He Helped the Needy, and It Might Have Killed Him : Crime: Sanford Fineman got a transient a room and a job--but the kindhearted gesture might have been fatal. The 73-year-old businessman was robbed and killed this week, and the homeless man is being held with two others on suspicion of murder.

To those who knew him, 73-year-old Sanford Fineman was a kind man always willing to give people a second chance.

It was typical of Fineman, they say, when in May he provided a transient with a hotel room and gave him a part-time cleaning job at the auto leasing firm where Fineman worked as manager.

But police say Fineman’s kind heart may have been his failing.

After closing Del Amo Auto Leasing Monday night, Fineman was robbed, shot and killed. And Torrance police say one of the suspects charged with his murder, Edward Welker, of Holbrook, N.Y., was the transient who Fineman hired last year.

“I’d always tell him people will rob you for $50--you need to be careful,” said an Auto Leasing employee who asked not to be identified. “He’d say, ‘It’s only money. If they need it that badly, I’ll just give it to them.’ ”

Fineman was robbed of between $400 to $500 cash, and then shot and killed, said Torrance Police Lt. Wally Murker.

Police arrested Welker, Hector Cardenas, 25, and Kevin Kritz, 25, both of Torrance, Monday night just minutes after the killing. The three suspects pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of murder with special circumstances, robbery and kidnaping. If convicted, all could face the death penalty.

Co-workers said Fineman met Welker last year, felt sorry for him, and put him up in a local motel for a few days to get him on his feet. The company owner said Fineman offered Welker a job cleaning up after hours at the auto leasing firm at Del Amo Fashion Center.

“(Welker) was down and out and really needed a job,” the Auto Leasing employee said. “(Fineman) had met him before. He put him in a hotel and put him to work.”

But about a month after Welker was hired, Fineman fired him for allegedly stealing from the store, according to co-workers.

And there were other signs of trouble.

On July 9, Welker was pulled over in the Lomita area by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies while driving Fineman’s car. He was arrested on suspicion of auto theft, but was released because of insufficient evidence, said Detective Mike Lee of the Lomita sheriff’s station.

Torrance police suspect that Welker, 30, approached Fineman Monday night in the Del Amo Fashion Center parking lot knowing that he was carrying the day’s cash receipts from the business. Welker, they said, forced Fineman to drive to a nearby Capitol Bank parking lot where he allegedly robbed him, shot him and fled in a nearby car with the two other suspects.

Police Sgt. Ron Traber said a police unit was patrolling the area, heard the gunshots and arrested the suspects shortly after the killing.

Fineman was pronounced dead at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. His violent death came as a shock to those who knew him.

“People are so cruel,” said Tillie Bralower, Fineman’s companion of two years. “Here is a man who helped this guy. (Welker) didn’t have anything so Sandy gave him a job. Sandy found out he was stealing, then he stole Sandy’s car and now to kill him?”

Lying in her room at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center where she is recuperating from colon surgery, Bralower, 76, reflected on her 44-year friendship with Fineman.

“We were both from Chicago but we had to come out here to meet each other,” she said.

Bralower said Fineman had worked in an ammunition plant in Chicago during World War II and moved to Los Angeles because he could not stand the cold, Midwestern winters.

The couple met in 1948 when Bralower answered a newspaper advertisement for a telephone salesperson at Fineman’s appliance business on Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Bralower said she worked for Fineman for 20 years before she left to become a bookkeeper. Though they were always good friends, they lived separate lives, each marrying twice. Neither had children, she said, adding that Fineman is survived only by a sister in Evanston, Ill.

Two years ago, Bralower said she moved in with Fineman in Los Angeles because “we were both getting older and we decided that rather than taking individual places to live, if we got one place to live it would be easier.”

“Besides,” she added, “we all need companionship in our old age.”

Fineman was an active man, Bralower said, who stressed mental and physical fitness and worked hard at his job at the auto leasing company.

“He was a workaholic,” said one of Fineman’s co-workers. “He worked seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.”

Last week Bralower was admitted to Cedar-Sinai Medical Center for colon surgery. Bralower said Fineman, who disliked hospitals, last came to visit her on Sunday.

A bouquet of purple and white orchids--now wilted--that Fineman sent her sits in her room. Attached is a note saying, “I miss you so. Get better and come home, Love Sandy.”

Bralower said she had talked to Fineman about four hours before he left work on Monday. He told her he was going to grab some dinner on his way home.

“I told him, ‘Be careful what you eat and I’ll talk to you tomorrow,’ ” Bralower said.

Life will be hard without Fineman, Bralower said, but she said she would survive.

“We thought we had each other and whatever happened we’d get through it together. Now it’s going to be so lonely without him.”