Clerk Charged in LAPD Theft Shot, Critically Hurt

A former civilian clerk accused of stealing $237,500 from evidence lockers at two Los Angeles police stations over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in January has been critically wounded in a shooting, Los Angeles police said Wednesday.

Chandra Latoi Davis, 21, was in “extremely critical” condition after she was shot several times by an unknown gunman while sitting in the living room of her mother’s home on West 52nd Street in South-Central Los Angeles shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday, investigators said. She was hospitalized at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center.

The victim’s mother, Norma Henton, three sisters and a brother also were at home, but none witnessed the shooting, police said.

“At this point, we do not know what the motive is and have not identified a suspect, “ said Robbery-Homicide Division Lt. John Zorn.

Relatives at the home declined to discuss the case with a reporter, referring questions to Davis’ lawyer, Charles Lloyd, who could not be reached.

The woman and her husband, Eric Anthony Davis, 22, were arrested Jan. 22, shortly after the thefts were discovered. They were charged with two counts of burglary and one of grand theft. Eric Davis, an ex-felon, also faces a charge of possessing a gun.

She posted bail, but he did not and remains in jail. They are due in court next week.

When they were arrested, police said that the Davises had entered secured property rooms at the Southwest and 77th Street Division stations and broken the locks of strongboxes containing cash in evidence envelopes.

Police said Chandra Davis had worked as an evidence clerk at Parker Center for about six months before the thefts. Investigators said they suspected that she stole a property-room master key. About $170,000 was taken from 77th Street and $67,000 from Southwest, police said.

Internal affairs investigator Charles Devenney testified at a preliminary hearing that when officers searched the couple’s Rowland Heights apartment, $38,000 was found in a shoe box and $20,000 had been stuffed around a chandelier inside a cardboard box.

Devenney said that Chandra Davis admitted the thefts after her arrest. She reportedly told officers that her husband helped her use a master key to gain access to both property rooms. She subsequently pleaded not guilty.