Convicted Killer Links 2 Other Men to Heist, Inglewood Officer’s Death

One of five participants in a bungled armed robbery that resulted in the death of an Inglewood police officer last year avoided eye contact with two alleged accomplices as he testified against them Wednesday in Torrance Superior Court.

Already convicted of second-degree murder, Patrick Anthony Carr implicated Joevone Elster and Van Otis Wilson in the March 31, 1988, robbery of a money courier in Inglewood. One participant, a juvenile, has already been found guilty of first-degree murder, while another, Leslie Holget, allegedly shot himself to death after a police chase that ended in Newhall.

Although police say Holget fired the shot that killed Sgt. George Aguilar, the law holds all participants in a felony responsible for a homicide that occurs during the course of that crime.

Became Upset

Carr testified that before the robbery he waited in a car with Elster and Holget across the street from a Shell gas station on Manchester Avenue. He said he became upset when Wilson and the juvenile pulled up in their car because the unexpected participants, whom Elster had invited but Carr did not know about, would reduce his final cut.

Under questioning by Deputy Dist. Atty. Daniel Lenhart, Carr said he became impatient after waiting for almost two hours and told the others that he didn’t want to continue. The two cars then left the scene, but they returned to a spot behind the gas station soon afterward when Holget pursuaded Carr to continue, Carr said.

“The (courier) waited so long to show that I said I want to leave,” he said. “. . . I changed my mind. . . . (Holget) convinced me to stay.”

Carr said Wilson and Holget had drawn their guns and stepped out of the cars, planning to rob Masih Modani, the courier, as soon as he picked up the money at the station. But that plan failed when Modani got into his car more quickly than expected and drove away. The five then followed Modani down Manchester, forced him to stop his car and robbed him of about $2,000 in cash at gunpoint.

Plan Fizzled

According to police accounts and previous testimony, the plan began to fizzle as the robbers fled in their two cars and Modani’s vehicle. Aguilar, an undercover officer, pulled up at the scene, told Modani to get into his car and took off after the suspects. As Aguilar pulled up next to Modani’s stolen car in an attempt to cut it off, shots were fired and Aguilar was killed.

“I heard shots ring out,” Modani said in earlier testimony. “Sgt. Aguilar said, ‘Get down,’ and I got down. Then several shots rang out and he said, ‘I’ve been hit.’ ”

The juvenile had driven one getaway car alone, while Carr and Elster escaped in another. Holget was driving the stolen car, while Wilson was a passenger.

Holget and Wilson abandoned Modani’s car, and Wilson was found hiding in the stairway of an apartment complex near the site of the shooting at La Brea Avenue and Arbor Vitae Street. Officers tracked Holget to his South Los Angeles home and gave chase when Holget and his girlfriend got into a car that night. The 45-mile pursuit ended in Newhall, where Holget allegedly shot himself as officers converged on the scene. Carr and the juvenile were arrested at their homes the next day, and Elster gave himself up to officials of the district attorney’s office soon afterward.

The two defense attorneys said in interviews that their cases hinge on whether the robbery was still in progress after the cars left the scene and Aguilar began his pursuit.

Robert Wilbourne, the attorney for Elster, said his client was in a different getaway car when Aguilar was killed and should not be held responsible for a death he had nothing to do with.

Carr testified that he and Elster discovered that a police officer had been killed only when they saw a news flash on television when they returned to their South Los Angeles homes after their escape.

Bruce McCastlin said his client, Wilson, was in the same car with the gunman but did not kill Aguilar.