LAPD Officer Is a Suspect in Slaying

A Los Angeles police officer arrested earlier this month on federal cocaine charges also is a suspect in the stabbing death of a 23-year-old man who police said was followed home and attacked after a dispute at a popular restaurant last December.

Officer Ruben Palomares, 31, has been implicated in the slaying of Erick Mendoza by a co-defendant in the cocaine case--who also allegedly was at the scene of the slaying--according to police sources and confidential police documents.

Lt. Kenneth E. Rulon, of the Huntington Park Police Department, confirmed Wednesday that Palomares and four other men are suspects in Mendoza’s Dec. 9 killing.

In addition to the statements of the co-defendant, police have other witness accounts of the argument between Palomares and the victim on the night of the slaying. Sources also say police have physical evidence that they believe links the suspects to the slaying.

Rulon said two suspects--Alvin Moon and Gabriel Loaiza--are in custody on cocaine charges in San Diego along with Palomares. Two more men--Oscar Loaiza and a man identified only as “Manny”--remain at large, Rulon said. Police are seeking the public’s assistance in determining their whereabouts.

Attorneys for Palomares and Gabriel Loaiza said they were unaware of any murder investigation involving their clients and declined to comment on the allegations. Moon’s attorney could not be reached Wednesday evening.

The allegations against Palomares are the most serious criminal accusations to be leveled against an LAPD officer since the so-called Rampart corruption scandal broke in September 1999 with the admissions and allegations of former LAPD Officer Rafael Perez.

Most of the officers who so far have faced administrative or criminal charges have come under scrutiny as a result of allegations connected to their work as officers. The murder investigation of Palomares, by contrast, grows out of an alleged off-duty altercation that ended with a young man bleeding to death in the front seat of his car.

Earlier Allegations of Corruption

Even before his arrest on the drug charges and the allegations of murder, Palomares had been identified by Perez as being “in the loop” of allegedly corrupt cops assigned to the Rampart Division.

Perez, who was cooperating with authorities after his own arrest on drug charges, told investigators nearly two years ago that Palomares and his then-partner, Frank Galindo, were involved in an unjustified shooting in 1998 that they covered up. That shooting remains under investigation by the FBI and the LAPD. At the time of his San Diego arrest, Palomares was assigned to the Northeast Division.

The latest accusation against Palomares comes from one of his alleged partners in the deal to buy 10 kilograms of cocaine from federal undercover agents on June 8.

That co-defendant, whose name is being withheld at the request of authorities, told investigators that he had participated in several drug rip-offs and residential robberies with Palomares and others.

He also told investigators that there had been a killing. The witness said he was with Palomares and three other men at the Las Playas restaurant in Bell when Palomares got into a verbal dispute with Mendoza. At one point, Palomares threatened Mendoza with a gun, sources said.

When Mendoza got into his beige 1984 BMW and drove away from the restaurant, Palomares and his friends followed, according to police and documents reviewed by The Times.

A short time later, the cooperating witness told investigators, Mendoza pulled up in front of his apartment in the 3500 block of Live Oak Street in Huntington Park. Palomares and his friends, riding in Moon’s black SUV, parked directly behind him, blocking his exit.

The witness told investigators that Palomares and brothers Oscar and Gabriel Loaiza then got out of the SUV and approached Mendoza’s car.

Gabriel Loaiza, an aspiring police officer and lifelong friend of Palomares, allegedly held a gun and flashlight on the startled Mendoza.

As Mendoza tried to get out of the car, Palomares, a former Golden Gloves boxer, delivered three punches to his chest and head, forcing him back inside the vehicle, the witness told investigators. Oscar Loaiza, he said, then pulled out a knife and repeatedly stabbed the victim, who sustained injuries to his face, neck, chest, back and thigh.

The next morning, a neighbor found Mendoza’s body slumped in his car, a trail of blood leading down the driveway to the street. A Sourdough Jack sandwich with a single bite out of it was lying on the car’s console. Mendoza’s blood would later test positive for cocaine and alcohol.

“We didn’t know if we had a drug deal gone bad or what,” Rulon said.

Viewing Security Camera Videotapes

With little to go on, Huntington Park Dets. Jeff Franklin and Tony Porter decided to see whether Mendoza’s slaying might be linked to a reported dispute the night before at Las Playas in the neighboring city of Bell.

By interviewing witnesses and viewing security camera videotapes, the officers were able to place Mendoza and the suspects at the restaurant at the same time. One witness told police that he had seen the argument between Palomares and Mendoza. Another told officers that he watched the black SUV that Palomares and the others were in follow Mendoza’s BMW out of the parking lot, according to sources and documents. Sources said police have since obtained physical evidence from the SUV, which they believe links the suspects to Mendoza’s slaying.

On Wednesday, police served search warrants on homes in Montebello and Whittier seeking the murder weapon and other evidence.

A woman who had taken Mendoza into her home and acted asa surrogate mother said he had persevered through a tough childhood and had a promising future.

Mendoza left Mexico when he was in his early teens to live in Los Angeles with his uncle. The two worked odd jobs and often slept on the streets because they were so poor. In the United States, the undocumented Mendoza would occasionally use the identification of a friend, Jorge Luis Lopez. In fact, coroner’s documents identify Mendoza as Lopez, but friends of his say that is not his name.

On one of his odd jobs, Mendoza served food and drinks at the wedding of Rebecca and Arturo Marquez, a couple who later let him live with them when his uncle kicked him out of his home.

Rebecca Marquez said Mendoza was a friendly, outgoing youth who agreed to live by her family’s rules. That meant cutting his hair, dressing nicely and going to church and school.

Mendoza gladly followed those rules, getting a high school diploma and excelling in wrestling. He earned the “Rookie of the Year” award in the sport from Bell High School in 1997. Like his father, who died when he was a little boy, Mendoza was into weightlifting. At 5 feet, 4 inches and 150 pounds, he was strong and attractive, Rebecca Marquez said. After high school, Mendoza moved out of the Marquez home to a nearby apartment and landed a job at a tire store.

But he always remained close to the Marquez family, referring to Rebecca Marquez as his mom.

“He was like a brother to my children,” she said.

Rebecca Marquez was stunned Wednesday to learn that an LAPD officer was one of the suspects in Mendoza’s slaying.

“What kind of police would do this,” cried Marquez, who still displays Mendoza’s wrestling trophy on her mantel and keeps a file of his school records, photos and other keepsakes. “Oh my God.”

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Huntington Park police at (323) 584-6254.

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Suspects in Slaying

Los Angeles Police Officer Ruben Palomares and four other men are suspects in the Dec. 9 stabbing death of Erick Mendoza. Two suspects remain at large: one is identified as Oscar Loaiza, the other is known to police only as “Manny.”

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The Victim: Erick Mendoza

The Suspects: Ruben Palmores, Alvin Moon, Gabriel Loalza, Oscar Loalza (at large)