DUO FACES FELONY CARJACK CHARGES UNLUCKY SUSPECTS ASKED RETIRED POLICEMAN FOR HELP.

Byline: Holly Edwards Staff Writer

NEWHALL - Two men suspected of stealing a Canyon Country woman's vehicle at gunpoint were ordered to face felony charges of carjacking, robbery and attempted robbery following a preliminary hearing in Newhall Superior Court, officials said Tuesday.

Gilbert Dominguez, 17, of Quartz Hill will be tried as an adult along with Carlos Anguino, 19, of Los Angeles. Dominguez is being held in lieu of $425,000 bail, and Anguino is jailed in lieu of nearly $2.23 million bail.

They are scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 1 in North Valley Superior Court in San Fernando.

The men were arrested Aug. 4 at the Acton home of a retired Los Angeles Police Department officer who had held them at gunpoint until Palmdale sheriff's deputies arrived, officials said.

The retired officer had heard about the carjacking earlier in the day and became suspicious when the suspects asked for his help, claiming they had wrecked their motorcycle, said Deputy Max Godinez of the Santa Clarita sheriff's station.

``He called the Palmdale sheriff's station and verified they were suspects,'' Godinez said. ``Then he did his duty.''

About 7:30 that evening, the suspects had attempted to carjack a 23-year-old Newhall man's vehicle in the parking lot of Stater Brothers grocery store at Via Princessa and Sierra Highway in Canyon Country, officials said.

Dominguez pointed a handgun at the victim and demanded his Ford Mustang, but the victim, fearing for his life, sped away, Godinez said.

The suspects then walked across Via Princessa to the Texaco Starmart, pointed a handgun at a 49-year-old Canyon Country woman waiting in the Del Taco drive-through, and ordered her to get out of her Ford Explorer, officials said.

The terrified victim immediately complied and the victims fled in her sport-utility vehicle, Godinez said.

Minutes later, a California Highway Patrol officer spotted the suspects heading north on the Antelope Valley Freeway in the victim's vehicle, according to court records. The officer followed the suspects to Rocky Ford Road, where they began to drive erratically and the SUV eventually crashed, authorities said.

Dominguez and Anguino ran to the home of the retired LAPD officer, where they said they had wrecked their motorcycle and needed help. The retired officer contacted the Palmdale sheriff's station and was told the men matched the suspects' descriptions. He then held the suspects until authorities arrived.

``It's really fortunate the way everything turned out,'' Godinez said. ``No one got hurt and no one was fired upon.''

After the suspects were taken into custody, a handgun was recovered near where the Explorer had crashed.

During a follow-up investigation by Santa Clarita sheriff's station investigators, officials determined that the handgun had been stolen from a Palmdale home.