Local News in Brief : Ventura County Man Sentenced in Robberies

A Ventura County man was sentenced Monday to 18 years in state prison for a series of 18 holdups at 14 supermarkets throughout Los Angeles County, including five in the San Fernando Valley.

Ronald Shelley Peterson, 40, of Santa Paula, faces an additional 14-year prison sentence for two armed robberies in Santa Barbara County, which means he will receive a total sentence of 32 years, said Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Alan B. Haber.

Peterson pleaded no contest on July 11 to 18 counts of robbery and one count of attempted robbery in the Los Angeles-area holdups, which occurred during a six-week period in the summer of 1986.

In pronouncing sentence, Haber said Peterson could have received a maximum sentence of 43 years in prison for the local holdups, but deserved leniency because the case did not go to trial and because he did not injure anyone in the holdups.

“On the other hand, Mr. Peterson’s conduct and his background really warrant a lengthy prison term,” Haber said. “People that do that in our society have to be kept from law-abiding citizens.”

Peterson, who represented himself with assistance from a private attorney, took amounts ranging from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars from Alpha Beta, Albertson’s, Safeway, Ralphs and Vons supermarkets between Aug. 6 and Sept. 17, 1986, officials said.

Peterson’s accomplice in the robberies, Lupe Gonzalez Escobedo, 34, recently pleaded guilty to 15 counts of robbery and was sentenced to nine years in state prison, officials said.

Peterson and Escobedo were arrested in Santa Barbara on Sept. 25, 1986, and subsequently charged with two robberies in that county. They were convicted in both robberies before being tried locally, officials said.