Articles Posted in Robbery

This headline really grabbed my attention because it is different than so many other stories you see about thieves. What’s different? They didn’t use a gun. They have never used a gun. They used a knife to demand cash from the clerk. Why is that so remarkable? Well, commonly, guns are used in robberies, and people often get shot during robberies.

Also, their demeanor is calm. They pose as customers. Jim Amormino at the Orange County Sheriff’s Department suggested they’re drug addicts and could harm the clerks or customers. While that is possible, drug users often act desperately in search of money to buy drugs. They act irrationally, too. They make unreasonable demands, escalate by violence and often have hair-trigger tempers.

The other thing I noticed is that they commit these robberies and assaults all over Orange County. The locations range from Anaheim and Fullerton, to San Clemente and La Palma and Placentia.

That means the suspects, if caught, could be prosecuted at the West Justice Center in Westminster, or Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach, or the North Justice Center in Fullerton. The other option is for the DA to file the cases and consolidate them at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.

I’ve often wondered why these convenience stores don’t have a remote-locking front door that can be used late at night. That way, clerks can buzz people in after deciding they’re not a risk. It’s not fool-proof, but it can eliminate some of the risk and it will do something else: It will force clerks to actually make eye contact with their customers. If there’s one thing I’ve noticed about our society, it’s that people don’t look at one another anymore. We’re so addicted to cell phones and making things happen quickly that we ignore the basic principle of eye contact to make decisions about one another.

Think about it: if you sense a crazy person is nearby, you will avert your gaze to avoid sending any message to that person. The eyes tell us so much about one another. Clerks could sharpen their people skills and size up customers better, too.

A person facing criminal charges in Orange County based upon these facts would be looking at serious state prison time. He would need a qualified Orange County criminal defense attorney to determine if all the robberies were committed by one person or just copycat crimes.

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The Los Angeles Times is reporting that an off-duty Gardena police officer was shot and killed a man with a knife who was trying to rob a diner in Bellflower last week.

According to the Los Angeles County sheriff’s office, a five-year vetern of the Gardena police department was eating at a Norm’s Restaurant when the robber came in. Apparently the officer tried to stop the robbery only to be charged at by the man. Fearing for his life, he shot and killed the man, who died at the scene.

After a dozen years in practice, and with over 100 trials and thousands of successful results, Orange County Criminal Defense Attorney William Weinberg understands what has to be done and how to succeed on behalf of clients charged with Orange County Crimes. Mr. Weinberg understands the complicated criminal court system and has a reputation among attorneys, prosecutors and judges as an attorney who aggressively and intelligently fights for his clients.

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The L.A. Times is reporting that a robbery in a San Bernadino neighborhood has left a mother looking for her three year old son.

The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Office says that two men armed with handguns, allegedly robbed a San Bernardino home Sunday afternoon and tied up a mother and her five children. The men ransacked the home and took an unspecified amount of cash and property, and then kidnapped the three year old child.

According to reports, both suspects are described as thin, light-skinned Hispanic males. According to the Sherriff’s Office, one is believed to be about 18 years old, 5-feet-8 and wearing blue jeans, a green T-shirt and a black baseball cap. The other is believed to be about 24 years old, 5-feet-10 and wearing a black shirt, black pants and boots, and a white bandanna.

The boy is described as 3 feet tall, about 40 pounds, wearing a yellow shirt with blue sleeves, blue striped shorts and sandals.

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A man suspected in a rash of bank robberies in Moreno Valley, Corona, Riverside and Norco was arrested last week by Moreno Valley police. According to The Press Enterprise, the FBI has been working on the case with police in Riverside and Corona–as well as Riverside County sheriff’s deputies in Norco and Moreno Valley–to track the robber down.

The robber was nicknamed the “neck brace bandit” because the bank robber who entered the banks wore a neck brace, a floppy hat and a bandage over his nose, and handed over a note demanding cash and threatened tellers and customers. The Neck Brace Bandit was seen last driving an older Mercedes with black chrome rims.

This week, Moreno Valley police stopped a Mercedes that matched that description for a traffic infraction and arrested the driver on suspicions he was involved in one of the robberies. Police said they found evidence related to the robberies — but not a neck brace — at the driver’s home.

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