| For Immediate Release Case # 07WF2313 (Hodge) Case # 07WF2337 (Zimmer) October 18, 2007 |
Contact: Farrah Emami Spokesperson Office: 714-347-8405 Cell: 714-323-4486 |
MAN TO BE ARRAIGNED FOR MURDERING DISABLED SECURITY GUARD WITH CO-DEFENDANT DURING ROBBERY AT CHURCH CONSTRUCTION SITE
WESTMINSTER – Two men have been charged with murdering a security guard, who suffered from a high functioning form of autism, during a robbery at a construction site at a church in Cypress. Sean Christopher Hodge, 26, and David Joseph Zimmer, 19, both of Long Beach, are charged with one felony count of murder with the special circumstance of murder during the commission of another felony, one felony count of 2nd degree robbery, and one felony count of 2nd degree commercial burglary. If convicted on all counts, both are facing a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole. They are being held without bail. Hodge is scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow, Friday, October 19, 2007 at 8:30 a.m. in Department W-14, West Justice Center, Westminster. Zimmer pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on October 12, 2007 and is scheduled for pre-trial on November 9, 2007 in Department W-14 at the West Justice Center.
Early in the morning on September 14, 2007, Hodge and Zimmer are accused of breaking into a storage facility to steal equipment from a construction site at Cottonwood Church in Cypress. While in the process of stealing the equipment, 51-year-old security guard Michael Garry found the defendants at the construction site. Garry, who lived with his brother in Long Beach and suffered from Asperger Syndrome, a form of high functioning autism, approached the defendants and attempted to speak with Hodge and Zimmer. The victim was discovered later that morning at the job site by construction workers and died shortly after of blunt force trauma to the head.
Zimmer is accused of being a former employee of the contractor hired to work on the construction site, but was fired earlier this year. Some of the stolen equipment was later found at Hodge’s residence.
Anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact Supervising District Attorney Investigator Ed Contreras at (714) 347-8492.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Sonia Balleste of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
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