BUENA PARK : 2 Men Held After Crime Spree Freed

Two adults arrested on suspicion of participating in a predawn crime spree Wednesday morning were freed after being questioned for several hours that evening, police said.

“If it turns out that they were telling us the truth, we don’t plan to go ahead with any case against them,” Buena Park Sgt. Terry Branum said Thursday. “We’ll wait and see if their stories hold up, but for now we’re not planning to charge them with anything.”

Police had arrested the two men, Donald West, 20, and David Morgan, 19, both of Buena Park, suspecting that they were involved in a rampage that included two armed robberies, two car thefts, smashed windows at an auto parts store, a spray-painting binge and a dog that was shot three times. All told, several suspects were accused of causing about $10,000 worth of damage, and the dog died Thursday.

But after questioning Morgan and West, police freed both, having determined that they were not part of the crime spree.

Three juveniles were arrested, and Branum said the department still intends to proceed with charges against them. Their names are being withheld. A sixth suspect is being sought, he said.

In an interview Thursday, West acknowledged that he had been present for one of the robberies and the first stolen car. But he said he did not participate in either of those crimes and that his friends dropped him off at home before going on with their crime wave.

“The police didn’t believe me until the other guys confessed,” West said. “They told me they were allowed to arrest me on suspicion, and they just kept questioning me.”

Morgan was not available for comment. West said Morgan had not been with the group during any part of the evening and that he “had not one single thing to do with it.”

West added that the group did not set out to go on a rampage when the youths--some of whom he said are members of a gang called “Calle Nueve”--gathered late Tuesday evening.

“We didn’t set out to mug nobody,” he said. “We just were drinking, and we set out looking for some guys we don’t get along with.”