Ex-Police Officer Sentenced to Life Term for Murder

Despite proclaiming his innocence in a plea to the court, former Los Angeles Police Detective Richard Herman Ford was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the contract killing of a Northridge businessman.

Ford, who did not testify during his nine-month trial, spoke for half an hour in an attempt to invalidate evidence that led to his October conviction for the 1983 murder of Thomas Weed, 52.

Ford, 48, and Richard Von Villas, 44, a former Los Angeles police officer, were convicted by separate Van Nuys Superior Court juries of killing Weed in exchange for $20,000 from Weed’s ex-wife, Janie E. Ogilvie. Ogilvie was allowed to plead guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for her cooperation with prosecutors.

Accuses Victim’s Ex-Wife

Ford told the court Thursday that Ogilvie had killed Weed.

“I am innocent,” Ford said. “I did not kill Thomas Weed. I believe I was convicted because I was a police detective. . . . I don’t feel I deserve this.

“I’ve been painted as this greedy individual. . . . I have not been a greedy individual, some kind of maniac running the streets. It’s not true.”

Von Villas was convicted in November of Weed’s murder. He will be sentenced in March. Both men were assigned to the Los Angeles Police Department’s Devonshire Division at the time of the slaying and their arrests on July 7, 1983.

In a separate trial, Ford and Von Villas each were sentenced to 35 years in prison for attempting to murder Granada Hills exotic dancer Joan Loguercio in 1983 to collect on a $100,000 life insurance policy and for robbing a Northridge jewelry store in 1982. The plan to murder Loguercio was never carried out. She later died of cancer.

Body Never Found

Weed, a debt collector and small-business owner, disappeared from his Northridge apartment in February, 1983. His body has never been found. Prosecutors believe that Ford and Von Villas murdered him and buried his body in the desert.

A key piece of prosecution evidence in Ford’s trial was a tape recording of a telephone conversation he had with his wife while he was in County Jail in December, 1983. On the tape, Ford said, “There’s no way to tie me to it. What worries me is the shotgun and shells. There’s no body.”

In his plea to the court, Ford discussed in detail the statements made on the recording. He maintained that the 25-minute recording, which was barely intelligible and had eight minutes of gaps, was the sole evidence against him.

“I can’t be connected to a crime I didn’t do,” Ford said.

He said the crime was carried out sloppily. “If I’m supposed to be this big-time, professional criminal, how could I be that dumb?”

Ford Thanks Attorneys

Ford, who has been held in County Jail since his arrest five years ago, concluded his courtroom speech, which ranged in tone from humble to angrily sarcastic, by thanking his attorneys. He chuckled nervously a few times as he thanked courtroom personnel.

“Thank you for treating me like a man and not like some kind of scum,” he said.

But Judge Darlene E. Schempp told Ford: “You took the life of another in such a meaningless and cheap way. You have brought disgrace to the Los Angeles Police Department.”

Winston Peterson, 74, a juror who had been the lone holdout in favor of the death penalty during deliberations for Ford, was one of several jurors to attend Thursday’s sentencing.

Peterson said the former police officer and Vietnam veteran had “not only disgraced the Police Department, but he brought disgrace to the military.”

Despite the outcome of his trial, Ford said, he continues to believe in the judicial system. “There is nothing more sacred in this world than truth and justice,” he said.