3 Get Prison in Holdup, Shooting at Beauty Shop

Three men pleaded guilty to robbery and were sentenced to state prison Thursday in the hold-up of a Sherman Oaks beauty shop that ended in a gun battle with undercover Los Angeles police.

Jose Manuel Montoya, 44, a transient, and Gabriel Reyes Lopez, 35, of Pacoima were being followed by detectives Sept. 12 when they entered Ruffles Hair Dressers wearing masks and robbed customers and employees at gunpoint, Deputy Dist. Atty. John K. Spillane said.

When confronted by police outside the shop, Lopez surrendered but Montoya traded gunfire with officers before being shot in the hip as he attempted to flee, Spillane said. Louis Reyes Murillo, 31, of Pacoima, who accompanied the two in a separate car, was arrested while waiting outside the shop.

Police had followed Lopez and Montoya, who were suspected of robbing a grocery two weeks earlier, Spillane said.

Montoya was sentenced to 15 years by San Fernando Superior Court Judge Dana Senit Henry for five counts of robbery, one for each person robbed, assaulting a police officer and parole violations. Lopez received 10 years on five counts of robbery and one of assaulting an officer. Murillo was sentenced to three years, eight months.