Halloween ‘Rambo’ Proves No Match for Los Angeles’ Finest

The circumstances, police acknowledged Monday, appeared suspicious: a hand grenade, bullets, an empty gun holster and a phony mustache stashed away in a motel room in Van Nuys.

So when a maid at the Voyager Motor Inn told police what she had seen while cleaning the room last Friday, two undercover officers rushed to the scene in the 6500 block of Sepulveda Boulevard, not knowing what sort of caper might be under way, Lt. Bruce Meyer said.

More questions arose when it was determined that the two men who had rented the room had used a stolen credit card to pay for it, Meyer said.

A quick police search of the room did not reveal the grenade or the other suspicious items. But police still thought the situation was serious enough to conduct a stakeout from the room next door, Meyer said.

One of the men returned to the room about 1 p.m. and, when he left, police “jammed” him in the parking lot--forcing him to the pavement and handcuffing him, Meyer said.

A quick interrogation at the scene, however, revealed that the man could be accused of being a partygoer, but not a criminal, Meyer said.

But what about the hand grenade and the other things?

“He had gone to a Halloween party the night before. He had dressed as Rambo. The grenade and other stuff were toys,” Meyer said.

And the stolen credit card? It had, indeed, been stolen--but it had been purloined from the man after he used it to pay for the room. He had reported the theft.

And how did the unlucky fellow feel about being “jammed”?

“He was a little shaken up at first, but he took it well,” Meyer said. “These things will happen--the trials and tribulations of being a Rambo in this town.”