Local News in Brief : No Charges in Holdup Try
Prosecutors will not bring charges against a Bassett housewife arrested in a halfhearted holdup attempt they said was more of an effort to get away from her husband than a real run at robbery.
“She had reached the end of the line,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Detective Pete Gonzalez said of the arrest of Wanda Soto, 36. “She was going to do something to get help.”
Soto, who had been jailed for investigation of attempted robbery of a liquor store, was released unconditionally Thursday.
Gonzalez said the San Gabriel Valley woman bought a package of gum at the store Wednesday morning, then pulled out a pistol and demanded money. When the owner threatened to call authorities, she encouraged him to do so, the detective said. The owner and a clerk grabbed the weapon, which was unloaded.
The detective quoted Soto as saying she had tried in the past to leave her spouse of 13 years, only to have him track her down and bring her home--and that she thought jail would be a place where her husband could not get at her.
“We’re not bleeding-heart liberals. We’re the farthest thing from it,” Brennan said. “But fair is fair.”
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