ARRAIGNMENT SET IN TORTURE SLAYING CASE.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

Four men are scheduled to be arraigned Friday in the March 1995 slaying of a Lancaster man and the wounding of his girlfriend, who were tortured, beaten and found bound and gagged inside the man's home.

Officials said the four men, one of whom lived down the street from Anthony Readell Hogan's house in the 3500 block of West Avenue K-10, wanted to steal drugs and money from Hogan, described by sheriff's homicide detectives as a marijuana dealer.

``We knew it was a dope rip-off, that they were trying to steal his dope and money,'' Sgt. Tom Harris said. ``It had to be someone he knew to let them in the house.''

Hogan, 27, and Tresheva Laronda Sherouse, 22, were discovered by a friend on the morning of March 23, 1995, in the living room of the house. Hogan had been burned, and Sherouse was hospitalized in a coma.

She has since come out of the coma and has been released from the hospital, officials said.

The assailants found marijuana but did not find money. Sheriff's deputies found a substantial amount of cash under the bed on the floor, Harris said.

Charged with murder, attempted murder and robbery are Tommy Simmons III, 35, of Lancaster; and Kevin Simmons, 31, Archie Dixon, 28, and Robert Adams, all of Duarte. Tommy and Kevin Simmons and Adams are related, Harris said.

The charges were filed last month by prosecutors in the District Attorney's hard-core gang unit in the form of an arrest warrant. The men will be arraigned in Los Angeles Municipal Court.

A special circumstance was filed that the murder was committed during a robbery, making them eligible for the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

All of the defendants except for Dixon were already in prison on various drug charges when they were identified as suspects in the murder. Dixon was arrested April 6 at the Oakland International Airport after detectives followed Dixon's girlfriend, who flew up there to meet him, Harris said.

``All are hard-core gang members,'' Harris said. ``They've been in and out of prison all their life.''

Investigators recovered a bag of marijuana in a car Dixon was driving, and the bag had Hogan's fingerprints on it, Harris said. Witnesses who saw people leaving Hogan's home were able to make identifications, but Harris would not say of whom.

Hogan's Oldsmobile Cutlass was found later the day of the killing, abandoned in the driveway of a Pico Rivera business, deputies said. A neighbor reported seeing someone other than Hogan drive the vehicle away about 8:30 a.m., about an hour before the friend entered Hogan's home.

The friend said he had gone to Hogan's house to bring him toilet paper but another man answered the door and told the friend to come back in 30 minutes.

The friend said he asked where Hogan was, then heard another voice from inside the house repeating the order to return in a half-hour. When the friend returned, no one answered when he knocked on the door or rang the doorbell.

The friend drove off but turned around within a block because he ``knew something wasn't right.''

Back at the house, the friend said he heard someone gagging inside. He went around the back and saw through a window that the housed was messed up. He said he entered through the front door, which was open, and saw the couple lying on the floor.

Friends said Hogan was separated from his wife and children.