Torrance Starbucks take-over robbery and other crimes

The final tally for Preston Sawyer and Kareem Douglas goes like this:

• Six armed robberies
• Sawyer and Douglas each accused of participating in four
• Sixteen victims, which equals 16 robbery counts total
• Eight officers testified

It was a long, but very stream-lined and organized preliminary hearing yesterday for the two Hawthorne men. They are only a fraction of what police believe is a "crew" who work together to pull off similiar heists.

Douglas' mother was in court yesterday, and she told me that her son is a good boy who got hood-winked by his friends and the police. She wanted to tell me more before her son's attorney told her that talking to me will do nothing good for him. (As an aside, that attorney and I have some history and I'm pretty sure she ranks me right up there with pond scum.)