Couple Accused in $243,000 Evidence Theft : Police: The wife allegedly used her position as a property clerk to gain access to cash at two stations.

Los Angeles police Officer Mark Richardson was walking by the property room of the 77th Street Station the morning of Jan. 21 when a property clerk stopped him and asked him for a hand with some packages, the officer testified Tuesday.

He said he carried to her car a gift-wrapped package, which police believe contained some of the $243,000 that she and her husband are accused of stealing from evidence lockers at two stations during the Martin Luther King holiday.

Richardson was testifying at a preliminary hearing held in downtown Municipal Court for Chandra Latoi Davis, 21, and Eric Anthony Davis, 22, each charged with two counts of burglary and one count of grand theft in connection with the disappearance of the money, which was being held as evidence at the 77th Street and Southwest stations.

Internal affairs investigator Charles Devenney testified that Chandra Davis admitted to the theft Jan. 22, the day she was arrested. He said she told officers that her husband helped her and that she used a master key to gain access to both property rooms. She has resigned from her job.

Defense attorneys said Tuesday that the couple would plead not guilty at a Feb. 11 arraignment in Los Angeles Superior Court. Myron Anderson, Chandra Davis’ attorney, said he is looking into the circumstances of the statement she made to internal affairs officers, but declined to elaborate.

When Chandra Davis asked Richardson for help, she had two gift-wrapped boxes and a duffel bag at her feet, he testified.

“Would you give me a hand taking this up to my car?” Richardson said Davis asked.

“I said, ‘No problem,’ ” Richardson testified, saying that he carried one of the boxes to a car parked outside.

Eric Davis was waiting in the car and took the box from Richardson. Chandra Davis said, “Thank you,” Richardson told the court.

Police said about $170,000 was stolen from the 77th Street Station and about $73,000 was taken from the Southwest Station. Most of the money is still missing.

Devenney testified that he found $38,000 at the couple’s Rowland Heights apartment, including some stashed in a shoe box and $20,000 stuffed around a chandelier inside a cardboard box. Police have not been able to prove that the money was part of the stolen cash.

Officer Darius Lee testified that he saw Chandra Davis earlier on the morning of the theft at the Southwest Station. She left the property room carrying two boxes with yellow evidence tags on them, took them to her car and drove off, Lee said. He didn’t think anything was unusual because he recognized Davis as a property clerk and boxes are transferred all the time, he said.

But defense attorneys for the couple argued Tuesday that evidence against the couple was slim.

“Basically what you’ve got is money missing without any indication of when the money was taken . . . and who might have taken the money,” said Anderson, arguing that periodic audits of the evidence money could leave gaps as to the amount of cash in a locker on a given day.

If convicted, the Davises could face up to five years in state prison, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Yochelson.

Eric Davis, who was convicted of cocaine possession in 1988, is also charged with possession of a firearm that police said was found in a search of the couple’s home.