Home-Invasion Ringleader Guilty on All Counts

The mastermind of a home invasion and bank robbery ring was found guilty Tuesday in San Fernando Superior Court on the final three charges filed against him. That meant that in total, Alex Yepes, 28, has been convicted of all 30 counts with which he was charged.

Yepes will face sentencing Jan. 22 before Judge Charles Peven.

The convictions could carry sentences totaling multiple life terms for crimes committed by the ring in 1993.

Three of Yepes’ partners were convicted of the same crimes years ago; a fourth remains at large.

Yepes maintained that he was wrongly accused and had alibis to prove his innocence. He was acquitted by a federal jury in 1994, but in a controversial move, the Los Angeles district attorney’s office filed state charges for the same crimes.

In 1997 a lone juror in a state trial believed his alibis, forcing a mistrial on a majority of charges against him.

But after a three-month retrial, Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Chasworth convinced jurors that Yepes’ alibis did not stand up to scrutiny. Jurors unanimously convicted on all 30 counts.

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Chasworth was praised Tuesday as “very diligent and persevering” by Stephen Cooley, former head of the San Fernando branch of the district attorney’s office, who appointed Chasworth to prosecute the case four years ago.

Cooley, who met with jurors after the verdict, said, “One characterized the presentation of evidence as ‘very well-presented, cohesive, logical and compelling.’ ”

The jury found Yepes guilty of a Canyon Country incident in which the ring held a bank officer and eight relatives hostage in her home overnight.

The next morning, the officer was forced to go to the TransWorld Bank and open the vault while her relatives were kept at home under guard.

Yepes also was convicted of committing a similar crime against an officer of Coast Federal Bank in Northridge and of attempting a second robbery at the same Canyon Country bank.

Ring members were detected after they began spending lavishly, including buying cars for cash and taking trips to Cancun and Las Vegas, Chasworth told the jury.