Nine suspects posted on police Web site as wanted
POLICE HDQTRS. — Some of Santa Monica’s most wanted criminals are being sought by authorities for crimes committed as long as eight years ago.
Nine individuals are posted on the Santa Monica Police Department’s Web site as wanted suspects in crimes that span from murder to kidnapping to burglary to child annoying. While detectives continue to investigate the cases, they hope the public can help lead them to convictions.
There are many more open investigations for unsolved crimes in Santa Monica than what are posted on the SMPD’s Web site. However, the suspects posted on the site are there because witnesses and victims were able to give detailed descriptions of them or police were able to obtain photographs of them. The severity of the crimes also is a factor in determining whether a suspect is posted on the site, said SMPD Lt. Frank Fabrega.
The SMPD uses only one sketch artist from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and is selective about which suspects are drawn. The primary deciding factor is how good the description is from witnesses and victims, said SMPD Sgt. Dan Salerno.
Police actively investigate these cases, and as DNA technology advances, evidence from the crime scenes are entered into the Department of Justice’s database, as well as the Los Angeles County and Orange County Sheriff Departments’ crime labs.
If the suspect has been identified, as is the case in the murder investigation of a German tourist who was killed in 1998 on Santa Monica Beach, the outstanding warrants are put into national, state and county law-enforcement databases.
“As technology evolves and gets more sophisticated, and evidence gets collected, detectives use that information in the crime labs,” Fabrega said. For example, if a cigarette butt is found at a crime scene, detectives collect it and attempt to link it to a suspect. Years ago, all police would have to go on is whether a suspect smokes the same brand of cigarette as the one found at the scene.
“Today, with technology, we can submit that cigarette butt and have it analyzed for DNA,” Fabrega said. “Evidence that was useless now becomes useful.”
SMPD Chief James T. Butts Jr. more than two years ago decided to use Orange County’s crime lab for a majority of Santa Monica investigations because LA County takes too long as a result of a backlog of cases, Fabrega said.
Detectives will periodically get tips from the public on wanted suspects or missing persons who are posted on the Web site. However, few crimes are solved by people identifying suspects online. That’s why Santa Monica police hope the public will continue using the site, santa-monicapd.org, to help with ongoing investigations.
“We welcome all inquiries, and we want to work with the community in solving these crimes,” Salerno said. “Without their support and information, it makes our jobs that much more difficult.
“Overall, the Web site does help with the community, and (tips) often lead to other information,” he added.
The information regarding some of Santa Monica’s most wanted is limited because the crimes are ongoing investigations. Anyone with information about the following crimes should contact the SMPD’s robbery and homicide unit at (310) 458-8451.
SUSPECT #1: WANTED FOR MURDER A $40,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a suspect who is believed to have murdered Michael Nagel, the manager of Super Crown Bookstore at 2800 Wilshire Blvd., eight years ago.
On Nov. 8, 1996, Nagel was shot and killed during a robbery at the bookstore. The suspect is a male, and was between 17 and 21 years old at the time. He’s between 5 feet 2 inches and 5 feet 6 inches tall, with a slender build, black hair, dark eyes, medium skin tone and a clear complexion.
“It’s an open investigation,” Salerno said. “I’m not sure where it’s headed, and we have limited information on it.”
SUSPECT #2: WANTED FOR MURDER Paul Edmond Carpenter is wanted in connection with the murder and attempted robbery of a German tourist that occurred on Oct. 12, 1998.
The murder was one of four in a two-week period — the others were gang-related. Police consider the murder of the tourist solved, but Carpenter is the sole suspect left to capture. Three convictions have been handed down in the case, Salerno said. Those individuals — who are now in jail — identified Carpenter as an accomplice. His outstanding warrants have been entered into law enforcement databases throughout the country, police said. Carpenter also is wanted in Spartaburg County, S.C., for carjacking, rape, assault with a firearm and arson.
Carpenter knows he is being sought and should be considered armed and extremely dangerous, police said. Information indicates that Carpenter might be trafficking narcotics in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida as recently as May of 2001.
Carpenter is 27 years old, between 5 feet 9 inches and 6 feet tall, weighing between 160 and 170 pounds. His moniker is “L.A.” or “Dino” and he has “L.A.” tattooed on the back of his neck.
SUSPECT #3: WANTED FOR INVESTIGATION OF MURDER A $45,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the suspect responsible for the death of two men who were murdered six years ago.
On Oct. 27, 1998, Michael and Anthony Juarez were visiting their cousin’s business, Westside Clothing, when three masked gunmen stormed the store and fired numerous rounds from an assault rifle and two handguns shortly after noon. Michael Juarez, 27, and Anthony Juarez, 19, were killed. The proprietor of the store and the Juarezes’ cousin, Frank Juarez Jr., as well as a customer, were both shot. They survived.
Santa Monica police detectives believe the homicides were gang-related — the suspects still at large are allegedly members of the Culver City Boyz gang. The murders were in retaliation for a homicide that occurred days before the Juarezes were gunned down in broad daylight. Apparently, a gang member who was attending a drug class at the Clare Foundation on Lincoln Boulevard was shot while waiting for the bus, sources said. That prompted the Culver City Boyz to retaliate against Santa Monica gang members.
Anticipating a possible retaliation, the Santa Monica Police Department was on high alert and had a gang-suppression task force in place at the time of the Juarez murders. The SMPD’s office of special enforcement and office of criminal investigations were on high alert. Staffing also was augmented with overtime personnel. At the same time, SMPD had borrowed a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department helicopter for aerial support, police said.
The masked men ran out of the store and got into a car waiting for them on Lincoln Boulevard, driven by a fourth suspect. The composite sketch of him is posted on the SMPD Web site and is based on witness descriptions. The car was found near LAX later that day and had been wiped clean.
A $25,000 reward is being offered by the city of Santa Monica, and another $20,0000 is being offered by the state of California, to anyone who has information leading police to the suspects.
The SMPD had several leads in the case, which led them to gang members in prison and on the street. But no one would talk, and anyone incarcerated refused to provide information.
Michael and Anthony Juarez were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The brothers weren’t from Santa Monica or affiliated with any gangs — they were interested in opening a store like Westside Clothing where they lived in Cayucos, a small town in San Luis Obispo County. They had come to Santa Monica the night before to check out their cousin’s operation.
SUSPECT #4: WANTED FOR BURGLARY AND ASSAULT On March 29, 2001, at about 9:30 p.m., a man broke into a woman’s home on the 1100 block of Fifth Street. The victim came home and was confronted by the suspect. He assaulted her, but she was able to break free. The suspect fled through the rear door of the premises, police said.
“It’s still open,” Salerno said. “The composite remains on the Internet, and we’re hoping someone will recognize him.”
The suspect is described as white, 5 feet 9 inches tall, 160 pounds, with short, dark hair. At the time, he had a slender build, light complexion, and was clean shaven. At the time of the crime, the suspect was wearing a green cap or beret, and a gray long-sleeve shirt.
SUSPECT #5: WANTED FOR INDECENT EXPOSURE AND ANNOYING A MINOR On April 8, 2001, two incidents involving what appeared to be the same suspect occurred in the downtown Santa Monica area. Both victims were white males in their early teens.
In the first incident, the suspect followed the victim into a restroom and masturbated while watching the victim. In the second incident, the suspect befriended the victim, offered him a ride home and engaged the victim in conversation about having sex. When they arrived at the victim’s home, the suspect asked the victim if his parents were home. The victim exited the vehicle and notified his parents.
The suspect is described as white, 25 to 30 years old at the time, and 5 feet 11 inches tall. His hair was wavy and black, and combed back with gel.
At the time of the crime, the suspect was wearing a blue short-sleeved button-front or T-shirt, and brown leather hiking boots.
His vehicle was a white two-door hatchback with white sheepskin seat covers on the front seats.
SUSPECT #6: WANTED FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER AND SEXUAL ASSAULT On Dec. 24, 2001, at about 9 a.m., an attempted murder and sexual assault occurred in the 1400 block of Second Street. The victim, who was homeless, said that she met the suspect, also homeless, the day prior to the attack.
Physical evidence was recovered from the crime scene and entered in the Department of Justice DNA database, Salerno said.
“We’re waiting for a hit in the data-base,” he said.
The suspect is described as white, between 35 and 40 years old, 5 feet 11 inches tall, with a stocky build, having short red hair on the sides and bald on top. He has blue eyes and a light complexion. At the time of the incident the suspect had a two-to three-day growth of a red beard and sideburns down to his jawbone. There is a gap between the suspect’s two front teeth. The suspect was wearing a black knit cap, sunglasses, an Army jacket, jeans and tennis shoes, and he was carrying an olive-green backpack.
SUSPECT #7: WANTED FOR HOME INVASION ROBBERY Police are still looking for two alleged robbers who tied up famed author Michael Crichton in his home north of Montana Avenue on Sept. 23, 2002, in the middle of the night.
Crichton described one of the men to a sketch artist with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and the drawing has been posted on santamonicapd.org ever since.
The suspect is described as a medium-build black or Hispanic male, about 5 feet 9 inches tall, in his late 20s to early 30s, with a bushy mustache and thick eyebrows. At the time of the robbery, he wore a ski mask with eyes and mouth openings, and a long-sleeve black or gray knit sweater and dark pants.
The second suspect is described as a medium-build black or Hispanic male with a light complexion, 5 feet 9 inches tall, in his late 20s to early 30s. He also wore a black ski mask with eyes and mouth openings and a dark-colored shirt.
Police said the crime was committed in a private home in the 400 block of 22nd Street, which is between Georgina and Marguerita avenues. Santa Monica police responded to the call at 4:51 a.m.
Crichton told police two men armed with handguns and dressed in ski masks broke into his home and tied him and an unidentified person up while the thieves ransacked the house. Crichton was able to free himself after the thieves left and called police. Both victims were uninjured, police said.
“Since the incident, we have recovered some of the property,” Salerno said, adding it has been returned to Crichton. Where the property was found or what it was, police declined to say because the investigation is ongoing.
SUSPECT #8: WANTED FOR CHILD ANNOYING AND ATTEMPTED KIDNAPPING Police are looking for a man who tried to persuade a child to enter his car in a posh Santa Monica neighborhood on Jan. 13, 2003. At 1 p.m., Santa Monica police officers responded to the 1400 block of San Vicente Boulevard, where a 13-year-old boy said a man he didn’t know tried to get him into his car earlier that day. The boy was standing on San Vicente Boulevard waiting for a bus when he was approached by the stranger, according to police.
The suspect then fled east on San Vicente Boulevard, the boy told officers.
However, it wasn’t until the child returned home from school that he told his parent, who immediately called police.
The suspect is described as a white male, 40 to 50 years old, about 6 feet tall, with a medium build and no facial hair. He is said to be bald, with possibly a shaved head. At the time of the incident, he was wearing dark sunglasses and a dark-colored, button-down collar shirt.
The vehicle is described as a late-model, four-door, silver-colored sedan with a black leather interior.
SUSPECT #9: WANTED FOR ROBBERY AND CARJACKING Police are looking for a man who in 1999 carjacked a woman and stole her vehicle.
On Feb. 23, 1999, at about 5:50 a.m. the suspect ordered a woman in the 900 block of Colorado Avenue to give him the keys to her vehicle, as well as her back-pack. The victim handed the suspect the keys to her vehicle — a 1999 white Chevy Tahoe, with California license plate number 4AWR862 — but not her backpack. The victim believed the suspect had a gun under his jacket. The suspect fled in the victim’s vehicle, police said.
Police obtained a photograph of the suspect from a closed-circuit surveillance camera located near the intersection of Lincoln Boulevard and Colorado Avenue, where the crime occurred.
He’s described as white, between 25 and 30 years old, between 5 feet 8 inches tall and 5 feet 10 inches tall, 160 pounds, with brown hair and a mustache. He was wearing a blue jacket with a gray hooded sweatshirt underneath and light-colored blue jeans.
The victim’s vehicle has not been found.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 20, 2004. Read the original PDF.