Local News in Brief : Ex-Employee Sought in Newspaper Robbery

Aformer employee of the Newhall Signal was being sought in the armed robbery of the newspaper’s office in Valencia, Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives said Wednesday.

Sgt. William Griffith said an arrest warrant was issued for Mark Rapko, 28, identified by several witnesses as the man who carried a sawed-off shotgun into the newspaper’s office at 24000 Creekside Drive at 6:30 p.m. Monday and took about $5,000 in newspaper route-collection money from an employee.

After the robbery, the suspect fled in a car, later speeding down an employee-entrance road to Magic Mountain, detectives said. When an amusement park security patrol approached from the opposite direction, the suspect attempted to turn around but his car became stuck along a riverbed embankment, Griffith said. The suspect jumped out of the car and escaped into the thick brush in the riverbed, Griffith said.

About half the money was found in the abandoned car and along a trail into the brush, Griffith said. The suspect was still at large Wednesday.

Rapko, a Valencia resident, had been fired from his delivery job at the newspaper about two weeks before the robbery. He was accused of unauthorized use of a company truck, Griffith said.