15 Held in Probe of Car-Theft Ring

Los Angeles police on Monday arrested 15 Vietnamese gang members believed to be responsible for stealing more than 100 cars in the San Fernando Valley over the past year, a detective said.

Those arrested--10 men, one woman and four juveniles including three girls--range in age from 14 to 29, Detective David Perry said.

The gang functioned primarily as a car-theft ring, Perry said. But gang members also stole auto parts they used to rebuild cars, he said, selling some of the stolen parts to salvage yards.

Six adults were arrested on suspicion of receiving stolen property, four adults were arrested on suspicion of grand theft auto and one adult was arrested on suspicion of committing a residential robbery. The four juveniles were being held on suspicion of receiving stolen property, Perry said.

“This was one of the biggest arrests we’ve made in a long time for car thefts,” Perry said, adding that police believe there are more members of the gang. “We’ve got the main players,” he said.

A member of the gang may be responsible for a threatening phone call received by police after they raided a house in the 7000 block of Lennox Avenue in Van Nuys Monday afternoon and arrested 13 of the suspects, Perry said. The caller said he had been watching investigators and planned to fire on them with a high-powered rifle, Perry said. No such shooting took place.

Two more arrests were made at a house in the 8400 block of Aqueduct Avenue in Sepulveda.

Police said three of the men arrested Monday were among six arrested last month after a five-hour standoff with authorities at a Chatsworth sushi restaurant. The six were later released when police said they lacked sufficient evidence to hold them.

The latest arrests ended a two-week investigation, Perry said.

The cars most commonly stolen by the ring were Porsches and Toyotas--particularly smaller, sport models of the Japanese car, police said.

Police said they recovered 200 to 300 auto parts hidden in and around the two houses where the arrests were made. Those parts and the recovered cars were taken to a towing yard in Van Nuys, where the owners of some of the vehicles identified them on Tuesday, Perry said.

At the house on Aqueduct Avenue, police found car parts stashed beneath a kitchen sink, in closets and in a backyard shed, Perry said. The detectives also discovered fenders and seats of a Porsche in a bathtub, he said.

“If you’re into auto parts, it was like being in a candy store,” Perry said.

The basement of the Lennox Avenue house was filled with car doors, fenders, hoods, radios, car seats and baby seats, Perry said.

Twenty minutes before the raid that led to the arrests, police received a report that a Toyota Supra--parked outside a business at Balboa and Roscoe boulevards--had been stolen. They found the car at the Lennox Avenue house, Perry said.

The six men who were arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after the standoff in Chatsworth last month had forced their way into the home of a Van Nuys man and threatened to kill him, police said.

The three who were arrested again Monday were: Thanh Nguyen, 29, of Canoga Park; Lam Nguyen, 18, of Granada Hills and Chin Nguyen, 22, of Canoga Park. Detectives did not believe the men are related.

The other adults arrested Monday were: Sang Tran, 29, of Sepulveda; Hung Le, 19, of Northridge; Hoa Bui, 19, of La Puente; Thanh Bui, 20, of Santa Monica; Tony Nguyen, 24, of Canoga Park; Phung Ta, 21, of Los Angeles; Hoangkha Duong, 19, of Simi Valley and Nga Than, 25, of Sepulveda.

The names of the four juveniles, being held at Sylmar Juvenile Hall, were not released because of their ages.

Nine adults were being held at the Van Nuys Jail on $100,000 bail. Two men were being held there without bail because they are wanted in previous robberies, Perry said.

Charges are expected to be filed on Wednesday in Van Nuys Municipal Court against the adults and in Sylmar Juvenile Hall against the others.