Canoga Park : Assault Investigation Leads to Pipe Bomb

The arrest of two men Monday at a Canoga Park home for allegedly robbing and beating another man netted police another find--a bomb.

While making the arrest, police found a pipe bomb inside the house of one of the suspects and called in the bomb squad, which detonated it. No one was injured.

Two men, Ronald LaPoint, 31, and Steven Kuzma, 22, were booked for armed robbery about 10 p.m. Monday, according to Sgt. Dan Mastro of the West Valley Police Division.

Mastro said officers responded to a call from another man, who police declined to identify, who said Kuzma and LaPoint had burst into his house hours earlier, beat him and took a laptop computer and other items, including a pair of leather pants.

The unidentified victim, who was not hospitalized, was acquainted with one of his assailants, Mastro said.

“Apparently the individual knew at least one of the men,” Mastro said. “It wasn’t like he came out of nowhere. The suspect had been at his house a week before.”

Following a tip from the victim, police staked out Kuzma’s Canoga Park house in the 7200 block of Loma Verde Avenue, where they arrested LaPoint as he walked to his car. Officers allegedly found a handgun in the car. Kuzma was arrested inside the house, where they also found the pipe bomb.