Window Smashings Halted, but Suspects Not Yet Charged

No vehicle windows along Los Angeles freeways have been shattered since the day after two men were arrested earlier this month, so it would seem that the California Highway Patrol has either arrested the right people or scared the right people off.

The CHP maintained that it has done both--nabbed two men they can link to the monthlong spate of 250 freeway window shatterings, and let the copycats know that they mean business.

But having said that, neither the CHP nor the district attorney’s office has moved quickly to charge Jose Soto, 21, and Hugo Hernandez, 22, with the crimes.

The two were arrested Oct. 9 after nightly attacks caused heightened driver anxiety throughout Southern California.

In the weeks that followed the arrest, CHP investigators submitted their evidence to the district attorney’s office. But prosecutors said they would not file criminal charges until the CHP provided more evidence.

“It’s not unusual that we need more information before we make a filing decision,” said Suzanne Childs, a spokeswoman for prosectors.

Soto and Hernandez are in custody, being held for possessing weapons in violation of their probation--meaning the district attorney doesn’t need to charge them with the window shatterings to keep an eye on them. A hearing on the probation violations is scheduled for today.

Investigators said that since the night after the arrests, when there were three incidents, there has been only an average number of reports of freeway vandalism. The few incidents each week, said CHP spokesman Rob Lund, are not consistent with the string of attacks that began Sept. 11.

The pair was arrested after a phoned-in tip to the CHP’s Vandal Apprehension Task Force hotline. Soto’s house, near USC, had been under surveillance when he and roommate Hernandez drove off in a van.

The two were pulled over a few blocks from the home, and police said they found BBs and marbles--two items police have said could have been used as projectiles in the incidents--in the van.

A search of Soto’s home yielded a sawed-off shotgun, an AK-47 assault rifle, a 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun, BBs, marbles, spark plugs and two air guns, investigators said.

But victims of the crimes said they feel a heightened sense of urgency about whether the men in custody will be charged with blowing out their windows.

Howard Luan, 45, was a victim the night vandals hit 42 car windows along several area freeways. Investigators pointed to that night, Oct. 1, as proof that more than one group of vandals had to be prowling the freeways in order to hit such a large number of windows over a swath of freeways stretching from the San Gabriel Valley to Hollywood.

Luan had been on his way home to Diamond Bar after working at his cargo business near Los Angeles International Airport. He was heading north on the 605 Freeway near Slauson Boulevard, in the lane second from the left, when he heard a loud noise.

He checked his rear-view mirror and saw a small hole. After he drove less than a mile, most of the glass came crashing down.

Luan said that wondering who frightened him that night and cost him around $500 in repairs was frustrating.

“I want to know who did it and the police officers have not yet said if [Soto and Hernandez] hit my car,” Luan said last week. “What can I do? I have to wait for the police to take their action.”

Both the CHP and the district attorney’s office pledged that action against the pair will come.

“It’s just a matter of the two agencies coming together,” Lund said. “The D.A.’s desires versus the CHP’s expectation of what the D.A. wants.”

Lund stressed that the delay is not due to lack of evidence.

“Apparently we feel very confident about having enough evidence to satisfy the D.A. to file charges,” Lund said. “We are planning on resubmitting in a couple of weeks rather than kicking them loose.

“We’re not going to be spinning our wheels on these guys if we don’t think it’s going to pan out.”