Harry Bosch Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Roland "Wej" Mackey (b. July 1969; d. May 2005) was an employee of Tampa Towing, a resident of Chatsworth in Los Angeles, and a member of the Chatsworth Eights. He was considered the runt of the gang and was often teased about his dyslexia. His nickname stems from his misspelling of Jew in antisemitic graffiti.

Mackey grew up in the Chatsworth area in a dysfunctional family, and he continued to live in the area as an adult when he was not incarcerated. He had an extensive record as both a juvenile and adult. He was arrested in August 1987, one month after he turned 18, for car theft and served one year of probation. Six weeks later he was arrested for burglarizing a neighbor's home and was sentenced to three years with time served and two years of probation. In 1988 he stole a gun from a home in Chatsworth and was not caught. While firing the gun one time, the mechanism pinched his hand, leaving a small tissue sample on the gun. He worked with Hillside Prep teacher Gordon Stoddard to earn his GED in August of 1988. He traded the stolen gun to Stoddard in exchange for passing grades.

Mackey was arrested again in 1990 for breaking-and-entering into the Pacific Drive-in Theatre, and served 67 days in a Van Nuys jail with two years of probation, though he subsequently violated his probation when he was arrested for assault. In 1997, he served six months at the Wayside Honor Rancho Prison for receiving stolen property. In 2002 he was convicted of lewd and lascivious behavior for which he served two years. After his release he reported to probation officer Thelma Kibble.

In 2005 he was living in a house on Mariano Street in Woodland Hills with his roommate, Bill Burkhart. In May of 2005, he was the initial suspect in the murder of Rebecca Verloren because a recent DNA test had been run on the tissue left on the gun many years earlier. While the case was being investigated, he was hit and killed by Stoddard on a Highway 118 entrance ramp.

Appearances[]

Advertisement