A second alleged prostitute was charged in Santa Clara County Superior Court Friday in connection with the robbery and murder of a wealthy Monte Sereno man during a home invasion last November.
Katrina Marie Fritz, dressed in red prison clothes with her hair in a ponytail, was arraigned on murder and robbery charges before Judge Philip Pennypacker, who ordered held her without bail.
Pennypacker ordered Fritz to return to court for a hearing next Thursday to identify her defense attorney and possibly enter a plea.
Los Gatos police arrested Fritz on Tuesday, a court clerk said.
Fritz is the fifth person charged in the slaying of Raveesh Kumra, 66, the former owner of the Mountain Winery who was asphyxiated while gagged by duct tape in an early morning robbery in his home on Nov. 30.
Prosecutors claim that co-defendants Javier Garcia and Deangelo Austin, both 21, and Lukis Anderson, 26, broke into Kumra's home, used the tape to gag, blindfold and bind him and then beat and tied up his wife, who survived. The suspects also allegedly stole cash and valuables from the home.
The other alleged prostitute in the case, Raven Dixon, 22, is charged as being an accessory to Kumra's murder for allegedly providing the men with cellphone photos of entry points to Kumra's home, prosecutors said.
Garcia, Austin, Anderson and Dixon also have had gang enhancement allegations added to their charges.
Los Gatos homicide detectives, in reports used by prosecutors, claim that Kumra hired Fritz, Dixon and Ashley Davis—who has not been charged—as prostitutes to come to his Withey Road home and to Los Gatos hotels for a couple of years prior to his murder.
Fritz is the sister of Austin, whom Los Gatos police claim is a member of a street gang called "The Money Team" based in Oakland. Prosecutors said cellphone records show Fritz and Austin were talking during the events at the Kumra home and that she continued to aid her brother, who was wanted by police.
Dixon's alleged pimp, whose name has not been released, is an alleged member of another Oakland gang, "Ghost Town," as is Garcia, police said.
Members of the Money Team and Ghost Town are known to work together in invasion robberies targeting the homes of Asian and East Indian families. Typically, three suspects enter the homes and one serves as the lookout and getaway driver, police said.
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