Victims Ask Harsh Terms for Defendants in Rape-Robbery-Kidnapings

A 22-year-old Sherman Oaks resident Monday described the men who broke into his mother’s Encino home and robbed her as “terrorists.”

Robert Fore, speaking at a sentencing hearing, said the men pointed sawed-off shotguns at his head and bound him face down on the floor before forcing his mother to hand over money and valuables.

“These people are animals,” Fore said. “They’re the scum of the earth.”

Fore and five other victims spoke at the hearing, urging Van Nuys Superior Court Judge James A. Albracht to send four men convicted of a six-week rampage of armed robbery, kidnaping and rape in the West Valley to state prison for as long as the law allows.

“The example has to be made that these types of crimes cannot be permitted,” Fore, 22, said. “The society has to take a stand.”

Albracht said he would consider each victim’s statement when he sentences the defendants March 7.

The defendants, who teamed up in different combinations for the crimes, are: Coleman Ray Fields, 20, of Panorama City, convicted Oct. 31 of 30 counts; Tony Burnette Shaw, 21, of North Hollywood, convicted of 11 counts; Troy Allen Smith, 21, of Panorama City, convicted of 11 counts, and Benjamin Brewster, 21, of Arleta, convicted of five counts.

The crimes, involving 18 victims, occurred between July 19 and Sept. 4, 1984, in Encino, Woodland Hills and Tarzana, Deputy Dist. Atty. Lea Purwin D’Agostino said.

An 18-year-old Woodland Hills woman, who was 16 at the time of the attack, testified during the trial that she was raped by at least three men who also threatened her mother and brother.

The woman told Albracht Monday that she was a virgin when she was raped and now suffers “humiliation beyond what words can say.”

“I have an overwhelming fear of men . . .,” she said. “I can’t imagine what it is like to ever love a man.”

She looked at the defendants and told them: “God still loves you, even though you have committed so many terrible crimes.”

The defendants, seated in an enclosed glass partition during the hearing, joked and snickered throughout the proceeding.

The rape victim’s brother called the attackers “malicious” and “barbaric” and said he has become estranged from his family since the assault.

A fourth victim, Robert Wilkinson of Encino, was forced at gunpoint to drive to a bank and withdraw money from an automated teller machine while his family was held hostage in their home.

Wilkinson said the men who attacked his family “were so proud that they were pulling off such a slick crime. They were not just playing games. It was like a military operation.”

D’Agostino estimated that Fields could be sentenced to 77 years plus two life terms, Shaw could get 55 years, Smith 20 years plus one life term and Brewster 12 years.