Newhall Signal Theft Leads to Prison Term

A Canyon Country man described as a “troubled young man who was unable to manage his life” was sentenced Wednesday to 19 years in state prison for robbing his former employer, the Newhall Signal, of $5,000.

Mark Rapko, 28, claimed he committed the Sept. 28, 1987, armed robbery of the newspaper--witnessed by about two dozen youths with delivery routes--because he was distraught over a problem with his wife and wanted to kill himself, a probation report said.

Rapko went into the newspaper’s Valencia office with a sawed-off shotgun on a day when money was collected from circulation routes and ordered workers to hand over cash, court documents said. No one was injured.

He surrendered to authorities in San Jose a week after the robbery.

Family members who testified at the sentencing hearing described Rapko as gentle and compassionate. Rapko made a tearful plea for leniency to Superior Court Judge Meredith Taylor.

“I made a big mistake and I turned myself in . . . . I’m sorry for the pain I’ve caused,” Rapko said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Norman F. Montrose said that Rapko, who had been suspended from his delivery job at the Newhall Signal several months before, had a grudge against the paper.