People v. Tamayo CA2/1

Filed 7/30/14 P. v. Tamayo CA2/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

THE PEOPLE, B243893

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. SA075405) v.

GUSTAVO J. TAMAYO et al.,

Defendants and Appellants.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Robert J. Perry, Judge. Affirmed as modified. David L. Polsky, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Gustavo J. Tamayo. George L. Schraer, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Rickey R. Williams. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Assistant Attorney General, Paul M. Roadarmel, Jr., and David A Voet, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. ___________________________________

Appellants Gustavo J. Tamayo and Rickey R. Williams, both members of Inglewood 13, a criminal street gang, conspired with two other Inglewood 13 members to rob four Ross Dress For Less stores. They contend evidence that they conspired with one another to commit the robberies was insufficient to show the crimes were gang related. We affirm. BACKGROUND A. Crimes On Independence Day, July 4, 2010, Tamayo and Alex Salcedo, another Inglewood 13 member, arrived at the back door of a Ross Dress for Less store (Ross) on South Alvarado in Los Angeles. Tamayo brandished a gun at the store’s assistant manager and forced her to take him to the store’s cash office. Tamayo and Salcedo took between $40,000 and $50,000 from the safe, bound the assistant manager with plastic ties, and left the store. Two months later, on Labor Day, September 6, 2010, at 4:43 p.m., Tamayo and an unidentified associate entered a Ross store on South Figueroa in Los Angeles wearing Domino’s Pizza uniforms and carrying pizza bags. They attempted to gain access to the back of the store, ostensibly to set up pizzas for the employees, but when the manager denied them access they left. About 15 minutes later, Williams and an unidentified older associate arrived at the Ross store on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles wearing Domino’s Pizza uniforms and carrying pizza bags. They told assistant manager Monica Pena they were delivering pizza ordered by the Ross corporate office to recognize the employees for working on the holiday. The older man then dialed a number on his phone and handed it to Pena, stating it was the Ross corporate office. After speaking to the person on the phone, Pena instructed security guard Joel Maldonado to take Williams and the other man to a break room at the back of the store near the cash office to set up the pizzas. When they reached the back room, the older man brandished a handgun at Maldonado and instructed him to open the cash office door, but he was unable to. He then struck Maldonado on the back of his head with the gun and told him to call another employee to open the cash office.