CRIMES EMBROIL OFFICER\LAPD links dad with sons' charges.

Byline: Jaxon Van Derbeken Daily News Staff Writer

In his 28 years on the LAPD, Dennis Pelch has earned a reputation as a hard-boiled, no-nonsense sergeant - a cop's cop.

Now, since his two sons were accused of holding bank managers hostage overnight in their homes in a plot to rob branches the next day, Pelch's underbelly has been exposed, according to LAPD investigators.

The 54-year-old Saugus man has been relieved of duty and faces a hearing today on departmental charges that could lead to his dismissal for allegedly shielding his son, Brett Anthony Pelch, 28, during Brett's two years as a fugitive.

"He's the original Jack Webb - 'Just the facts, ma'am,' " Pelch's attorney, Darryl Mounger, said last week. "He hopes to be vindicated when the truth comes out."

Mounger says the Los Angeles Police Department "jumped to conclusions."

Authorities contend that Pelch lied to investigators and refused to cooperate with the FBI as agents hunted for Brett Pelch, who was arrested in August 1995 and is suspected of masterminding two robberies in Northridge and Santa Clarita.

Pelch's brother, Chad Michael Pelch, 25, has been convicted and sentenced to 10 years for his role in one of the robberies.

"These are some very serious offenses," said prosecutor Steve Cooley. "The victims were young children, women, who were held hostage by ski-masked thugs."

Both brothers and a third man face possible life prison terms if convicted on the state charges.

LAPD officials declined comment on the case or whether criminal charges would be sought against Dennis Pelch. Prosecutors say no case has been presented to them.

"I feel sorry for Mr. Pelch, if it is in fact true that his sons were involved in criminal acts in this serious case," Cooley said. "He is a nice man, probably tried to raise his kids right. It's sad for him."

Until the misconduct charges were pressed last month, Sgt. Pelch worked full time as an advocate for other LAPD officers charged with misconduct - earning a reputation as a pugnacious defender of officers' rights.

"He's one hell of a supervisor," said Jim Vojtecky, a veteran detective who worked with Pelch at the LAPD's Foothill Division. "He's one of the finest sergeants I've worked for or around.

"He's an abrasive guy and is very outspoken," Vojtecky said. "He speaks the truth. He offends a lot of people - the brass, because he criticizes them at hearings."

Dennis Pelch and his ex-wife, Patricia, have stood by their sons, appearing in court proceedings in the case and providing emotional support. She says her sons are innocent - as is her former husband.

"You have to know my ex-husband and you would know he wouldn't do such a thing like that - it's just one more way of trying to get to the kids. But we are holding up real good," Pelch's former wife said.

"It's hard to imagine, that he has to go through all this, besides his two boys - what he has to face with this."

She said Brett, the elder son, wanted to be a police officer and had passed the written and oral exams needed to join the LAPD. She said Dennis devoted time to his sons after the couple's divorce.

"(Brett) was going to follow in his father's footsteps - he went on ride-alongs with his dad. Both the boys did when growing up," she said. "They would go to police picnics, all kinds of things - they've always done things together.

"They were very, very close," she said. "Denny is an excellent father.

"If they had any problems, they could always call him."

Brett Pelch was initially charged in February 1994 by federal authorities and had been targeted in a nationwide manhunt that extended from San Diego to Canada before his arrest.

In February and June 1994, according to charges detailed by the LAPD, Sgt. Pelch twice "improperly assisted" Brett Pelch. He is also charged with lying to LAPD Internal Affairs investigators and refusing to cooperate with the FBI.

Deputy District Attorney Susan Chasworth said the investigation determined that Brett Pelch was living under an assumed name in San Diego and may have been visited by his father.

"He was using the name of Rich Cardoza," she said. "At a certain point in San Diego, he had a visit from an older male, whose description matches that of Dennis Pelch and who he introduced friends to as his father and to others as his uncle."

At the time, Chasworth said, Brett Pelch was working as a bouncer at a bar and grill in San Diego, but left in July 1995 - the month before he was captured. He was also in Las Vegas in the spring of 1994.

FBI agents also interviewed a man who told them that Dennis Pelch had asked him to give Brett Pelch assistance in Las Vegas, she said.

"Dennis Pelch asked someone to assist Brett in Las Vegas, to get into his car," Chasworth said. "He could not get into the vehicle and did not want to be associated with it - (the) father arranged for someone to go down to Las Vegas and get a key for the car from a locksmith and give the key to his son."

Brett Pelch's capture came in Pacific Grove after an officer stopped him for driving without a front license plate. Inside his blue BMW, investigators found a toupee and a gun.

State and federal authorities say the 1993 robberies that netted $200,000 were the work of five men who knew each other as youths from Saugus High School and who lifted weights together.

Two of them, Darren Towers and Chad Pelch, have been convicted of crimes in federal court but another member of the group, Alex Yepes, was acquitted of federal charges.

A second prosecution targeting Alex Yepes and the two Pelch brothers is under way in Superior Court, while Towers - who testified in the federal trial - is not charged.

A fifth man, Donald Sallee, remains at large.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Fields said Yepes and Brett Pelch masterminded the sophisticated crimes in which the suspects carried guns, burst into the homes of bank managers, then held them until the next day when the bank vaults could be opened.

At one point in Yepes' federal trial, Chad Pelch testified that his brother, Brett - then a fugitive - was involved in the first home raid, Fields said.

Rose Reglos, the deputy public defender who represents Chad Pelch, said both brothers appear to be "average all-American guys" from "what appears to me to be the average American family."

Pelch's former wife said her sons excelled in Little League and soccer. Both boys worked with their father at the now-defunct Saugus Speedway, doing security work for the races and the swap meet.

The parents divorced after 14 years when their sons were in junior high. A short time later, Chad got involved with drugs - marijuana at first - while Brett lived a clean life and joined the Army.

"The family life, the kids growing up, it was just like the next-door neighbor, just the same," she said. "My theory is that it was for drugs on Chad's part - that just happens. No parent has any control over that.

"You can only go so far and then it's up to them. Once they are on their own, you just have to be on their side and be loving, and help them as much as possible."

In his high school yearbook, Chad Pelch counted his major achievement as "Not getting in trouble (with) the law for my last year, making the grades." Brett Pelch counted his three years playing soccer as his achievement and said his goal was "To own a red Porsche."

Chad was living in Canyon Country and working as a roofer at the time he was charged for robbery. His mother said she is still not convinced that her son committed the crimes, despite his pleading guilty in federal court.

"If he did this, I know he wouldn't hurt anybody. If he did this, he was probably on drugs, didn't know what he was doing," she said. "I know my son. I know that Chad wouldn't hurt anybody. It's hard to believe he would do something like this."

She said she is convinced that Brett did not have any part in the holdups and was wrongly accused for the crimes.

"As I said to Brett last night - I don't know how this all happened - it's almost like you have to prove yourself innocent, instead of them proving you guilty."

Chad Pelch was sentenced to 10 years in prison and five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $27,000 in restitution to Trans World Bank in Santa Clarita for his crime.

In state court, the Pelch brothers, along with Yepes, face a series of charges including kidnapping for robbery, which carries a maximum penalty of life with the possibility of parole.

"All I can say is, I love my boys very much," said their mother. "They know that. I am for them 100 percent, and so is their father."

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(1) Brett Pelch On the run for two years (2) Chad Pelch Serving 10 years after a robbery