Charges Dropped Against Ex-Felon
Orange County prosecutors on Tuesday dismissed all charges against a man who spent two years in prison for a robbery that officials now believe was probably committed by another man.
The decision came amid mounting evidence that George Lopez had nothing to do with the May 1999 robbery of an Anaheim loan office. Two of the robbery victims said Lopez wasn’t the gunman, and another man said that he--and not Lopez--committed the crime.
It marks the fifth time in two years the Orange County district attorney’s office has dropped charges against convicted felons after new evidence came up.
The jury that convicted Lopez in February 2000 never learned that another man pleaded guilty to committing three nearly identical robberies the same week. That man, Johnny SantaCruz, told The Times in July that he committed the Anaheim robbery. The new evidence prompted a judge in September to free Lopez while he decided whether to grant a new trial.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
