2 Held in Rapes, Robberies at Park

With the help of a neighborhood civilian surveillance team, police have arrested two men suspected of raping two women and robbing their male companions in a remote west San Fernando Valley park that has been the scene of at least one similar attack in the past.

In custody Wednesday were Francisco Javier Ochoa and Jose Abran Umanzor, both 21-year-old natives of El Salvador who lived in Canoga Park and worked at a local car wash. The two men were arrested Saturday night by a task force of detectives staking out Chatsworth Park North with the help of several members of a crime-fighting group known as the Devonshire Area Volunteer Surveillance Team, said Los Angeles Police Lt. Kyle Jackson.

Charges of rape, sodomy and robbery were filed against the men late Tuesday in the assaults, which occurred on the nights of July 1 and 6. Both suspects were being held Wednesday on $500,000 bail.

The attacks came almost exactly one year after a series of late-night armed robberies and rapes in West Valley parks, which prompted police to warn residents to avoid some local recreation areas. In those cases, four transients were arrested and pleaded guilty to various charges three months ago, leading to a 45-year prison sentence for the alleged ringleader.

Police said they have no evidence linking Ochoa and Umanzor to the robberies and rapes.

The two suspects were arrested after they approached a couple, who fled and alerted plainclothes officers to watch out for men hiding in the bushes, said Detective Sandra Palmer, coordinator of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Devonshire Division major assault crimes section. Police said they recovered a toy plastic gun, which allegedly was used to scare victims.