WITNESS IDENTIFIES DEFENDANT AT TRIAL ON 1993 BANK ROBBERY.Byline: Jeannette DeSantis Daily News Staff Writer A woman identified Alex Yepes from the witness stand Thursday as one of several masked men who kidnapped Kidnapped caught in the intrigues of Scottish factions, David Balfour and Alan Breck are shipwrecked, escape from the king’s soldiers, and undergo great dangers. [Br. Lit.: R. L. Stevenson Kidnapped] See : Adventurousness her and others overnight when she went to a bank manager's home targeted by the robbers. ``Before they left, he told us if we said anything about the way they looked they would come back for us,'' the 19-year-old woman said. ``His face was really close to me and I was totally looking at him. ``The stocking over his head wasn't very tight and you could see him,'' she said. The woman's identification came during the opening of testimony in the trial of Yepes, 27, Chad Pelch, 25, and Brett Pelch, 18, who are charged with robbing two banks in 1993 and holding two bank workers and their families hostage. The woman was one of 10 people held on June 10, 1993, as the robbers forced the bank worker to open the safe at Transworld Bank in Canyon Country and then made off with $100,000 in cash. But in opening statements, defense attorney Gerald V. Scotti said Yepes was not even present at either of the robberies. Instead, Scotti shifted the blame to the prosecution's key witness, Darrin Towers. Scotti told jurors that the trio's former Saugus High School Saugus High School may refer to:
Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. Bank robbery is the crime of robbing a bank. and the kidnapping kidnapping, in law, the taking away of a person by force, threat, or deceit, with intent to cause him to be detained against his will. Kidnapping may be done for ransom or for political or other purposes. of bank officers. Darrin Towers is an alleged accomplice accomplice: see accessory. in both 1993 bank robberies. He pleaded guilty to a federal charge of bank robbery and is serving a 15-year sentence. He was granted immunity from state prosecution for his testimony against his former friends and has been cooperating with the FBI. ``He has a pattern of lies,'' Scotti said. ``When the (FBI investigator) confronts Darrin Towers, low and behold Darrin Towers comes up with a new statement.'' Towers twice has recanted statements he made incriminating in·crim·i·nate tr.v. in·crim·i·nat·ed, in·crim·i·nat·ing, in·crim·i·nates 1. To accuse of a crime or other wrongful act. 2. each of the three defendants. Scotti argued that Yepes was at Jethro Tull Jethro Tull can refer to:
Yepes ``has the best alibi of all,'' Scotti said. ``The FBI was watching these people when two of these charges occurred. They were under constant surveillance.'' Prosecutor Susan Chasworth described the defendants as clever yet greedy thieves who cheated their own accomplices and went on wild spending sprees Noun 1. spending spree - a brief period of extravagant spending spree, fling - a brief indulgence of your impulses with their loot. Authorities said in both cases, men in disguises violently took a bank officer and her family hostage, threatened their lives, then forced her to open the bank's vault in the morning. Five men, all friends from high school, were originally accused of the bank robberies. One of them, Donald Sallee, is still at large. The three were charged in federal court on bank robbery charges. Chad Pelch pleaded guilty and was given a 10-year federal sentence. Yepes was acquitted after he claimed he was targeted by his co-defendants after he refused their requests to join in the crime spree. And Brett Pelch was a fugitive for nearly two years before he was arrested and held to face the state charges. Federal bank robbery charges against him are still pending. His father, LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. Sgt. Dennis Pelch, was given a 30-day suspension for attempting to shield his son, Brett, from prosecution. |
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