Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón will announce criminal charges Monday in the slaying of “General Hospital” actor Johnny Wactor, who was killed in May by men suspected of trying to steal the catalytic converter from his car.
Los Angeles Police Department Interim Chief Dominic Choi will also be on hand at the press conference scheduled for 3 p.m. at the Hall of Justice downtown, according to a news release from the L.A. County district attorney’s office issued Sunday.
Four men were arrested in connection to the killing, LAPD announced last week. Law enforcement sources told The Times the investigation had focused on Florencia 13 gang members tied to catalytic converter thefts in the region.
After reviewing videos and interviewing witnesses, LAPD homicide detectives identified three men, one with distinctive facial tattoos, who they say jacked up Wactor’s car on Hope Street near Pico Boulevard in order to steal its catalytic converter on the morning of May 25. Wactor was shot when he confronted the men.
Robert Barceleau, Leonel Gutierrez and Sergio Estrada were booked on suspicion of murder Thursday and held in lieu of $2-million bail, according to L.A. County Sheriff’s Department records. An additional person, Frank Olano, 22, was arrested on suspicion of being an accessory to murder.
Wactor had just finished a late night bartending shift at the nearby Level 8 bar about 3:20 a.m when he and co-worker Anita Joy were walking to his car and interrupted the thieves.
Wactor first thought his car was being towed, Joy said. After realizing that wasn’t the case, he asked the men to leave, showing his open hands to indicate he wasn’t a threat. Nevertheless, he was shot at close range, Joy said. A security guard from the bar said he found Joy and the mortally wounded Wactor and called 911.
After the shooting, the suspects fled north on Hope Street in a stolen getaway car described as a 2018 black four-door Infiniti Q50 with a tan interior, police said.
Thieves target catalytic converters because they contain precious metals, including rhodium, palladium and platinum. They can sell for hundreds of dollars to auto parts suppliers or scrapyards, where they can be melted down and the valuable metals extracted.
Thefts of catalytic converters skyrocketed in California during the COVID-19 pandemic. That prompted new state laws that make it illegal for recyclers to buy the parts from anyone other than the vehicle’s legal owner or a licensed dealer. Penalties were increased for buyers who fail to certify that a catalytic converter wasn’t stolen.