a hair salon in Buena Park. The deputy, 26-year-old Shayne York of Valencia, remained in critical condition late Friday with major brain damage. His family was grappling with the decision whether to disconnect a breathing apparatus that was keeping him alive, authorities said.

It took a jury just three hours Friday to convict a Van Nuys man of first-degree murder in an August 2000 shooting spree outside a Costco store in Van Nuys, where an aspiring screenwriter was killed and three other shoppers wounded. Ignacio Cervantes Chavez, 48, was accused of driving the getaway van for his brother, Ramon Gutierrez, 39, of Tijuana, the alleged shooter. Gutierrez is set to stand trial in Van Nuys later this month.

A photograph taken by an automated teller machine camera provides more evidence of what investigators believe is a possible link between the gunman who killed two police officers at a Holiday Inn in Torrance last month and an armed robbery last year at a real estate office in Gardena. Gardena Police Lt.

Sheriff's investigators Thursday had scant clues about the shooting death of a prominent Internet entrepreneur from Japan during a robbery in Hawthorne. Roger Boisvert, 50, was on a business trip to Los Angeles last weekend when he was killed after cooperating with a robber by handing over his money and cellular phone, authorities said. The case is difficult because "only three people were witnesses," said Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Larry Lincoln.

A Los Angeles Police Department motorcycle officer faces extortion and robbery charges for allegedly plotting with five people to steal $1 million from a Lakewood real estate broker, authorities said Monday. Melvin Boyd, 37, was the only law enforcement officer involved in the alleged scheme, according to the Sheriff's Department, which investigated the case. The others, two women and three men, were detained, then released. No charges have been filed against them.

A Harvard University student charged with a series of robberies in Orange County was charged with three additional robberies in Los Angeles County. Jose L. Razo, 20, of La Habra was charged with robbing a Round Table Pizza restaurant at 11223 1st Ave., Whittier, twice. The district attorney's office said he took $2,000 in cash last Aug. 16 and $800 in cash last Jan. 12. Razo was also charged with taking $350 during a robbery of a McDonald's restaurant at 11529 Washington Blvd.

Randy Shields, a retired boxer from North Hollywood, was credited with saving the lives of customers and employees of a San Fernando Valley restaurant this weekend when he wounded two robbers in a running gun battle that spilled onto the street, police said. "When they said they were going to start killing people and that somebody was going to die, that's when I came up shooting," Shields, 36, a top welterweight contender a decade ago, said Saturday in explaining his role in the shootout.

A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted 10 Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department narcotics officers--including all nine members of an elite team--on charges of stealing more than $1.4 million in seized drug cash and using much of that money to buy homes, luxury cars, jewelry and stocks. The 10 veteran officers were also accused of conspiring to take money from suspected drug dealers during narcotics raids over the last two years.

A Calabasas bookkeeper has been arrested on suspicion of perjury and grand theft for allegedly claiming false credentials so he could collect an expert witness fee in an acrimonious child-support and custody battle. During the case of Novorr vs. Novorr, heard in November in the Downtown courtroom of Superior Court Judge Raymond Mirales, Steven Z. Kaller allegedly claimed to be a certified public accountant and tenured professor of accounting at Cal State Northridge, police and prosecutors say.

For nine years, Claudine Walton has treasured the fading newspaper photograph, a memento of happier times. In the picture, her son Darrell Allums is wearing his UCLA basketball uniform, sitting on the bench next to coach Larry Brown. The scene is from Allums' final college game, the 1980 NCAA championship between UCLA and the University of Louisville. Her son played just four minutes that night at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis in a game that UCLA lost by 5 points.

Police locked down a Woodland Hills mall Sunday night after fatally shooting one armed robber and launching a massive search for another suspect who may have disappeared among the shoppers. People ran in terror or hid in stores, closets and dressing rooms while officers conducted a store-by-store search of the vast Westfield Shoppingtown Promenade that is home to more than 50 shops and restaurants. The robbery occurred in Macy's department store about 5:15 p.m.

A stranded motorist apparently got more than he bargained for when he allegedly tried to rob a 65-year-old good Samaritan who stopped to lend him a hand in West Covina, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said Thursday. Authorities said Anthony Salinas, 19, of Azusa ran out of gas in a stolen car on a West Covina street Wednesday and was trying to push it to a gas station when Elio Bongon, a janitor from Fontana, happened by in his pickup truck.

A Long Beach bus driver was arrested by sheriff's deputies on suspicion of committing five armed robberies, authorities said Friday. Michael Earl Dean, 31, was arrested at the Long Beach Transit bus yard Thursday night, said Sheriff's Sgt. Denise Oglesby. Dean allegedly committed the robberies during the first three weeks in August, Oglesby said. He allegedly stole cash and jewelry at gunpoint from businesses in Cerritos and Buena Park.

A gunman assaulted two Japanese students Wednesday night, robbing a man of $30 and sexually assaulting his female companion after ordering her into his car, police said. The 20-year-old man and 18-year-old woman, who are in the United States learning English, were walking in the 18200 block of Plummer Street about 9:40 p.m. when the gunman approached them, said Officer La Donna Cissell, an LAPD spokeswoman.

Police are looking for a man they suspect of being involved in a series of robberies and shootings he allegedly committed with his brother, who is in custody. Lavale Nehemiah Weldon, 22, is 6 feet tall, weighs about 200 pounds and has braids and a mustache. His younger brother, Jason, 18, was booked on suspicion of attempted murder on July 5. The Weldons are suspected in three robberies since January, said Long Beach Police Officer Jana Blair.

Employing two hallmarks of Southern California freeway culture, the mobile phone and the high-speed chase, a Seal Beach robbery suspect telephoned friends Wednesday night to help him escape pursuing police, authorities said. Trayveon Choyce, 28, reportedly called his girlfriend and another person and asked them to block or ram their cars into a fleet of police cars during an hourlong chase.

Two La Puente gang members were sentenced to death Friday in the 1996 killings of a 68-year-old Hacienda Heights grocer and two teenagers in Covina. Pomona Superior Court Judge Robert Armstrong said John Anthony Gonzales, 22, and Michael Soliz, 24, acted viciously in the slayings, according to a court official. Gonzales received the death penalty in the shooting death of Lester Eaton, who operated the Hillgrove Market for four decades until he was killed in January 1996 during a robbery.

Six men were ordered to stand trial on murder, attempted robbery and conspiracy charges on Thursday for their roles in an alleged extortion scheme that ended in a late-night, fatal shootout at a clothing store. The ruling by Municipal Judge Laura Matz ended a nine-day preliminary hearing that was marked by constant legal wrangling and complications including a refusal by the prosecution's star witness to testify. During the hearing, Deputy Dist. Atty.

A man arrested on suspicion of being the so-called Hooded Bandit who robbed more than 50 convenience stores in the San Fernando Valley told officers he needed the money to support his elderly parents, Los Angeles police said Friday. Ehsan Mohamad Jalal, 28, who lives with his parents near where he was arrested early Friday, cooperated with detectives, said Lt. Jimmy Grayson of the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery-Homicide Division.

Sheriff's deputies searched Thursday for a man who helped rob a woman outside a Valencia bank, authorities said. The man, who may be armed, was Latino, 19 or 20, medium build, with a shaved head and wearing jeans, a T-shirt and plaid flannel shirt, deputies said. His alleged partner, Theodore Pacheco, 20, was arrested on robbery, assault and burglary charges, with bail set at $250,000.