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Photo special to the COURIER
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| Rondie Walz was arrested by Claremont police Monday night and charged with raping a 20-year-old Claremont resident. He was working as a door-to-door magazine salesman when he committed the crime. |
Rondie Walz formally charged; suspect’s background comes into focus
The door-to-door magazine salesman who allegedly raped a 20-year-old Claremont resident last Saturday was formally charged on 4 felony counts at an arraignment hearing on Wednesday.
Rondie Lamont Leland Walz, 22, did not enter a plea at the hearing; a second arraignment hearing is scheduled for December 13.
The suspect’s bail has been raised to $3.3 million from its original $1 million, a change that reflects the seriousness of the charges filed against Mr. Walz, said Samer Hathout, a deputy district attorney with the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
Mr. Walz could face a life sentence—with the possibility of parole after 31 years—if convicted on all 4 charges, which include rape, oral copulation, rape with a foreign object, and kidnapping with the intent to rape.
He is currently in custody at the Twin Towers jail in downtown Los Angeles.
Last Saturday, Mr. Walz was one of about 12 magazine salesmen canvassing the city. The salesmen were employed by a sales organization working in conjunction with the Gig Harbor, Washington-based Pacific Coast Clearing House, a company that works with independent sales organizations that employ individuals who sell magazine subscriptions door-to-door, said Ken Fryk, the company’s chief operating officer.
At about 3 p.m., Mr. Walz began walking the 1900 and 1800 blocks of Wheaton Avenue, where he came in contact with several residents before arriving at the victim’s house near the end of the street’s cul-de-sac.
Ellen Crawford, whose family’s home sits at the end of the cul-de-sac, said Mr. Walz visited her home at about 3:30.
“He came to our house and my husband talked to him,” she said.
Mr. Walz, she recalls, was acting short and aggressive while talking to her husband about a contest that he wished to enter, or win. The contest, presumably, was one that would award the winner with a vacation or an educational scholarship.
Her husband asked Mr. Walz to leave, and he walked away without incident.
After leaving Ms. Crawford’s house, the magazine salesman continued down the block, and eventually arrived at the rape victim’s house between 4:30 and 5 p.m., according to a police timeline of the incident.
The victim, a 20-year-old woman, was home alone when Mr. Walz arrived. Details of the conversation that took place between the victim and Mr. Walz before his entry have not been revealed by police, but he did eventually talk his way in to the house on the pretense of filling out paperwork. He did not enter the home by force, nor was he carrying a weapon, Claremont Police Capt. Gary Jenkins said.
Once inside, with the front door closed behind him, Mr. Walz attacked. The details of the crime remain withheld by police, but Mr. Walz apparently forcibly moved the victim into a different room before raping her.
Mr. Walz did not strike or batter the young woman, but “it was more along the lines of fear that he would do that—and intimidation,” Capt. Jenkins said.
Claremont PD was not contacted regarding the crime until about 5:50 p.m., about 45 minutes after police believe the incident took place. The victim, Capt. Jenkins said, was shaken an unable to call police, but an anonymous call from a friend who she had contacted tipped police to the crime.
By the time officers had arrived, Mr. Walz was far from the neighborhood, presumably in Norwalk after being picked up along with the rest of the group’s salesmen.
Previous reports that linked the suspect to the 600 block of Black Hills Drive have proved to be false, as police confirmed that Mr. Walz had left the city prior to the unusual man roaming that neighborhood at about 6:15 p.m.
Links to Oklahoma
Attempts to investigate Mr. Walz’s past—both criminal and personal—have uncovered links to 4 locations: Gig Harbor, Washington; Reno, Nevada; two small cities in northeast Oklahoma; and Bakersfield.
When arrested by Claremont PD, Mr. Walz listed his home address as Pacific Coast Clearing House’s corporate office in Gig Harbor. It is unknown whether Mr. Walz ever lived in Gig Harbor —company officials said its employees often have their mail sent there—but an Oklahoma man whose son was friends with Mr. Walz said he believed the suspect may have grown up in Washington state.
The Reno connection stems from an ID card obtained by police, Capt, Jenkins said, on which Mr. Walz’s listed address was in that city.
Mr. Walz may have also lived for a time in Bakersfield, where several sources in Oklahoma said his mother had lived at one time.
In 2004, Mr. Walz was arrested on petit larceny charges in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, a city of about 14,500 in northeast Oklahoma. Mr. Walz, 19 at the time, was arrested along with two juveniles for stealing less than $50 worth of merchandise from a local grocery story, Tahlequah Police Chief Steve Farmer said.
On his arrest form, Mr. Walz listed his home address as one in Stilwell, Oklahoma, another small city in northeast Oklahoma with a population of only about 3300.
Mr. Walz reportedly lived in Stilwell for about 2-3 years, according to several people in the city contacted by telephone who knew him. According to those who knew him said his mother had remarried and settled temporarily in Stilwell.
Detective Chad Smith of the Stilwell Police Department remembers Mr. Walz well—because he once arrested him. While still a juvenile, Mr. Walz was arrested on burglary charges after he attempted to break in to a local school to steal yard-work equipment, Detective Smith said. It was the only time he was in trouble with local law enforcement in that city.
Stilwell, Detective Smith said, is “a small home-town town,” with the nearest big city—Tulsa, Oklahoma—90 miles away.
Mr. Walz, during his time in Stilwell, mostly kept to himself, Detective Smith recalled. His mother worked at the Schwan’s Bakery factory in the city—nearly everyone in town is employed at a factory—and Mr. Walz may have worked there as well.
When told that Mr. Walz was now in custody in Los Angles County, being charged with 4 rape-related felony counts, Detective Smith said the young man he remembered was not capable of raping someone.
“I don’t think so,” he said, “but nothing surprises me as long as I’ve been doing this. …
“He just seemed like a quiet, alone-type person,” he said. “I didn’t see him hanging around a whole lot of people. When I did it was usually only the Blackman kids. They were really the only people who I saw him hang around.”
The “Blackman kid”—17-year-old Jacob Blackman—was one of Mr. Walz’s closest friends during his years in Stilwell, his father, Jimmy Blackman said.
Kim Curtis, one of Mr. Blackman’s roommates, remembered Mr. Walz as “a lot of trouble.”
“He was a real strange kid,” Mr. Blackman said. “He was real quiet, kind of like your nerdy type. We did let him stay with us, but I think he only stayed about 3 days, and then he split again. … I know he used to sneak out of his house and stuff.”
Mr. Walz left Stilwell two or 3 years ago—those in the city can’t recall the exact date—and some time after he became employed as a door-to-door magazine salesman.
Claremont investigation leads to quick arrest
When police investigators determined conclusively that the rape suspect was a door-to-door magazine salesman, they assumed he had visited other homes that night, and planned their investigation accordingly.
On Sunday, with the help of about 13 police volunteers and members of the city’s Community Emergency Response Team, police distributed 1200 crime bulletins to the neighborhoods surrounding the home where the crime took place.
The bulletin, which included the rough location of Mr. Walz’s canvassing that day and his physical description, yielded several responses from residents who had been visited by the salesman.
Several residents had purchased magazines from Mr. Walz and other salesmen from his company, and the order receipts listed that company’s name, which police have withheld from the public.
Investigators contacted the company, which police said was cooperative during the entire investigation, and determined that the salesmen who had canvassed Claremont on Saturday were staying in a motel in Norwalk.
On Monday night, the company took all of the salesman—about 12 total—to the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Norwalk station, where 3 Claremont investigators and the victim went to investigate the crime, and hopefully identify the suspect.
When Claremont PD and the victim pulled into the station’s parking lot, the victim stayed in a car as the salesmen lined up in front her.
They were illuminated by a spotlight—which also prevented the salesmen from viewing the victim—and the victim pointed out Mr. Walz as the rapist.
Two Claremont investigators took Mr. Walz into the Norwalk station for questioning, and though the interrogation that took place there was not discussed by police for fear of tainting a potential jury pool, officers eventually made an arrest at about 10:30 that night.
Pacific Coast Clearing House, and solicitor regulations in Claremont
Pacific Coast Clearing House, the company that employed Mr. Walz through an intermediary sales organization, is one of several umbrella organizations in the country that manages door-to-door magazine sales operations.
The name of the smaller group—or sales organization—that Mr. Walz worked for has not been revealed by police or the parent company, but all sales organizations under Pacific Coast Clearing House have a similar function.
“There’s an umbrella company that has all these independent groups that contract with them, and they work under the name of the umbrella group,” Capt. Jenkins said.
The umbrella group itself, he said, would likely not have direct control over the hiring practices of the company that it contracts to work with. It would also not likely be privy to information regarding those companies’ employees’ criminal records, such as Mr. Walz’s theft charge in Oklahoma.
“I don’t think it’s an issue with that particular company,” he said.
Ken Fryk, Pacific Coast Clearing House’s chief operating officer, said his Gig Harbor, Washington-based company did not employ people who walk door-to-door, and instead focuses on data entry, refund issuances, and working directly with the magazine publishers.
“I’m in charge of processing the magazine subscriptions,” he said. “Each sales organization is contractually obligated to follow the laws and abide by ethical business practices.”
He was unwilling to name the sales organization that hired Mr. Walz, and was unsure when the alleged rapist was hired.
“We’re in the process of trying to do our own investigation, and we cooperated with the police, and so did the sales organization,” he said. “That’s how, from what I understand, this arrest was made.”
Asked if the company requires its sales organizations to practice any specific hiring standards, Mr. Fryk replied: “I’m going to have to end our conversation now.”
In Claremont, door-to-door solicitors are required to obtain a permit from city hall before canvassing the city, City Clerk Lynne Pahner said.
A search of the city’s licenses yielded no permit under Mr. Walz’s name, or that of Pacific Coast Clearing House, Ms. Pahner said, but it is unclear whether Mr. Walz’s sales organization had obtained a permit.
In order to legally solicit door-to-door in Claremont, the company must acquire a permit, Ms. Pahner said, so if Mr. Walz’s sales organization had proper permission he would have been legally permitted to canvass the city.
Local television descends on Claremont
After news of the rape in Claremont broke, and the subsequent arrest was made, Los Angeles-based television news stations were on the story throughout the day Tuesday.
At about 3 p.m. that afternoon, there were two ABC-7 trucks and a van from CBS 2 on Wheaton Avenue. As TV reporters filmed standups with the street’s tree-lined view in the background, residents walked their dogs and tried to go on with their daily routines.
But because of the prominent news coverage—it was CBS 2’s top story on its 2 p.m. broadcast—everyone in the neighborhood had already learned of the rape, and had already learned that Mr. Walz had been arrested.
“Well, it’s frightening,” said Marilou Doepke, who lives on the 1900 block of Wheaton Avenue, just down the street from where the crime took place. “This has been a nice neighborhood, a family neighborhood, and it’s really unsettling.”
Ms. Doepke had not been visited by the rapist on Saturday, and did not know the victim or her family. But she was apprehensive about opening her door when a reporter came by because, she said, the rape was fresh in her mind.
Ellen Crawford, whose husband spoke to Mr. Walz when he visited her home, said she was friends with the victim’s family. “I’m sure, just like all of us, they’re relieved,” she said. “It’s nice to have closure to it. …
“We’ve lived here for 12-13 years, and we’re a tight little street here. It’s like it’s happening to your own family when it happens to a neighbor.”
Later that evening, Claremont Police Lt. Paul Davenport chuckled as he sat in his watch commander’s office, as another resident call came through about a solicitor.
The comprehensive television coverage of the event, along with online and print accounts of the crime, had seemingly reached everyone in Claremont.
“It’s a bad time to be a solicitor in Claremont,” he said. “You won’t get far without police being called.”
At about 6 p.m. Tuesday, 3 vans from NBC 4 were parked in front of the police department on Bonita Avenue.
A female reporter positioned herself, with a spotlight trained directly to her face, with the Claremont Police Department sign within the frame. As a cameraman and producer looked on, she relayed her standup.
“Residents say it’s unusual for a crime like this to happen in Claremont, especially one this brutal. …”
—Will Bigham
