El Rio Handyman Held in Fatal Shooting of Boss

A 23-year-old El Rio man is scheduled to be arraigned today in connection with the slaying of his employer, a thrift-store operator who died early Tuesday from a gunshot wound to the head, authorities said.

Robert Allen Foster, 41, of El Rio died just after 2 a.m. at Ventura County Medical Center. He had been in the hospital’s intensive care unit since being shot late Sunday inside the Ventura Starvation Center, a thrift store he operated at 2280 E. Main St.

Police arrested Charles William Bothwell, one of Foster’s employees, at the scene. Bothwell, who police say lived on the grounds of Foster’s El Rio home, was being held at Ventura County Jail with bail set at $250,000.

Ventura police would say little about the case Tuesday, except that investigators are still trying to piece together the circumstances that led to the shooting.

Police Capt. Pat Rooney said detectives had interviewed more than a dozen people who knew or worked for Foster at one of his three businesses--the Ventura thrift store, MC Auctions in El Rio, and Chuck’s Records and Tapes in Santa Paula.

All three businesses appeared to be closed Tuesday.

Rooney said there were no eyewitnesses to the shooting, although other people were at the thrift store.

Foster was married and had two children. His wife, Patti, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Two women who worked at the auction house on weekends said Foster had employed Bothwell as a handyman for about two years.

Both women described Foster as an abusive employer who regularly yelled obscenities at his workers. Several of Foster’s employees had been homeless before he offered them work, the women said.

“We could hear him screaming and cursing,” said Mitzi La Port, who worked at the auction house and also manages another business next door. “He intimidated these people so bad, they were so frightened.”

La Port and Rose Martinez, who also worked weekends at the auction house, said they were shocked to hear that Bothwell had been arrested.

“I cannot believe Chuck would have done something like this,” Martinez said. “Chuck had to have been pushed to the very end.”

In recent days, Foster had been interviewed by two local newspapers because of a dispute over the name of his thrift store. In those accounts, Foster portrayed himself as a friend of the homeless who had given Bothwell a job, a place to live and a car.

But La Port and Martinez disputed that image.

“Robert called every newspaper in the world any time he thought he could get coverage,” La Port said. “Robert loved notoriety.”

Foster had opened the thrift store under the name Starvation Army , and promised to donate a portion of his profits to a homeless aid organization in Ventura. Foster changed the name of the business to the Ventura Starvation Center, after the Salvation Army in Ventura complained that the names were too similar.

The business license for the thrift store was issued to Foster’s mother-in-law, Elsie Chambers of El Rio. She could not be reached for comment.

In 1980, Foster was convicted of a number of charges, including arson, grand theft, burglary and possession of stolen property, according to the state Department of Corrections. He served four years of an eight-year prison sentence. In 1985, he was returned to prison for four months for violating his parole.