Follow-Home Thief Gets 38 Years in Prison for Robbing 9 Women

A Van Nuys man convicted of robbing nine middle-aged and elderly women of expensive jewelry after following them home from supermarkets was sentenced Friday to 38 years in prison.

“I hope this sends a message, sir, that you can’t pick on senior citizens,” San Fernando Superior Court Judge Malcolm H. Mackey told Claude Davis Jr., 38, after announcing the sentence. Davis was also convicted of attempting to rob a 10th woman.

Davis usually approached his victims on foot in the driveways or garages of their homes and asked them for directions. As they tried to help, he punched them, usually knocking them to the ground, then pulled off their rings. In some cases, Davis continued hitting the women even after he had their jewelry.

The “follow-home jewelry bandit” created panic in affluent Sherman Oaks and Encino neighborhoods, and soon others were imitating the crimes.

During the sentencing hearing, Louise G. Drake, 77, who was looking at a map book to try to help Davis when he knocked her unconscious, said the attack left her with permanent emotional scars. She asked that he receive the maximum possible prison term.

“I am terrified of leaving my house, driving my car and going shopping,” Drake said, reading a prepared statement. “I have become virtually a prisoner in my own home.”

She said many other senior citizens also feel vulnerable to unprovoked attacks.

“I speak not only for myself but also for all the senior citizens of America who, instead of being free to enjoy their retirement years, live in constant fear, actual terror,” she said. “We are not safe on the streets, on the freeways and now, in and around our houses.”

Many of the victims of Davis’ attacks, who ranged in age from 55 to 81, suffered permanent damage, including a violinist who lost the use of a finger, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeff Ramseyer. The jewelry pieces taken from the women were valued between $10,000 and $30,000 each.

Davis was arrested on Jan. 11, 1989, after a special police team saw him loitering in the parking lots of the two supermarkets from which all the victims had been followed. All of the victims later identified Davis as their assailant.