Two Men to Stand Trial in Armored Car Holdup

Two men who allegedly helped an armored car driver steal about $1 million from his vehicle were ordered Friday to stand trial.

Jose Fernandez, 24, of North Hollywood and Christopher Baca, 30, of Panorama City were part of a six-man team that pulled off the Sept. 3 robbery in Van Nuys, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Keri Modder. They are charged with robbery and kidnapping.

In a strange twist, the man accused of orchestrating the crime, 36-year-old David Campbell of South-Central Los Angeles, was once hailed as a hero for his actions during the 1997 North Hollywood bank shootout. In that incident, he drove an armored truck into a hail of gunfire to shield police and helped save a wounded bystander.

Campbell and three other alleged accomplices are scheduled to appear Dec. 17 for a preliminary hearing at Van Nuys Municipal Court, Modder said. The other suspects are Raul Briceno, 24, of North Hollywood; Luis Perez, 30, of Pacoima; and Christopher Lee O’Connor, 24, of Palmdale.

Campbell told investigators that two masked men carrying handguns hijacked his truck and forced him to drive to a nearby alley, where he and his partner were robbed. But police said they found discrepancies in his account.

Fernandez drove a van that met the armored truck and sped off with the cash, and Baca acted as lookout, Modder said. The kidnapping charge stems from the attack on Campbell’s armored truck partner, who was not involved in the crime and was forced into the vehicle and bound.