Accused Lake Forest Credit Union Armed Robber to Appear in Court Thursday

LAKE FOREST, CA — The 54-year-old convicted murderer accused of robbing a Lake Forest credit union will appear in court Thursday for bank robbery charges.

Chandler Emile Graham pleaded not guilty on Sept. 23, 2015 to robbing the credit union. He faces four counts of first-degree robbery, with sentence-enhancing gun-use allegations, as well as fleeing from police and stealing a vehicle.

Graham allegedly robbed the Eagle Community Credit Union at 23000 block of Lake Center Drive in Lake Forest in September of 2015.

Orange County sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Hallock said witnesses gave deputies a description of the suspect and his getaway car, and when authorities tried to pull Graham over, he led them on a pursuit that ended near Red Hill Avenue and El Camino Real in Tustin.

Graham was convicted of second-degree murder in 1995, and was granted parole in Dec. 2014 after serving 11 years. He was found suitable for parole despite the objections of Senior Deputy District Attorney Mike Murray, who argued that Graham continued “to pose a significant risk of danger to society.”

In a letter to parole officials in December, Murray said Graham “killed a completely innocent victim, Tore Johanson, a recently retired 66-year-old man,” on Aug. 26, 1994, in La Habra.

On April 25, 1995, Chandler Emile Graham was convicted of murder and was sentenced that June to 15 years in prison. According to a Los Angeles Times story dated Aug. 27, 1994, Graham was arrested following a deadly high-speed chase in La Habra.

The pursuit ended with a four-car pileup at La Habra Boulevard and Monte Vista Avenue. The car Graham was driving ended up crashing at the steps of a city fire station.

Tore O. Johanson, a 66-year-old Lakewood resident, was killed in the crash, and his wife was critically injured, according to the newspaper.

City News Service, OCSD photos