Man Arrested After Police Chase Charged

A man who led police on a televised car chase through the east San Fernando Valley last week was charged Monday with assaulting federal agents.

Richard Roland Alford was indicted last July by a federal grand jury in Phoenix on eight felony charges including possessing a false official identification card, impersonating a federal employee, fraud in connection with access devices, mail fraud, wire fraud and making false statements.

But Alford, who used the alias Benedict Jack Ryan, disappeared for months before he was tracked to his girlfriend’s Studio City apartment building last month, the criminal complaint said.

Last week, federal agents Robert A. Koger and Donald E. Bolte tried to serve Alford with an arrest warrant but he jumped into a black Jeep Cherokee and drove off, narrowly missing the agents, according to the document.

Los Angeles police picked up the chase, which wound through Studio City, Sherman Oaks and Van Nuys with the vehicle driving over sidewalks, through parking lots and down alleys.

At one point, the driver appeared to stop for a woman, opened a passenger door and tried to pass her a brief case, the federal complaint said. She was identified as Alford’s girlfriend, April Dee Daley, who was charged in federal court Monday with harboring a fugitive.

The chase ended when Alford smashed through a fence and into a police car.