Robberies Los Angeles County

Jerry Dewayne Williams was sentenced to prison for 25 years to life Thursday under the state's "three strikes" law for stealing a slice of pepperoni pizza. The 27-year-old Williams sat silent as Torrance Superior Court Judge Donald F. Pitts levied the sentence, citing Williams' five prior felony convictions, his habit of finding trouble and the 1994 "three strikes" law as reasons for the punishment.

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 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.

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.

Two Carson-area gang members were sentenced to death Wednesday for a string of robbery-murders around Southern California in 1995 and 1996. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge J.D. Smith said Bruce Millsap, 33, and Kendrick Loot, 28, deserved execution because of the cruelty and callousness they showed during their yearlong rampage, including shooting armored car drivers without giving them a chance to hand over the money.

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 South Gate police officer shot and killed a suspected car thief Monday after the man opened fire with an automatic weapon, authorities said. The incident began when two unidentified men robbed a motorist at gunpoint, threw him from his car and drove off, said Los Angeles Sheriff's Sgt. Bob Stoneman, whose department is investigating the shooting. A motorcycle officer who was not identified saw the stolen car stopped at an intersection shortly before 6 p.m., Stoneman said.

An off-duty Los Angeles police officer was seriously wounded and one of her four alleged assailants was killed in a shoot-out early Saturday outside the officer's Santa Clarita home, authorities said. Officer Stacy Lim, 27, was in guarded condition at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital hours after she underwent emergency surgery for a bullet that tore through her chest and back, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Joaquin Herran.

Three armed robbers invaded and ransacked a Diamond Bar home early Friday, tying up five members of a family and raping a 13-year-old girl before escaping, authorities said. The robbery began about 1:30 a.m. when the men--wearing ski masks and wielding guns--piled out of a stolen Ford Aerostar van and cut the telephone lines outside the home on Shaded Wood Road. They then stormed the house where the girl lived with her 12-year-old brother, her parents and grandparents, said Lt.

A Superior Court judge sentenced an attorney to 12 years in prison Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to committing four bank robberies here last year, officials said. Steven Hyun Kim, 32, of Los Angeles, entered the plea to four counts of robbery, including three counts of armed robbery, as a trial date was scheduled to be set by Pasadena Superior Court Judge C. Edward Simpson. Deputy Dist. Atty.

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.

A man charged with abducting and killing three San Gabriel Valley residents has confessed to a total of four murders, saying he committed the crimes to "get back at society," court papers obtained Wednesday show.

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.