LAKE FOREST : Final UPS Hijacker Suspect Court Bound

The last of six men suspected of hijacking a UPS truck here in January and kidnaping the driver is scheduled to be arraigned in South County Municipal Court this morning.

Deavon Torrence, 18, arranged with Orange County sheriff’s investigators to turn himself in at his Compton home Monday.

Torrence and two other Compton men, Eddie Williams, 20, and Jerome Guillory, 27, are being held in Orange County Jail on charges of armed robbery and kidnaping.

Earl Williams, 26, also of Compton, pleaded guilty to the same charges last month and was sentenced to six years in state prison.

Two men suspected of being part of a Chinese gang that allegedly contracted the hijacking to steal computer software are being held by federal authorities. Their names and details of their arrest were not immediately available.

On Jan. 11, the Compton men allegedly stopped a UPS truck by ramming a car into the delivery vehicle’s rear end. When the driver stopped to inspect the damage, Eddie Williams allegedly pulled a gun and forced the man back into the truck.

The driver was bound, gagged and dumped into the back of his truck. The robbers drove the truck to Compton, offloaded the computer equipment and abandoned the vehicle and the driver. Using a utility knife, the driver cut himself loose and drove to a nearby telephone to alert police.

“They were supposed to drive to an orange grove in Irvine, but it rained that night and the field was too muddy,” Sheriff’s Lt. Bob White said. “They went to Compton instead. They wound up dumping the truck on the same block where one of these guys lives.”

Sheriff’s investigators asked questions in the section of Compton where the truck was found and located an informant. Earl Williams was arrested Feb. 22, and the other suspects, with the exception of Torrence, were arrested individually over the next few weeks. White said some of the suspects are cooperating with investigators.

Lt. Bob Nesmith, who runs police services in Lake Forest, praised White and sheriff’s investigator Dan Watson for putting in the extra hours needed to solve the case.

“It was their information and perseverance that enabled the arrest to be made,” Nesmith said. “Their work undoubtedly prevented many more robberies of this nature from taking place.”