‘Career Criminal’ Parolee Held in Eu Robbery, Beating

A “career criminal” arrested by Beverly Hills police has been charged with the Nov. 10 attack on California Secretary of State March Fong Eu and is believed responsible for as many as 20 recent burglaries of homes in Beverly Hills and Hancock Park, police said Saturday.

The suspect, Gregory Lee Moore, had been imprisoned five times and had just completed a year in prison for possessing stolen goods from a burglary only four doors from Eu’s home, authorities said.

Los Angeles Assistant Police Chief Robert Vernon said the burglaries of luxury homes, including Eu’s in Hancock Park, began four weeks after Moore was paroled from Chino State Prison in mid-August. He said Moore, apparently a cocaine addict, may have stolen to support his habit.

Beverly Hills police arrested Moore late Friday after responding to a call that a man had broken into the maid’s quarters of a home in affluent north Beverly Hills.

“We have a classic case of a predator here, only 27 years old, who has spent the last 7 1/2 years in and out of prison,” Vernon said. “He went right back to the same neighborhood when he got out this time.”

Eu has yet to return to work after being brutally beaten by a burglar, who entered her Fremont Place home and demanded money. The man grabbed her from behind in her dining room, and repeatedly beat her with the blunt end of an ax. She was kicked and dragged through the home by her hair before the attacker fled with about $400 Eu managed to find in an upstairs room.

Vernon said Moore violated his parole in September when he disappeared from a downtown halfway house for parolees. He is being held without bail in Beverly Hills Jail until his arraignment.

Los Angeles detective Marvin Engquist said Moore was identified last Wednesday as a prime suspect in the attack on Eu and in 13 other Hancock Park “hot prowl” burglaries in which the residents were at home. He said detectives have fingerprints and other evidence linking him to the crimes.

On Friday, hours before Moore was arrested, county Deputy Dist. Atty. Tony Barreto issued a warrant charging him with three counts of residential robbery, one count of inflicting great bodily injury, and five counts of burglary.

Vernon declined to explain the evidence against Moore, except to say that detectives used the California Identification System, the state’s computerized fingerprint-matching service.

“We knew who we wanted, and we’re very grateful to Beverly Hills for finding him,” Vernon said.

Eu, after learning of the arrest Saturday, “was relieved and pleased, assuming this is the man who attacked her,” said Caren Daniels-Meade, an aide in Sacramento.

Vernon questioned how Moore, who has been paroled three times since 1983 on separate burglary and possession of stolen goods convictions, could continue to end up on the streets.

“I hope they put him away this time for a very long time,” he said. “He’s a career criminal, a repeat criminal.”

On Friday, Moore was found hiding in the laundry room of a home, after officers and police dogs responded to a report of a residential intruder and tracked him through a neighborhood near Rodeo Drive for an hour, said Beverly Hills Police Chief Marvin Iannone.

Iannone said Moore surrendered after being cornered by Boss, the city’s award-winning police dog.

Beverly Hills detectives “realized they were onto something hot” when they compared Moore’s description and mode of “hot prowling” to the Los Angeles district attorney’s warrant issued earlier Friday, Iannone said. He said his detectives have also linked Moore to as many as six burglaries in Beverly Hills.

Iannone refused to disclose whether any residents had been beaten in the Beverly Hills burglaries, or what evidence linked Moore to those crimes.

Moore was first convicted of robbery in 1975, and spent three years in the custody of the California Youth Authority, Vernon said. He was arrested in 1981 for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, a violation of his parole, and spent one year in jail.

In mid-1983, he was convicted of burglary and was paroled from Chino State Prison six months later, in January of 1984. One month later, he was arrested for burglary. He was returned to Chino and was paroled again in February of 1985.

He was arrested on a charge of receiving stolen property in April of 1985, was convicted and sentenced to two years; he returned to Chino and was paroled again last August.

The attack on Eu sent her to the hospital with three cracked ribs and severe facial cuts from her attack. Shortly afterward, she said she was sure her assailant was on drugs.

Daniels-Meade, Eu’s aide, said Eu’s ribs are still tender but she is handling her duties from home, is in good spirits and expects to return to her Sacramento office in a week or two.

Residents of Fremont Place, an exclusive gate-enclosed area of Hancock Park, launched an effort to beef up security after the incident. They expressed relief Saturday that an arrest had been made.

“We got great help from the police, it looks like it’s the right person, and we couldn’t be happier,” said Steven Wilson, president of the Fremont Place Homeowners Assn.

The Los Angeles City Council last Tuesday pledged a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Eu’s attacker, but Vernon said it was not known yet whether anyone would claim that reward.