Inmate Says He Was Gunman in Anaheim Heist

A convicted robber said in a prison interview this week that he was the gunman who held up an Anaheim loan office in 1999, not the young man serving 13 years in prison for the crime.

The admission raises new questions about the conviction last year of George Lopez and comes as his attorneys are seeking a new trial. A jury convicted Lopez last year of robbing Commercial Credit Corp. even though two victims said he was not the gunman.

The man who now maintains he held up the loan office is 18-year-old gang member Johnny SantaCruz, who is serving a 15-year sentence for robbing three Orange County businesses the same week the loan office was robbed.

SantaCruz said the loan office was one of at least 11 Orange County businesses he robbed during a period of “partying” in which most of his money went to drugs.

SantaCruz and Lopez were arrested together four days after the robbery when police searched a car they were traveling in and discovered a gun. But SantaCruz said that day was the first time he had met Lopez and that Lopez didn’t know the gun was in the car. SantaCruz insisted that Lopez had no involvement in any of the robberies.

“He didn’t do it. . . . He’s innocent,” SantaCruz told The Times in an interview at Ironwood State Prison. “I saw an opportunity. I was going to take their money.”

SantaCruz has so far refused to cooperate with investigators for the defense, who in recent months questioned him about the holdup. But in the interview, SantaCruz said he would plead guilty if he receives a reduced sentence and Lopez is set free.

Last year, SantaCruz pleaded guilty to robbing three businesses in Tustin and Orange. In those crimes, he used a sawed-off shotgun with masking tape wrapped around the barrel, the same type of weapon described by the victims of the loan store robbery.

SantaCruz’s statement comes three weeks before Orange County prosecutors are scheduled to respond to Lopez’s bid for a new trial. A state appeals court in June found that Lopez’s appeal may have merit and ordered prosecutors to prove why the conviction should stand.

Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Brian Gurwitz said his office will investigate SantaCruz’s statements.

Gurwitz said his office will continue to oppose a new trial for Lopez “if we are convinced that the evidence supports the jury’s verdicts.”

Prosecutors charged Lopez with the Anaheim robbery in August 1999--three months after he and SantaCruz were arrested outside an Orange shopping plaza.

Lopez was inside the plaza’s Radio Shack buying cellular phone air time when police officers approached the car. Officers discovered the sawed-off shotgun under the back seat and arrested the occupants. When Lopez left the store, he was also arrested.

Lopez said a friend offered him a ride to the store and then unexpectedly picked up SantaCruz and another man on the way there. Police said the other occupants of the car were gang members but said Lopez has no gang affiliations and no prior arrests.

Authorities later linked Lopez to the loan office robbery when one of the victims identified his photo.

But during the trial, two of the victims told the prosecutor outside of court that they didn’t believe Lopez was the gunman. The prosecutor passed along the statement to Lopez’s defense lawyer, who chose not to ask them to testify about their doubts.

Since the trial, both victims have stated that Lopez was not the robber. “I’m sure it wasn’t him,” victim Dora Guaderrama said in an interview earlier this year.

Marissa Leon, another employee who witnessed the crime, stated in a sworn declaration: “George Lopez simply did not match the person that I saw the day of the robbery.”

The third victim, Hector Patino, originally told investigators that a photograph of Lopez looked like the gunman. But he could not identify him in court.

A legal expert said the witness statements, coupled with SantaCruz’s admission, probably will make it difficult for the district attorney’s office to avoid a retrial.