2 Robbery Suspects Held After Chase

Two gunmen robbed a Simi Valley credit union Thursday before leading a Ventura County sheriff’s deputy on a high-speed freeway chase that ended in Los Angeles, authorities said.

Los Angeles residents Victor Sanchez, 39, and Oscar Hungaray, 25, were arrested at 3rd Street and Rampart Boulevard after Deputy Larry House rear-ended the suspects’ car after it exited the Hollywood Freeway, authorities said.

“We don’t want them racing down surface streets potentially killing people,” Sheriff’s Capt. Keith Parks said.

Los Angeles police officers actually made the arrests after chasing the men on foot when they fled, police said. Sanchez and Hungaray were questioned by FBI agents and then handed over to Simi Valley police officers. An unknown amount of cash was recovered from the car, authorities said.

About noon, authorities said, two men entered the Premier Credit Union at 400 Country Wide Way in a north Simi Valley industrial park. Authorities said the gunmen herded five employees and customers into a common area and bound their hands.

Simi Valley Police Lt. Kenneth Tacke said robbers took cash from a safe and several drawers before fleeing in what authorities said was a stolen van.

Minutes later near the county line, a resident flagged down House and told the deputy that two men had been seen abandoning a van, changing clothes and then driving east in a compact car on the Ronald Reagan Freeway.

House caught up to the car on the freeway at De Soto Avenue in Chatsworth and a pursuit ensued, Parks said. Speeds topped 70 mph and House was joined by LAPD officers and an LAPD helicopter, authorities said.

Parks said the pursuit spanned the Ronald Reagan, San Diego and Hollywood freeways and ended when House rammed the car in Westlake near downtown Los Angeles.

Deputies can use several means of intervention, including rear-ending a dangerous vehicle, Parks said. Authorities said House was not injured nor was anyone in the credit union. Officers would not say if they recovered the guns used in the robbery.

Sanchez and Hungaray were being held Thursday night at the sheriff’s East Valley Station on suspicion of robbery. Other charges are possible and the men were expected to be transported to the main jail in Ventura late Thursday night, authorities said.