Ventura Man Held in East Coast Robbery

A suspected gang member from Ventura and three other men were being held on $100,000 bail in a Massachusetts jail Wednesday on suspicion of terrorizing a teen-ager while they robbed his house, and leading police on a car chase.

The incident began at 5 p.m. Tuesday and ended when Duc Nguyen, 22, of Ventura, threatened to kill a police officer and his family while being driven to jail, police said.

“He said to the police officer ‘Do you have a family?’ Then he made all these threats about killing his family,” said Lt. John McDonough of the Quincy, Mass., Police Department.

McDonough said police believe Nguyen and one of his alleged accomplices, Huang D. Pham, 18, of Santa Ana, are part of an Asian gang that moves across the country.

All four men pleaded innocent Wednesday in Quincy District Court to charges including armed home invasion, larceny and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Nguyen also pleaded innocent to charges of threatening a police officer.

The four were scheduled to appear next in court Aug. 23.

Police said one man came with flowers to the Quincy home of a local restaurateur and put a gun to the head of the man’s 15-year-old son who opened the door.

The others then entered the house, threatening to kill the teen-ager while they searched the house and stole several thousand dollars in cash, jewelry and stereo equipment.

A police officer spotted the suspects’ speeding car and gave chase. One officer suffered minor injuries when the suspects’ car smashed the police cruiser.

McDonough said Wednesday that police were still verifying the identification of the two California suspects.