The Region - News from Jan. 27, 1985

A woman who was a member of a group that lawmen have characterized as a “mini-Manson family” was sentenced to a maximum term of six years in state prison for her role in the robbery last year of the Royal Viking Motel near downtown Los Angeles. Cheryl McPherson, 22, pleaded guilty to the robbery charge last year during a preliminary hearing for herself and four co-defendants. The four men are in custody in Los Angeles County Jail awaiting trial on charges of murdering three male homosexual prostitutes in the desert near Palmdale in the spring of last year. Deputy Dist. Atty. Rita Stapleton asked Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Douglas McKee to impose the maximum sentence on McPherson because, Stapleton said, McPherson had knowledge of the killings when she helped the men plan and execute the motel robbery.