Man Sentenced to Multiple Life Terms for Kidnapping, Robbery, Rape

Man Sentenced to Multiple Life Terms
for Kidnapping, Robbery, Rape

April 29, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: Joe Scott, Director of Communications
Sandi Gibbons, Public Information Officer
Jane Robison, News Secretary
(213) 974-3525

BEVERLY HILLS – One of two men convicted of kidnapping and robbing a woman, then repeatedly raping the victim while holding her captive was sentenced today to what amounts to the remainder of his life in prison.

Deputy District Attorney Janis Johnson of Airport Branch Office said Beverly Hills Superior Court Judge Elden S. Fox sentenced Jovanny P. Theus, 26, to five consecutive life terms with a minimum of 245 years and four months before becoming eligible for parole.

Theus was convicted on October 10, 2007 of one count of second-degree robbery, one count of kidnapping for carjacking, two counts of kidnapping to commit another crime, one count of first-degree ATM robbery and multiple counts of sexual assault. The jury also found true an allegation of kidnapping.

Co-defendant Denson Henderson, 28, who allegedly masterminded the attack, is due to be sentenced June 2 at Beverly Hills Superior Court, Division 1. Henderson was convicted of 22 counts in connection with the crime. The jury also found true allegations of kidnapping and multiple victims.

On Feb. 21, 2006, Theus and Henderson – both members of the criminal street gang Rolling 40s – allegedly kidnapped the victim from the parking lot of a West Hollywood restaurant.

Prosecutors allege that Henderson and Theus drove the victim to several ATMs in a failed attempt to withdraw money. They then allegedly took the victim to a South Los Angeles residence where they repeatedly sexually assaulted her before releasing her nine hours later.

At one point prior to releasing the victim, Henderson allegedly drove his girlfriend, Nakeya Denise Whittman, 22, to an ATM where she withdrew $80 from the victim’s account. Whittman, who pleaded no contest to one count of identity theft, is serving three years in state prison as part of a concurrent sentence from an unrelated case in San Diego.

After Henderson and Theus were arrested in an unrelated incident of assault with a deadly weapon in March 2006, detectives noted that the two men resembled the victim's description of her kidnappers. Authorities linked the two men to additional robberies and sexual assaults in Los Angeles and other counties.
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