Description of 2 Dogs Leads Police to Suspects
The description of two dogs spotted by witnesses led to the arrest of two men who were charged Tuesday with stabbing and beating a disabled homeless man who was sleeping beside the railroad tracks in southern Glendale.
Police said Morgan Baker, 29, of Glendale and Monte Corrough, 22, of Tujunga attacked the homeless man while they were walking the two dogs early Friday.
Witnesses described the dogs to police officers, who saw the animals a few blocks away in the front yard of a duplex where Baker rented an apartment, authorities said. Police arrested the men at the residence.
At Baker’s home, investigators seized a knife, blood-stained clothing and other evidence linking the men to the attack, police said.
“There was no motive for it--they just beat him up and left him for dead,” Glendale Police Detective Will Currie said. “They stole his crutch when they left him . . . it was just a senseless attack on a crippled, homeless person who was minding his own business.”
Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Pargament said he was stunned when he saw a photograph of the victim, Robert Wade Cambell, 39, taken shortly after the attack.
“I thought I was looking at a picture from the morgue,” the prosecutor said. “I was surprised he was still alive because he was cut up so badly. . . . They started by throwing rocks at him, then they really went after him.”
Pargament filed charges of attempted murder and aggravated mayhem against both Baker and Corrough on Tuesday. They are scheduled to be arraigned in Glendale Municipal Court on Aug. 20.
If convicted of the charges, each man faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, Pargament said. Both men were being held without bail at Los Angeles County Jail.
Currie said the incident occurred shortly after 1 a.m. along the railroad tracks between Fernando Court and Los Feliz Road. When Baker and Corrough began to taunt Cambell and two homeless companions, Cambell’s friends walked to the nearby Amtrak Station to call police, Currie said.
When Cambell’s friends returned, they found him bleeding from stab wounds and other injuries. Police officers who responded to the call summoned an ambulance.
Cambell was treated for four days at County-USC Medical Center, before he was released Monday evening, said hospital spokeswoman Adelaida De La Cerda.
