Two Arrested in UCLA Heist, Throat-Slashing

Two men, one a campus custodian, were in custody Wednesday in connection with the assault last December on a 21-year-old UCLA student whose throat was slashed during a robbery at the University Guest House.

William Pennix, 25, who works as a custodian at the guest house, and Mario Washington, 25, of Compton were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of robbery and attempted murder, campus spokeswoman Darlene Skeels said.

Campus police investigators are seeking additional suspects, she said.

Pennix was arrested at the guest house, where he had continued to work since the Dec. 27 attack on the woman. He had worked at the guest house, which serves as a hotel for visiting professors, for almost a year.

During the robbery, which netted about $2,800 in cash and travelers checks, the woman, who worked as a clerk at the guest house, had her throat slashed with the jagged edge of a broken vase and was nearly strangled with an electrical cord, police said. She was hospitalized for several weeks after the attack and has since returned to her parents’ home, Skeels said.

The arrests were made without incident when three search warrants were served on campus and at private homes in Compton and the nearby Willowbrook area, campus Police Chief Patrick Connolly said. The two suspects were taken to Los Angeles County Jail, where they remained in custody Wednesday, he said.

“We’re proceeding on the assumption that someone else may have been involved (in the attack),” Connolly said. “We foresee more arrests.”

Connolly, who called the attack “as heinous a crime as I can remember,” said it was the most violent incident on campus since his appointment to head the campus police force three years ago. There were 22 violent crimes reported on the campus in 1984 and 27 last year, he said.

While information given to police aided in the investigation, Connolly said it is too early to make a determination on distribution of a $10,000 reward offered by the woman’s parents and the university for information leading to the arrest and conviction of her attackers.