LAUNDRY EXTORTION SUSPECT ARRESTED.Byline: Orith Goldberg Staff Writer PACOIMA - Police arrested a Pacoima man Wednesday on suspicion of extorting money from the 76-year-old owner of seven coin-operated laundry businesses in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. , authorities said. Luis Hernandez, 30, was taken into custody after police taped a conversation between the owner of the laundries and Hernandez, who demanded $1,000, officials said. Authorities said Hernandez, a former laundry employee, extorted money from the owner for a year and took coins from the machines at each of the businesses. Los Angeles Police Department "LAPD" and "L.A.P.D." redirect here. For other uses, see LAPD (disambiguation).  This article or section is written like an . Officer Ellis Miller of the Foothill
Division commended the laundry owner for his courage in agreeing to wear
a microphone Wednesday, which allowed police to monitor his conversation
with Hernandez.
``This would have been an ongoing thing because Mr. Hernandez has a drug habit he needed to support,'' Miller said. The alleged extortion extortion, in law, unlawful demanding or receiving by an officer, in his official capacity, of any property or money not legally due to him. Examples include requesting and accepting fees in excess of those allowed to him by statute or arresting a person and, with began last year, about two years after Hernandez was first employed by the laundry owner. At one point, police believe Hernandez may have taken keys to the owner's car and laundries. Hernandez was a suspect in burglaries of the car and at the seven laundries - three in Pacoima, three in Sylmar and one in Panorama City - that began occurring in February 2000, officials said. After the owner decided to change the locks on the coin boxes Noun 1. coin box - the part of a slot machine that serves as a receptacle for the coins receptacle - a container that is used to put or keep things in coin machine, slot machine - a machine that is operated by the insertion of a coin in a slot , he reportedly received a call from Hernandez asking him for a meeting. When the owner met with him at one of the laundries, Hernandez reportedly demanded $500, threatening that if the owner did not pay, skinheads Noun 1. skinheads - a youth subculture that appeared first in England in the late 1960s as a working-class reaction to the hippies; hair was cropped close to the scalp; wore work-shirts and short jeans (supported by suspenders) and heavy red boots; involved in attacks with guns would get his money. The owner, frightened for his safety and that of his loved ones loved ones npl → seres mpl queridos loved ones npl → proches mpl et amis chers loved ones love npl , paid Hernandez $200 that day and $300 the following day, officials said. |
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