2 Suspects in Murder Case Have Bail Revoked : Crime: The Northridge teen-agers arrested in the slaying of a pastor can no longer post bond because of previous weapons charges.

A judge Friday revoked the unusually low $20,000 bail granted two Northridge college students, who are accused of killing a Pacoima pastor, after learning they had been arrested earlier for carrying a silencer-equipped pistol in a city park and may have been involved in credit card frauds.

Philip J. Dimenno, 19, who had been released on bail from the Central County Jail Friday morning, was re-arrested at his home about eight hours later, police said.

The other defendant and the alleged triggerman in the slaying, Dana L. Singer, 18, had not posted bail, Deputy Dist. Atty. Leland B. Harris said.

Singer, a pre-business major at Cal State Northridge, and Dimenno, who has been accepted to UC Santa Barbara on a scholarship, were arrested Tuesday in the July 28 slaying of Carl White, 54, pastor of the Apostolic Temple Church in Pacoima.

Police allege that Singer shot White in the back of the head during a dispute at the pastor’s Chatsworth house over a minor traffic accident involving Dimenno’s car and White’s car the night before.

Singer and Dimenno were charged Thursday with one count of murder each. They face 25 years to life in prison if convicted, Harris said.

Harris said San Fernando Municipal Court Commissioner Richard L. Brand revoked bail after learning that Singer had been cited in May on charges of carrying a .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol equipped with a silencer and loaded with hollow-point bullets in a park near Mulholland Drive and Vanalden Avenue.

Dimenno was also cited in the same incident, Harris said. A third man accompanying them was cited for possession of a concealed dagger, Harris said.

Harris said he had not seen reports of the arrest and did not know why the men were carrying the weapons.

On Thursday, a Los Angeles Police Department investigation turned up no evidence of prior criminal activity by Singer and Dimenno, and bail was considered appropriate because of their ages and because they live with their parents in Northridge.

Prosecutors would have opposed the low bail for the two had they known about the earlier arrests, Harris said.

Bail is generally not granted in murder cases unless there are unusual circumstances, such as appeared to be the case Thursday, Harris said. “It appeared they were freshmen, novices, in the criminal justice system,” Harris said.

“That was a false impression.”

Police also learned Friday that the 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol used to kill White had been stolen from a Chatsworth business in August, 1989, Harris said. It had not been determined who stole the gun, Harris said.

In addition, Singer and Dimenno allegedly had in their possession several stolen credit cards and falsified driver’s licenses that they may have been using to make unauthorized purchases, Harris said.

The earlier incidents were not discovered immediately because the May arrest was carried out by officers of the city Department of Recreation and Parks and was not included in Los Angeles Police Department records, Harris said.

Singer and Dimenno were arrested Tuesday at a Reseda tire shop where they had gone to buy $1,200 worth of wheel rims with White’s credit card, Harris said. The youths went to the same business the day before but left when the card was rejected by its issuer, who notified police that a purchase had been attempted on the stolen card.

An employee notified police when the two returned the next day.

The killing followed a minor traffic accident Friday night, when Dimenno’s car struck White’s, police said.

Dimenno and White exchanged information. Dimenno later became concerned that White might report Dimenno’s driver’s license number to police, and that he would be arrested on an outstanding traffic citation for speeding, Harris said. So he and Singer, who was not in the car when the crash occurred, went to the pastor’s house Saturday to demand the number back.

White reportedly asked Dimenno to pay for his car repairs and a rental car, and Singer fired the gun in panic, said Dimenno’s attorney, Harold Greenberg.