One of two men who robbed and kidnapped women during a weeklong crime spree in San Diego County last year pleaded guilty Thursday to felony charges.
David Vichit Tonn, 28, faces life in prison plus five years when he is sentenced Sept. 8.
On Wednesday, co-defendant Kha Sok, 34, admitted kidnapping and robbing two women — one of them at gunpoint — and robbing three others, two at gunpoint.
Sok faces 35 years and four months plus two life terms in prison, with sentencing set for Sept. 20, said Deputy District Attorney Lucy Yturralde.
The defendants were arrested Dec. 2 in connection with the spree of four holdups and abductions in central San Diego and the East County.
The crimes happened in the 5200 El Cajon Boulevard on Nov. 23; in the 4200 block of Chamoune Avenue and the 4400 block of El Cajon Boulevard, both on Nov. 27; and the 7100 block of Broadway in Lemon Grove on Nov. 30, according to investigators.
Tonn teamed with Sok for the final crime, in which a woman was kidnapped from a CVS store and forced to withdraw money from ATMs.
In the first two robberies, Sok stole a woman’s purse, pushing the first victim to the ground and threatening the second with a silver pistol, Yturralde said.
During the third holdup, he knocked on a motorist’s car window, displayed a handgun and got into the victim’s vehicle, the prosecutor said. She was forced to drive to two banks, withdraw cash from ATMs and hand it over.
Sok also made the woman go to a liquor store and buy alcoholic beverages before having her drive him to the 4300 block of Highland Avenue, where he got out and fled on foot, Yturralde said.
In the fourth robbery, the victim was forced into her car and ordered to drive to multiple ATMs to get money, according to Yturralde. She was eventually dropped off near 54th Street and El Cajon Boulevard, the prosecutor said.
–City News Service
