6 Courageous Citizens Honored in Ceremony at Courthouse

Steven Kelley was putting training wheels on his daughter’s bike when he saw three men chasing an armed robber in his Sherman Oaks neighborhood.

Kelley, 32, who has been deaf since birth, jumped up and helped the men subdue the robber, who had just held up at gunpoint 65-year-old Samuel Luffman and his 97-year-old father, Isaac.

Kelley, a custodian and janitor for a local church, was among six people whose heroism was heralded Monday in a “Courageous Citizens Award” ceremony at the Van Nuys Courthouse.

Also honored were Samuel Luffman, who chased the robber after being held up, and two employees of a Sun Valley termite extermination company, Antonio Perez and John Vallejo, who helped capture and disarm the bandit.

“You are being recognized today for having a human trait that none of us know we have until we have been tested: courage,” said Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, who gives the awards periodically in courthouses throughout the county.

As a result of the incident involving Kelley, the accused, John Leroy Moser, 31, of Castaic, is facing criminal charges in Van Nuys Superior Court.

Other people honored included Lee Bibbie, an Altadena man who saved a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy last August after an assailant struck the deputy and tried to strangle him in a Palmdale bank. The attacker was convicted of forgery and sentenced to four years in prison, authorities said. Bibbie was not present Monday.

The sixth honoree was Evelyn Jones, 42, of Pasadena, who jumped into her car and chased a young man on a bicycle who had stolen her purse. Jones eventually flagged down a patrolman, who arrested the thief.