Palmdale Man Held on Suspicion of Extortion

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies arrested a suspected Palmdale gang member Thursday for allegedly extorting an apartment building manager who has evicted suspected gang members and drug dealers, authorities said.

Deputies in the Antelope Valley station gang unit arrested Bobby Little, 28, on suspicion of extortion. Little, who was in the process of being evicted from the complex on 30th Street East in Palmdale, was being held in lieu of $50,000 bond, they said.

Suspected gang activity and drug dealing have led to numerous evictions at the complex in the past three months, Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Shreves said. As a result, Shreves said, the manager has been the target of death threats, culminating in a recent threat that her apartment would be bombed.

Little went to the manager’s apartment Thursday and collected $40, telling the manager that she would not be harmed if she paid, authorities said. Deputies were summoned and arrested Little when he returned later in the day, then demanded and received another $60, Shreves said.