Robbery Suspect, 2 Others Convicted In Nordstrom Rack Takeover

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A Los Angeles Superior Court jury Friday convicted a man accused of sexually assaulting an employee during a takeover robbery at a Nordstrom Rack in Westchester.

Jurors deliberated about a day and a half before finding Raymond Sherman Jr., 36, guilty of one count each of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation and kidnapping to commit another crime, along with 14 counts of second-degree robbery.

Sherman was acquitted on another rape charge involving the same victim.

Co-defendants Troy Marsay Hammock, 31, and Everett Oneal Allen, 26, were convicted of 14 counts of second-degree robbery. Allen was also found guilty of one count of assault with a deadly weapon with a knife.

Hammock, Allen and Sherman Jr., all of Los Angeles, held 14 employees hostage in Jan. 2013 at a Nordstrom Rack store located at The Promenade at Howard Hughes Center.

A female worker was stabbed in the neck and suffered non-life threatening injuries. Another woman was sexually assaulted.

Three of the hostages were forced to strip naked during the incident, according to KCAL9's Dave Lopez. Some victims were also reportedly dragged into a storage room or held at gunpoint.

Sherman -- who had worked at the store years earlier -- was the first one to go inside and was "probably the mastermind," according to Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Barnes.

The three men face potentially lengthy state prison terms at a sentencing date scheduled for April 8.

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