Two Arrested in Theft of Reiner’s County Car, Kidnaping of Driver

Two men have been arrested on charges of stealing Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner’s car and briefly kidnaping his driver Monday night, the Sheriff’s Department announced Friday.

Arrested at a bar in downtown Los Angeles late Thursday night were Victor Manuel Lopez, 20, of Montebello and Arturo Samaniego, 35, of East Los Angeles, both of whom have previous narcotics convictions. A third suspect, whose name has not been released, was still being sought Friday by authorities.

At an afternoon press conference, Sheriff Sherman Block emphasized that he agreed with Reiner and other authorities that the assailants had not purposely sought out Reiner or his driver, district attorney’s investigator Henry Grayson.

“It’s quite obvious to us that this attack was in no way directed at the district attorney,” Block said. “We believe they were out there capering, that it was an attempt to commit robbery or steal an automobile.”

Grayson was briefly abducted and threatened with death as he sat in Reiner’s car while the district attorney, his wife and two children dined at the trendy Spago restaurant on Sunset Boulevard. Two men entered the vehicle, sandwiching Grayson between them, after one pointed a handgun at Grayson’s head through an open window.

Grayson managed to escape on foot after the robbers stopped the car in a nearby cul-de-sac to confer with a third suspect who had followed in a 1973 Mercedes-Benz. Flagging down a passing motorist, Grayson tried to follow the assailants and was able to provide investigators with a portion of the Mercedes-Benz’s license number that he jotted down on his palm.

Owner’s Boyfriend

Lopez, who was arrested along with Samaniego at the Promenade Restaurant at 1st and Hope streets, is the live-in boyfriend of the registered owner of the Mercedes-Benz, Elva Chavez of Montebello, authorities said.

No charges have been filed against Chavez. Investigators have been unable to determine whether she was involved in the heist, said a Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman, Deputy Willie Miller.

Lopez and Samaniego were booked at the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station, where they were held without bail because of outstanding parole-violation charges, Miller said. Lopez has a previous narcotics conviction and Samaniego has previous convictions both for narcotics sales and receiving stolen property, Block added.

Reiner’s county car, a radio-equipped 1986 Buick Park Avenue, was recovered late Thursday in an alley near 3rd Street and George Burns Road, just off the grounds of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The car was found intact with no property stolen from inside--not even Grayson’s billfold, which was lying on the driver’s seat.

Block said he believed that the assailants decided to abandon the car almost immediately after they learned that it belonged to a law enforcement official. Grayson’s pistol, which was taken by the thieves, also has been recovered. The Sheriff’s Department did not specify whether the firearm was found in the abandoned car or at the time of the arrest of the two suspects.

Meanwhile, county officials declined Friday to confirm a report that Grayson, a law enforcement officer for almost 20 years with the district attorney’s office and the Sheriff’s Department, earned $96,000 last year, including overtime.

Slightly Less Than Boss

Chief Assistant County Counsel Gerald F. Crump maintained that the specific earnings of public employees are “of a personnel nature, which is an exception to the public information rule.”

The only information available to the public is salary ranges without overtime, Crump said. For senior investigators like Grayson, the range is $35,000 to $45,000, according to the district attorney’s office.

However, sources in the district attorney’s office confirmed Friday that Grayson’s 1986 earnings were between $85,000 and $90,000, including overtime--slightly less than Reiner’s annual $91,000 salary.

Reiner said Friday that he was personally unaware of Grayson’s specific wages but he added that Grayson deserves whatever compensation he gets because “he works incredibly long hours and he works hard and he puts his life on the line.”

Jack White, chief of the district attorney’s bureau of investigations, said Grayson often accompanies Reiner on a backbreaking schedule that runs from 6 a.m. to midnight. If Grayson wasn’t working the overtime, White said, there would be minimal savings at best since other investigators would have to be hired or assigned to work overtime shifts.

As for the the similarity in earnings between the district attorney and his driver-bodyguard, Reiner said, “The difference is, I don’t get paid overtime.”