Woman Admits Acting as Go-Between in Alleged Murder-for-Hire Arrangement

A Northridge woman admitted in court Tuesday that she helped arrange the contract murder of a friend’s husband--a “hit” that prosecutors allege was carried out by two former Los Angeles police officers.

Joyce A. Reynolds, 47, who had been charged with murder, pleaded guilty in Los Angeles Superior Court to the lesser charge of helping solicit the murder of Northridge businessman Thomas J. Weed.

In exchange for the reduced charge and a promise that she will be placed on probation, Reynolds agreed to testify against the two accused hit men--former police officers Richard H. Ford and Robert A. Von Villas--perhaps as early as today.

A preliminary hearing is underway in Los Angeles Municipal Court to determine if the district attorney’s office has enough evidence to put Ford and Von Villas on trial for murder. The district attorney’s office is seeking the death penalty for both men, who resigned from the police force after they were accused.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert N. Jorgensen, who is prosecuting the case, also enlisted Reynolds’ daughter, Julie A. Rabold, to testify against the officers after he obtained a grant of immunity for the younger woman.

Jorgensen declined to discuss what Reynolds will say in court.

Documents establishing the immunity grant for Rabold state that she is prepared to testify that her mother once said that Von Villas killed people for money. On a later occasion, according to the documents, Reynolds told Rabold that Von Villas had killed Weed.

Jorgensen said his office made the deal with Reynolds because “it was necessary to have her testify in order to ensure a conviction of the other defendants and because her involvement (in the crime) was the least of all of those involved.”

Ford, 44, and Von Villas, 40, are accused of murdering Weed in February, 1983, in exchange for a payment of $20,000 from Weed’s estranged wife, Janie E. Ogilvie, 41, of Canoga Park.

Ogilvie was originally charged along with the former policemen. However, she pleaded guilty last October to a charge of second-degree murder, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years to life in prison, and agreed to give evidence against the former officers.

During the preliminary hearing, Ogilvie testified that she paid Von Villas the $20,000 to murder Weed and that Von Villas later told her that Weed had been killed. Weed’s body has never been found.

Weed and Ogilvie operated an allergy testing laboratory in Northridge. Ogilvie was afraid that Weed might obtain an interest in the business during pending divorce proceedings, according to an indictment returned last year by the Los Angeles County Grand Jury.

Reynolds’ daughter, Rabold, worked at the lab and introduced her mother to Ogilvie, according to testimony given to the grand jury.

Reynolds told the grand jury that she met Von Villas when he took over supervision of a youth program in which her daughter participated. The program was operated by the Devonshire Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, where both Ford and Von Villas were assigned.

In a separate case, Ford and Von Villas are accused of attempting to murder a North Hollywood strip-tease dancer for a $100,000 insurance policy and of robbing a Northridge jewelry store. They are awaiting trial.