6 Men Charged With More Than 50 Robberies : Crime: Two are accused in the killing of a Van Nuys merchant. At least 20 Valley stores were hit in the spree.

Six men were charged Wednesday with taking part in a yearlong armed robbery spree in which a Van Nuys shop owner was shot to death and more than 50 Los Angeles-area businesses were robbed, authorities said.

Five of the men already face charges in the killing of a Maywood police officer shot during a robbery in May.

Los Angeles Police Detective Steve Fisk said the charges against the six stem from at least 52 robberies that have occurred since last summer, including the May 4 holdup at Woodley Market in Van Nuys during which owner Lee Chul Kim was killed. Fisk said two other men involved in the slaying have not been identified or arrested.

“The two shooters in that case, we have; we are still looking for the driver and a fourth man who was in the store,” Fisk said.

The suspects, all Salvadoran nationals, are believed to be part of a robbery ring that investigators focused on after the May 29 killing of Maywood Police Officer John A. Hoglund, 46, as he responded to a robbery alarm at a market.

Police said members of the ring carried out almost weekly robberies from the San Fernando Valley to Huntington Beach. At least 20 robberies occurred in the Valley, police said. On occasion, shop owners were beaten or shot. Only Kim and Hoglund were killed.

After Hoglund was shot to death, detectives from across Los Angeles County began to link the men to other robberies through the similar methods used, witness accounts and other undisclosed evidence, Fisk said.

“They had a pattern of hitting markets that were of a size between mini-market and grocery store,” Fisk said. “Many of the stores were Korean-owned with Spanish employees.”

The six Los Angeles men charged Wednesday were:

* Santiago Sanchez Fuentes, 22, also know as Carlos Juarez, charged with the murder of Kim, four counts of assault with a deadly weapon and 33 armed robberies.

* Jose Contreras, 20, charged with Kim’s murder, five counts of assault and 35 armed robberies.

* Benjamin A. Navarro, 21, charged with one count of attempted murder, five counts of assault and 18 armed robberies.

* Carlos Antonio Escobar, 21, charged with seven armed robberies.

* Oscar Paredes, 20, charged with six armed robberies.

* Jorge Francisco Suazo, 20, charged with one count of assault and 10 armed robberies.

All except Suazo had previously been charged in Hoglund’s death and could face the death penalty if convicted. Fuentes is accused of being the triggerman in the officer’s killing.

Fuentes and Contreras were arrested two days after the Hoglund killing and the others were arrested the following week. Another man arrested in the Kim case was later released after police learned he had a verified alibi.

Fisk said other charges against the six men could be added as police agencies throughout Los Angeles and Orange County continue to investigate the group.