VAN NUYS : 2 Men Charged in Quake-Related Cases

Even though crime appears to have decreased in the wake of the Northridge earthquake, two men have been charged in quake-related crimes that prosecutors say demonstrate how disasters can bring out the worst in people.

A Van Nuys man was charged Tuesday with sexual battery for allegedly groping a woman while the two waited in line at a FEMA disaster assistance center in Van Nuys.

Alexis Duran Munoz, 32, is accused of assaulting an 18-year-old Arleta woman on the morning of Jan. 31 as she stood in line behind him.

Munoz was released on his own recognizance and ordered to appear in Van Nuys Municipal Court on Feb. 22.

On Monday, a man who lived near the devastated Northridge Meadows apartment complex was formally charged with illegally entering the condemned structure where 16 people died.

Timothy Loughton, 24, is charged with trespassing, entering a condemned building and carrying a knife.

Each charge carries a potential sentence of six months in County Jail.

Additionally, Loughton is wanted by Washington state officials on drug charges, prosecutors said.

Workers demolishing the collapsed building observed Loughton enter the structure last Friday morning, but no one saw him take anything, police said.

Prosecutors considered charging him with looting, but “he really didn’t have anything, he was just looking,” said Deputy City Atty. David Knokey.

Mark Walters, a 22-year-old Van Nuys man, was also arrested at Northridge Meadows on Friday morning, but he has yet to be charged, authorities said.

The district attorney’s office filed about half a dozen felony looting charges in the first week after the earthquake.