Mission Viejo Boy Gets Stalker Bounty

LOS ANGELES —  The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meted out shares Tuesday of a $36,777 bounty for the capture of convicted Night Stalker Richard Ramirez, paying rewards ranging from $250 to $10,388 to 19 people, including a 13-year-old Mission Viejo boy.

Officials said that the largest sum will go to Jesse N. Perez, 66, of Los Angeles. Perez is a one-time acquaintance of Ramirez, who was convicted Sept. 20 of 13 murders and faces death in the gas chamber.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Yochelson said Perez led police to the recovery of a murder weapon used to help convict the Night Stalker defendant. Perez’s daughter, Pauline, who persuaded her father to call the police, will receive $3,250.

In a letter to the county claiming reward funds, Perez’s daughter wrote that Ramirez had discussions with her father, revealing “that he had done ‘bad things’ in his life, like killing and stealing. My father described the suspect to me, and I said he sounded like the Night Stalker.”

Of the $36,777 to be paid by the county, most was contributed by corporations and individuals. It is part of about $80,000 offered by various jurisdictions and the governor’s office for the Night Stalker’s arrest and conviction.

“We assigned the monies in proportion to how important a person’s information was in leading to the identification, arrest and conviction” of the Night Stalker, said Georgette Dewyer, deputy executive officer to the Board of Supervisors.

Citing privacy statutes, county officials declined to give addresses and other specific information about those who won rewards. Times sources provided the identification of some of the people issued awards.

Receiving $1,000 is James Romero, a 13-year-old Mission Viejo boy who in 1985 got a partial license number of a car believed used in several of Stalker attacks. James spotted the car in his neighborhood the night of a 1985 attack on a Mission Viejo couple. Ramirez has been charged with rape and attempted murder in that case, which is still pending.

Laurie Ochoa, an unemployed truck driver from Lompoc, will receive $2,500 for tipping off police to the possibility that Ramirez was the Night Stalker. “That’s great,” she said after hearing about the reward, adding: “It really helps. I’m out of work.”

Ochoa said her brother, Earl Gregg Jr., also of Lompoc, and Ramirez were once roommates.

“We looked at composites,” she said, “and the more we talked, the more we decided it was Rick.” She said her brother and his wife turned over to police a bracelet from Ramirez that was linked to one of the Stalker’s crimes. Gregg and his wife, Deleen, will also receive $2,500.

Alejandro Espinoza, who will receive $6,338, was awarded his share of the reward for assisting police in the recovery of property taken from the homes of murder victims, Yochelson said.