Teen-Ager Held After High-Speed Chase

A Pacoima teen-ager was arrested early Thursday on suspicion of robbery after leading police on a high-speed chase in a stolen car through the northwestern San Fernando Valley and into Simi Valley, Los Angeles police said.

Mark Valles, 18, was being held in the West Valley Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail, Detective Robert Johansen said.

The pursuit began after midnight when Valles was seen by police in Northridge in a car that matched the description, including the license plate number, of a vehicle just reported stolen at gunpoint in Tarzana. Valles tried to escape using surface streets and the Simi Valley Freeway at an estimated speed of more than 90 m.p.h., Johansen said.

Valles left the freeway on Kuehner Drive in Simi Valley, reached a paved dead end and drove about a quarter of a mile down a bumpy, dirt road before finally stopping. The officers who arrested Valles found a .38-caliber revolver in the car, said Johansen, adding that the gun was believed to have been used to force the car’s owner out of the auto in the 18900 block of Ventura Boulevard, Johansen said.