Stepson of Slain Guard Testifies Suspect Is Killer

The stepson of a slain security guard identified a Pacoima man on Tuesday as the one who shot his stepfather to death two years ago during a robbery at the San Fernando Swap Meet.

Testifying in the trial of Ricardo Roldan, 21, Dominic Wright acknowledged that he previously had been unable to identify the defendant.

But Wright, 18, insisted in court Tuesday that he is sure Roldan was the killer.

Weeping quietly, the young man told a San Fernando Superior Court jury that he was about 25 feet away when Roldan, using an Uzi-style assault weapon, fired three shots into the back of his stepfather, Roland (Lucky) Teal, 61.

Roldan has been charged with first-degree murder. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Teal, a Pacoima tire store owner and father of 15 children and stepchildren, had moonlighted as a security guard at the Glenoaks Boulevard open air market for 21 years.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig R. Richman said that on June 3, 1990, Roldan and two accomplices robbed swap meet manager Barnie Pipkin as he stepped out of his office with bags containing $12,000.

As the three sped away, Teal jumped in his van and gave chase, cutting off the robbers about one block away, Richman said.

Wright, who also was working security at the swap meet, testified that he ran on foot after his stepfather.

He said he arrived just in time to see Roldan fire the fatal shots as his 6-foot-5 stepfather wrestled with one of the robbers.

However, under cross-examination by Roldan’s attorney, Richard Gomez-H, Wright admitted that he had been unable to pick out the defendant’s photograph from among those shown to him by police.

The witness also acknowledged that his mother, Louise Teal, told him shortly before Tuesday’s court session that he would see the man who shot his father at the trial.

Nonetheless, Wright said he had not been influenced by his mother and has no doubt that Roldan killed his stepfather.

Six weeks after the robbery, police searched Roldan’s home after noting that he had been charged in a similar swap meet robbery in 1988.

Evidence gathered during the search implicated two others in the robbery, Richard L. Zorns, 24, of Arleta, and Sergio Ayala, 19, of Pacoima.

In February, a jury deliberated less than an hour before convicting Zorns and Ayala of first-degree murder.

Zorns, who prosecutors said drove the get-away car, was sentenced to 32 years to life in prison.

Ayala, who police said wrestled with Teal, was sentenced to 26 years to life in prison.

If jurors convict Roldan of first-degree murder, they will then determine if he should be sentenced to death or to life in prison without possibility of parole.