Plot Suspected in Shooting of Executive

Prosecutors charged Wednesday that the shooting of an Irvine pharmaceutical executive this week was part of a sophisticated assassination plot by three assailants seeking financial gain.

In a complaint filed in Orange County Superior Court, authorities accused a Los Angeles businessman of being the getaway car driver during the attempted slaying of James Patrick Riley, chief executive officer at Biofem Inc. Riley, 58, was shot in the face as he arrived for work Monday morning at his Irvine Spectrum office.

The plot was well-planned, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Ebrahim Baytieh. Detectives searching suspect Dino D’Saachs’ home in Altadena found an instructional manual on assassinations along with photographs of the targeted executive, his home and his business, Baytieh said.

D’Saachs, 56, pleaded not guilty Wednesday afternoon at an arraignment attended by nearly a dozen family members.

His attorney, Henry Salcido, said his client told investigators he was driving his van in Irvine about the time of the shooting but was not involved.

Prosecutors have not named the other suspects. Officials said one was the gunman and the other was the operation’s mastermind.

As detectives stepped up their hunt for the suspects, officers served search warrants at homes and businesses in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Detectives declined to say whose properties were examined.

But an attorney for a top executive at Biofem Inc. said his client’s Irvine house was searched Wednesday in what he described as a routine part of the investigation.

Dr. Larry Ford, director of science for Biofem and Riley’s longtime business partner, had nothing to do with the shooting, said his attorney, Stephen Klarich.

Klarich said Ford was stunned by the shooting as well as the subsequent arrest of D’Saachs, whom the doctor was treating for an unknown medical condition.

Ford’s attorney stressed that investigators are scrutinizing anyone with links to Riley, not just his client. Ford, he said, lacks a motive to kill his business partner.

“They’re just investigating my client as they would a secretary in the company,” Klarich said. “Even the victim told the police that it would be unlikely that Dr. Ford would be involved in this. There’s no motive. Their business was doing very well. There was no reason to rock the cart.”

Riley and Ford have been business partners for more than a decade, Klarich said. Each provided the firm with different skills, he said: Riley brought business savvy, while Ford brought his background as a medical scientist.

“They were different kinds of people,” Klarich said. “But as far as their business, the business was working and there was no fighting.”

The complaint filed against D’Saachs does not specify a motive for the attack. Prosecutors said the goal was “financial gain” but would not elaborate.

Court documents allege D’Saachs drove the gunman to Irvine on Monday, parked his van outside Biofem’s office and waited for Riley to arrive.

As he waited, D’Saachs called the plot’s mastermind to confirm he was in position and detail the arrival of employees, the complaint says.

About 10 a.m., Riley arrived. He was confronted by a gunman dressed in black, including a ski mask and gloves. The assailant fired one shot, which tore through Riley’s cheek and lodged in a wall.

Authorities found the van in a Los Angeles repair shop, near D’Saachs’ tax preparation firm, where the van was about to be repainted. D’Saachs also owns a market in Los Angeles.

D’Saachs’ attorney tried unsuccessfully to persuade Judge Craig E. Robison to grant bail for his client. Salcido called D’Saachs a successful businessman and property owner who has spent 41 years in the United States.

But prosecutors told the judge that D’Saachs was a flight risk and a threat to Riley and his family. Detectives reportedly found the deed to Riley’s home at D’Saachs’ house and a map of the Irvine business property with “X” marks on Riley’s parking slot.

Baytieh said in court that D’Saachs was convicted in 1990 of carrying a loaded firearm in a public place, and that Irvine officers this week found three guns at his home with “a lot of ammunition.”

Riley was reported in good condition Wednesday at a Mission Viejo hospital.

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Times staff writer Marc Ballon contributed to this story.