Barrio ‘Symbol of Success’ Receives 10-Year Sentence for 6 Robberies

A former Harvard student from La Habra convicted of committing a series of armed robberies in Orange County during vacation breaks from his studies was sentenced Friday to serve 10 years and four months in prison.

Jose Luis Razo Jr., convicted in Santa Ana in June of six robberies and an attempted escape from police, had been a star athlete and scholar at Servite High School in Anaheim and received scholarship offers from several colleges. Before that, he had been an altar boy, president of a Boys’ Club service group and once won an outstanding youth award in La Habra.

Razo also showed an interest in others in his hometown barrio, and later wrote a college paper expressing concern that so many Latinos from his hometown barrio ended up in prison.

“He was the symbol of success for his community, school, church, and especially his family,” probation officer Kathleen S. Didier wrote to the court. “For some reason, he chose to sabotage his success.”

Superior Court Judge Jean H. Rheinheimer had wide latitude in deciding Razo’s sentence--a minimum of two years and a maximum of 15 years and four months.

Multiple Victims

The judge said she decided on a sentence closer to the maximum, because there were multiple victims and the crimes showed premeditation and planning, not just “temporary aberrant misconduct.”

Looking directly at Razo, the judge told him: “The court has searched its conscience and has done its best to impose a sentence that is just and is fair. This is not a happy sentencing for this court.”

Razo showed no reaction during the sentencing hearing. His family, sitting directly behind him, remained relatively calm, although a girlfriend and his mother had tears in their eyes as they left the courtroom.

The robberies occurred between Dec. 26, 1985, and June 29, 1987. Razo was arrested a month later when he told police that he might have information for them about a murder in Santa Ana. During that interview, he ended up confessing to a dozen armed robberies in which he wore a ski mask.

Although Razo later recanted his confession, jurors learned about most of it and said later it was the key evidence against him, because he showed a remarkable ability to recall details of the crimes.

The jurors discounted Razo’s subsequent testimony that he learned the details from the real robber while he was doing a school paper about crime in the Latino barrios. “He’s a liar,” said one member of the panel.

The jury acquitted Razo on four of the 10 robberies in the charges against him.

Several jurors said after the verdict that they believed he had committed those four crimes, but gave him the benefit of the doubt because of conflicting evidence.

The jurors did not hear Razo’s confession concerning two of the four robberies. The portion of the confession dealing with those crimes had been thrown out by the court because it came after Razo told police he wanted to see a lawyer. In a third robbery, the victim said she did not believe Razo was the bandit who had held her up. In a fourth, a Harvard classmate gave Razo an alibi, saying he was still in school at the time.

In interviews with The Times after his arrest, Razo said he turned to crime because he needed money. He also said he was uncomfortable at Harvard, which has few Latino students.

“I’m a home boy now,” Razo said. “At Harvard I didn’t fit . . . I was confused.”

Razo entered his freshman year at Harvard in September, 1985. The first robbery occurred at the Driftwood Dairy in La Habra when he was home on a holiday break two months later.

In several of the robberies, the victims testified that their attacker told them he would kill them if anything went wrong.

“Don’t hit any buttons; I don’t want to kill you. But I will if the police get here,” one victim was told.

Razo, under orders from the judge, named the person he said had committed the robberies. But his defense collapsed when prosecutors could show that the person had been in jail when several of the robberies occurred.