LOS ANGELES, CA — An ex-con accused in the shooting deaths of three homeless men in Los Angeles and the follow-home robbery and killing of an L.A. County employee in San Dimas during a four-day crime spree in 2023 pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges included in a newly unsealed indictment.
The indictment, dated May 28, was unsealed Wednesday, one day after Jerrid Joseph Powell, 36, was found mentally competent to stand trial in the case. The indictment mirrors the charges that were previously filed against him and allows the case to move more quickly to a trial without need for a preliminary hearing.
Powell is facing four counts of murder and one count each of residential robbery and being a felon carrying a concealed firearm. The murder charges include the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder during the commission of a robbery — the latter involving the Nov. 28, 2023, killing of county employee Nicholas Simbolon.
The charges also include allegations that Powell personally used a handgun during the commission of the crimes.
In court Wednesday, Powell was ordered to remain jailed without bail. He is due back in court Oct. 19 for a pretrial hearing.
Powell was initially arrested Nov. 30, 2023, in connection with the killing of Simbolon, who worked as a project manager in the Los Angeles County executive office. Days later, then-Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore and Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna announced that Powell had been tied to the fatal shootings of three homeless men.
Authorities subsequently determined that a handgun recovered from Powell's vehicle was used in the three homeless killings, Moore said.
Luna said Powell was taken into custody after Beverly Hills police conducted a traffic stop of Powell's vehicle, which had been linked to Powell after Simbolon was killed in the garage of a home in the 1800 block of Hawkbrook Drive.
The first homeless killing occurred around 3 a.m. Nov. 26, 2023, in the 800 block of West 110th Street in the Westmont area near Watts, followed by another at about 5 a.m. Nov. 27, 2023, in the 600 block of Mateo Street near downtown, and another at 2:30 a.m. Nov. 29, 2023, at South Avenue 18 and South Pasadena Avenue near Lincoln Heights, Moore said.
"Each of the victims were in an open area, be it a sidewalk or alley, they were alone," Moore said previously. "We believe a single individual approached each one and shot and killed each one as they slept. The investigators have gathered physical evidence as well as video images and we've identified this possible male lone individual as well as a vehicle."
The victim in the first shooting Nov. 26 was Jose Bolanos, 37, who died from a gunshot wound to the head. Mark Diggs, 62, died on a sidewalk from a gunshot wound to the head on Nov. 27, and Shawn Alvarez, 52, died on a sidewalk Nov. 29 of multiple gunshot wounds, according to records from the medical examiner's office.
Simbolon, a 42-year-old married father of two young sons, was found Nov. 28 by his wife inside his Tesla in the garage of his San Dimas home, according to witnesses and sheriff's officials. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. The medical examiner's office determined that he died from a gunshot wound to the head.
The sheriff said surveillance video determined that Simbolon was apparently followed home from an electric-vehicle charging station in the 200 block of South Citrus Street in West Covina. The suspect approached Simbolon in the garage, stole some unspecified items and then "senselessly" shot him, Luna said.
The sheriff said investigators saw a vehicle of interest on surveillance video that was believed to be connected to the crime. The license plate number of the 2024 gray BMW 440i four-door was entered into an automatic reader system that led to the discovery of the car near Santa Monica Boulevard and Rexford Drive in Beverly Hills, and police pulled the driver over, leading to his arrest.
Luna said the gun found in the vehicle is also believed to be the one used to kill Simbolon. The sheriff said there was no known connection among the four killings, and no known relationship between Powell and Simbolon.
By Terri Vermeulen Keith, City News Service
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