2nd Ex-Officer Found Guilty in Contract Murder Case

A second former policeman was convicted Thursday of the $20,000 contract murder of a Northridge businessman, even though the victim’s body was never found after he disappeared in 1983.

Former Los Angeles Police Officer Robert Von Villas, 44, of Simi Valley was found guilty by a Van Nuys Superior Court jury of one count each of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

After five days of deliberation, jurors also found Von Villas guilty of a special circumstance allegation, murdering businessman Thomas Weed for financial gain. That allegation qualifies Von Villas for a possible death penalty.

Penalty Phase Begins Nov. 28

The penalty phase of his 4-month-old trial, at which jurors will recommend either a death sentence or life in prison without parole, is scheduled to begin Nov. 28.

Von Villas’ former partner in the Police Department, Richard Ford, 48, of Northridge was convicted Oct. 11 of the same charges by a separate jury. Ford’s penalty phase is scheduled to begin Monday.

In a separate trial, the two former officers, both Vietnam veterans, were convicted in January of attempting to murder a nude dancer to collect a $100,000 life insurance policy and of staging a $210,000 jewelry store heist.

In March, Ford was sentenced to 36 years to life in state prison, while Von Villas was sentenced to 35 years to life in state prison.

Ford and Von Villas were still Devonshire Division officers at the time they committed their crimes, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert O’Neill said.

Weed, 52, disappeared from his Northridge apartment in February, 1983, and has not been seen since. He was presumed murdered and buried somewhere in the desert by Ford and Von Villas.

The victim’s former wife, Janie Ogilvie, previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy and testified as the prosecution’s star witness that she paid $20,000 to Ford and Von Villas to kill Weed.

Bitter Divorce Cited

O’Neill said Ogilvie had Weed killed because the couple was involved in a bitter divorce and were fighting for control of a Northridge allergy testing laboratory they had operated together.

Ogilvie, 45, of Canoga Park was later sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison.

Defense attorneys argued that Weed is not necessarily dead just because he has not been seen for years. The defense said Weed may be in hiding from gambling debt collectors to whom he owed money.

The defense also said Ogilvie was a liar who had been diagnosed as a schizophrenic and said she linked the officers to the case in a deal with prosecutors to avoid a possible death sentence.

Ford and Von Villas were convicted in January of conspiring and attempting to murder nude dancer Joan Loguercio in 1983 to collect a $100,0000 life insurance policy Von Villas had bought her. Undercover police officers arrested the pair minutes before they were about to kill her in July, 1983.

Loguercio, a Granada Hills mother of three, died in March, 1986, following a two-year battle with cancer.

Ford and Von Villas were also convicted of staging a $210,000 robbery at Schaffer and Sons Jewelers in the Northridge Fashion Square in November, 1982, and falsely imprisoning and assaulting three store employees.

Ford and Von Villas were fired by the department following their arrests in July, 1983. They have been in custody without bail ever since.