Woman Gets Community Service in Drive-By Case

The daughter of a San Fernando Valley developer was sentenced Tuesday to community service for her role in a drive-by slaying at the Fallbrook mall in West Hills, the same shooting for which two gang members are now serving multiple life prison terms.

Yael Oved, now 19, was ordered to serve 300 hours of community service and to receive psychiatric counseling in the June 5, 1995, shooting of 16-year-old Taft High School sophomore Ramtin Shaolian.

Sylmar Juvenile Court Judge Morton Rochman imposed the sentence after hearing recommendations from prosecutors and a probation report that Oved be kept in custody, sources close to the case said.

“This young lady got the break of a lifetime,” said Phil Nemeth, lawyer for Eliot O’Neal Singletary, who was sentenced last year to six life terms in prison with an accomplice, Tommy Lee Williams of Van Nuys.

“Based on the information I had, she had full knowledge that the young men were going to be shot outside the theater,” Nemeth said.

But prosecutors and one defense attorney denied the charge and defended the state’s handling of the case.

“All of the witnesses indicated she didn’t know there was a weapon in the car and didn’t know the intentions [of the two adult gang members],” said James Blatt, a lawyer for Oved.

“The district attorney’s office acted with the highest standard of fairness in this case. They went after the shooter and the gang member who had knowledge of what was going to occur,” Blatt said.

According to testimony at last year’s criminal trial, Oved and three teenage girls had gone out with the two men, who police said were gang members with criminal records. At one point, Singletary asked a group of teenagers where they were from and whether they were gangbangers.

One of the teenagers responded, “Do we look like gangbangers?” Singletary ordered Oved, who was driving, to follow the group to the dark side of the Fallbrook mall with the headlights off.

Soon after, they came upon Shaolian. Williams shouted, “You don’t gangbang? Well, you do now,” firing nine shots at the youths, killing Shaolian and wounding two companions.

“There was no way we could prove she knew there was a gun in the car,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Stewart Powell. “So our offer was made to hold her responsible for her actions, as well as her knowledge of what was going on.”

None of the four girls riding in the car during the drive-by served time in jail, although they were first booked on suspicion of murder. Police said none had criminal records. Two were given immunity in return for their testimony against Williams and Singletary, and a third was not prosecuted.

Police said the girls, all from upscale homes, went along with the gang members for thrills.

Oved’s father, Ovadia Oved, is a building contractor, the family’s lawyer said.