Two brothers have been arrested by Inglewood, Calif. police in connection with a threatening note that Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens received Dec. 17 at Hollywood Park.
According to the Los Angeles
Times, Mark Frankel, 25, and his brother Adam, 28, were arrested at their homes by Det. Jeff Steinhoff. Mark Frankel lives in Sherman Oaks and Adam lives in Encino.
The Frankels, who are being held on $35,000 bail, are expected to be charged with conspiracy and extortion in an alleged scheme to extract money from Stevens. Steinhoff said that minutes after Sunday's seventh race--which Stevens won with the 3-year-old gelding Minnesota Shuffle--the jockey returned to his locker to find an anonymous note. Steinhoff would not give many of the details of the note, but earlier this week another Inglewood policeman said that the contents were "threatening."
According to Steinhoff, Stevens was asked in the note to go to a phone booth near Santa Anita Park, in Arcadia, and wait for a call. On Monday, Stevens went to the booth and received a call that was monitored by Inglewood and Arcadia police.
A package was left at the same booth on Tuesday, with a note asking those picking it up to return for another drop-off Wednesday. Stevens talked on the phone with the suspects three times Tuesday. When the second pickup was made Wednesday, the suspects were followed by police.
(Story,
LA Times)
