Local News in Brief : 2 Charged in ‘Joke’ Pizza Delivery Holdup

Two Simi Valley men accused of holding a Domino’s Pizza deliveryman at gunpoint Saturday evening in what they said was a practical joke were charged Thursday with felony false imprisonment.

One of the men, Keith Kassan, 19, a former Domino’s employee, also was charged with using a firearm while committing a felony, Simi Valley Police Lt. Rick TerBorch said. Kassan and the other man, Kenton Weaver, 19, remain free on $20,000 bail each, TerBorch said.

TerBorch said the two ordered a pizza delivered to Weaver’s house in the 4400 block of Lubbock Drive. When deliveryman James Gill, 20, arrived, Weaver invited him in and Kassan aimed a .22-caliber rifle at Gill’s head, TerBorch said.

Kassan ordered Gill to kneel and turn over his money, TerBorch said, and then both men “broke out laughing” and explained that they were jokingly imitating the method of recent Los Angeles-area robberies and a murder involving Domino’s Pizza employees.

The men released Gill, uninjured and with his money. Gill reported the incident to police after returning to the Domino’s where he worked, and police arrested Kassan and Weaver a short time later, TerBorch said.

Kassan and Weaver are to be arraigned today in Ventura County Municipal Court.