PALMDALE – The man accused of beating, robbing and kidnapping a 22-year-old Lancaster resident three years ago was captured in Palmdale Tuesday.
Joseph Lamar Williams, 27, was arrested at 4 p.m. Tuesday at a home on the 1200 Block of East Avenue R-3 in Palmdale, according to Lt. Erik Ruble of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department gang unit, Operation Safe Streets Bureau (OSS).
On January 27, 2008, Williams, along with fellow gang members Jevary Whitman, 27, and Kapree Maurice Brown, 26, invited the victim to a home on the 500 Block of Lancaster Boulevard, according to Ruble. The men confronted the victim, accusing him of stealing property belonging to their gang, then beat him up as they stole his personal belongings, Ruble said.
After the assault, the suspects drove the victim from the location against his will and told him they were going to kill him. The victim was able to escape from the vehicle while it was stopped at Avenue J and Cedar Avenue, and sought assistance from law enforcement.
In March 2008, Brown and Whitman were arrested and received lengthy prison sentences for the incident. But Williams remained on the run for more than three years until Tuesday, when OSS investigators captured him at a residence in Palmdale. Williams was arrested for robbery, kidnapping and a parole violation, and is being held in lieu of $1.365 million.