Shooting a Hit Attempt, Authorities Say

Prosecutors charged Wednesday that the shooting of an Irvine pharmaceutical executive earlier this week was part of a sophisticated conspiracy carried out by three assailants aimed at “assassinating” him for 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 murder of James Patrick Riley, chief executive officer at Biofem Inc. Riley was shot in the face as he arrived for work Monday morning at his Irvine Spectrum office.

The plot was well-planned in advance, Deputy Dist. Atty. Ebrahim Baytieh said. Detectives searching suspect Dino D’Saachs’ home found an instructional manual on executing a successful hit 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. Wearing a yellow jail jumpsuit, the entrepreneur kept his eyes lowered as nearly a dozen family members looked on.

D’Saachs’ attorney, Henry Salcido, said his client told investigators he was driving his van in Irvine around the time of the shooting but was not involved.

Prosecutors have not named the two other people allegedly involved in the plot to kill Riley. Officials said one was the gunman disguised by a black ski mask and the other was the mastermind of the operation.

As detectives stepped up their hunt for the two other suspects, officers served search warrants at homes in Los Angeles and Orange County. 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 privately held pharmaceutical development firm with different skills, he said: Riley brought his business savvy to the firm, 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, and that he 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.

Around 10 a.m., Riley arrived. He was confronted by a gunman dressed in black ski mask, gloves and clothes. The assailant fired one round from a low-caliber firearm that tore through the executive’s cheek and lodged in a nearby wall.

The complaint alleges that after the shooting, D’Saachs helped slide open his van’s door and helped the gunman enter before driving off.

D’Saachs’ attorney tried unsuccessfully to convince 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.

“He’s a good man, and we love him,” added D’Saachs’ son, who declined to give his full name. “We’re standing by him.”

But prosecutors told the judge that D’Saachs was a flight risk and a threat to Riley and his family. Baytieh urged the court to consider the “level of sophistication” involved in planning the attack. Detectives earlier this week 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 Altadena home with “a lot of ammunition.”

Riley’s condition was upgraded from fair to good on Wednesday as the executive continued to recover at a Mission Viejo hospital.

Company officials said in earlier interviews that Biofem was close to finishing research on two innovative products: a chemical suppository designed to protect women from venereal disease, and a bacterial treatment that would protect against certain stomach upsets.

Unlike other types of bacterial treatments, Biofem’s product would require no refrigeration and have a shelf-life of one year, said company vice president Jean Leet in an earlier interview.

“That gives us a niche in the market,” she said.

Times staff writer Marc Ballon contributed to this report.