Goes to Security Guards Instead of Bank : Rape Victim Gives Gunman a Lift to Jail

A 64-year-old Altadena woman who was raped and ordered at gunpoint to drive to an automated teller machine Tuesday night drove instead until her assailant fell asleep, then deposited him at the Lockheed-California Co. plant in Burbank, where she turned him over to security guards, authorities said.

Wayne Anthony Phifer, 27, a convicted rapist recently released from prison, was arrested by Burbank police after his arrival at the parking lot at Lockheed, asleep and clutching a .22-caliber gun. It took more than 10 minutes of yelling over a police loudspeaker to rouse Phifer, who apparently had been drinking, Sgt. Joe Latta said.

Phifer was being held in lieu of $40,000 bail at County Jail on suspicion of rape, robbery, auto theft, burglary and theft of a firearm.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. John Andrews said the woman “was using her head” when she drove the man to the Lockheed plant, where she works.

“A lot of gals would have probably panicked,” Andrews said.

“She’s about 4-foot-11, 85 pounds and he’s about 6-foot-4, 230 pounds. Just his size was intimidating,” Latta said.

Police said that Phifer broke into the woman’s Altadena home at about 9:30 p.m., raped her and ransacked her home in search of valuables. After finding the woman’s gun, he instructed her to drive him to her bank, Andrews said.

But the woman said the closest machine was in Burbank, 10 miles away, and began to drive there, police said. “Maybe she sensed that the guy had been drinking and would probably fall asleep,” Andrews said.

Lockheed security guards, who are on 24-hour duty, called Burbank police.

Phifer was released in January from Deuel Vocational Institute after serving two years for the 1984 rape of another Altadena woman, authorities said.

The woman was treated at Burbank Community Hospital and released.