Family Held Hostage; 3 Get $24,000

Three extortionists escaped with $24,000 in cash after taking a supermarket manager’s family hostage and demanding ransom from the store, authorities said Monday.

The night manager of the Vallarta Supermarket in Canoga Park handed over the money about 11:30 p.m. Sunday, after an armed man and woman took the manager’s wife and child hostage at their Quartz Hill home, said Lt. Richard Lichten of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department station in Lancaster.

No one was injured, and authorities said they had no suspects.

None of the three conspirators wore masks, though the young woman holding the family captive wore sunglasses, Lichten said. The victims’ names were not released.

A gunman who picked up the money knocked on the store’s front door after closing time and may have been caught on surveillance cameras, said Vallarta controller Josefina Lopez.

“But the police asked us not to disclose what is on the tape,” she said.

Lopez said the robbers forced the manager’s wife to call him. As soon as the suspect left the store, the manager called Lopez, then she called police, she said.

“He received a phone call that his family was in danger,” Lopez said. “And he had to do as instructed.”

Familiar With Store’s Operation

After the payoff, the two accomplices in Quartz Hill--about 70 miles north of Canoga Park--drove away in a small four-door car, leaving their hostages behind and unharmed, police said.

Lopez said there is no indication that the incident was planned by someone inside the company, but she added that whoever did it was familiar with the store and its employees.

“We don’t know if it was an inside job,” said Lopez, adding that the store is patrolled throughout the night by security guards.

Lt. Jim Grayson of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division, whose detectives are investigating the case with Lancaster sheriff’s detectives, said police first suspect former employees in such cases.

“Nine times out of 10 one of them involved either worked there or had a relative who worked there,” Grayson said. “It’s someone who knows the manager has keys and when he goes to get the money.

“In most cases, I wouldn’t pay because the extortionists don’t really have anybody [hostage]. This time, he knew they did, so he did the right thing to make sure his family lived to see the next minute.”

The store is one of 14 Vallarta Supermarkets in Los Angeles County owned by Sylmar-based Vallarta Foods Enterprises, a privately held chain controlled by members of the Enrique Gonzalez family. More than two dozen members of the extended family work for the company.