Local News in Brief : Man, 22, Convicted in Series of Porsche Thefts at Gunpoint

A 22-year-old Los Angeles man who prosecutors said stole four Porsches at gunpoint during two weeks last August was convicted Wednesday in Van Nuys Superior Court on armed robbery, assault and hit-and-run charges.

Ricky Alan Bledsoe was convicted of one count of attempted armed robbery, two counts of felony hit-and-run and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. He was also found guilty of four counts of armed robbery, each carrying a special allegation that the stolen property was valued at more than $25,000.

Van Nuys Superior Court Commissioner Sherman Juster, who conducted the 3-week non-jury trial, acquitted Bledsoe of one additional count of armed robbery, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of misdemeanor hit-and-run. Juster said the evidence did not support those charges.

Juster scheduled sentencing for Aug. 16. Bledsoe, who is being held in Los Angeles County Jail without bail, could receive a maximum of about 17 years in prison.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lloyd Nash, the prosecutor in the case, said Bledsoe stole Porsches at gunpoint from at least four people in West Los Angeles and Sherman Oaks. In one instance, Bledsoe used an Uzi, prosecutors said.

Bledsoe maintained that he could not have committed the robberies because he was at home working in his father’s kitchen when they occurred.

The hit-and-run charges stem from an incident Aug. 29, when Bledsoe crashed a stolen Porsche into a van on the San Diego Freeway at Santa Monica Boulevard while fleeing from a pursuing police helicopter.

The Porsche’s owner had called police and given a description of the car after he was held up. Bledsoe was arrested at the scene of the crash, Nash said.